SACD Little Feat – Dixie Chicken

Dixie Chicken as a hybrid SACD from the Analogue Productions Acoustic Sounds 40 Series: Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab mastered Little Feat’s 1973 album to DSD from the original master tape. All ten songs play in one sequence – from the title track to “Lafayette Railroad”.

A groove with more moving parts

On “Dixie Chicken”, the movement does not come from the drums alone. The piano sets its own accents, guitars slip between them, and bass and percussion give the whole pattern extra spring. Lowell George’s voice can lean back above all that activity without losing any tension – an easy surface over tightly coordinated playing, and a big part of Little Feat’s magic.

The band’s third studio album marks a decisive change in personnel. Guitarist Paul Barrère and percussionist Sam Clayton joined George, keyboard player Bill Payne and drummer Richie Hayward, and Kenny Gradney took over bass from Roy Estrada: the quartet became a sextet. The new voices brought more than volume – they created new ways to share rhythmic duties and keep one figure moving while another changes direction.

Lowell George takes the producer’s chair

Ted Templeman had produced the previous album, Sailin’ Shoes; Dixie Chicken George produced himself. Recording took place in Los Angeles in late 1972, at studios including Clover Recorders, Warner Bros. and Sunset Sound – the band was growing through new members and through new creative responsibility for its studio work.

That context matters for music with such physical impact. What sounds spontaneous is carefully arranged: when the slide guitar carries a passage, when the piano fills a rhythmic gap, how the percussion animates the space around them. New Orleans R&B becomes part of the band’s own language, where blues, rock and funk overlap freely.

Toussaint, Tackett and a circle of guests

George did not write every song. Allen Toussaint supplied “On Your Way Down”, a direct link to a central figure of New Orleans music; Fred Tackett contributed “Fool Yourself”, and “Walkin’ All Night” comes from Barrère and Payne. George and Fred Martin share the credit for the title track. Bonnie Raitt, Bonnie Bramlett and Danny Hutton are among the guest voices, Malcolm Cecil adds synthesizer and Milt Holland tabla – colours spread across the sessions, not across every track.

Between the title song, “Two Trains” and “Fat Man in the Bathtub”, make room for “Roll Um Easy”: its restraint changes the perspective before the band closes in again. “Juliette” and the closing instrumental “Lafayette Railroad”, written by George and Payne, widen the shape further. Follow George’s voice once, then Gradney’s bass or Clayton’s percussion – and familiar favourites surprise you all over again.

The hybrid SACD from the Acoustic Sounds 40 Series

CAPR 016 SA is a hybrid SACD from the Analogue Productions Acoustic Sounds 40 Series. According to the publisher, Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab mastered it to DSD from the original master tape. The SACD layer plays on SACD-capable players, the CD layer on any conventional CD player. The disc contains the ten songs of the original album, without the bonus material of later deluxe editions.

You order from Michael 45 in Germany. We arrange the US import and ship from Hilden.

More from the series: Acoustic Sounds 40th Anniversary Series

Also in another edition: Dixie Chicken

More SACDs by Little Feat: Sailin’ Shoes

Customer question: Buying Analogue Productions records in Europe

Musicians

Documented selection of participating musicians. Personnel may vary by track; this list does not claim to be complete.