Hellzapoppin

It was really fun to learn some more about Lowell!

Great show but stick to your cassette version from the 70s it is better than this flat sounding pressing.

"HELLZAPPOPIN'" is 15 track 79 minute live concert import CD on the All Access label. The concert was originally broadcast on Boston's WCBN FM Halloween Night October 31, 1975, and features the classic LITTLE FEAT line-up of Lowell George (guitar & vocals), Bill Payne (keyboards & vocals), Richie Hayward (drums & vocals), Paul Barrere (guitar & vocals), Kenny Grandey (bass) and Sam Clayton (percussion & vocals). The band were on a North American tour supporting their recently released fifth long-player 'THE LAST RECORD ALBUM.' Two songs performed that night, "Walkin' All Night" and "On Your Way Down" are not on the disc, otherwise the set list is in chronological order. The songs performed are:1. Two Trains2. Skin It Back3. Fat Man In The Bathtub4. A Apolitical Blues5. Oh Atlanta6. Day Or Night7. All That You Dream8. Romance Dance9. Long Distance Love (some sources erroneously list this as a cover of Muddy Water's "Long Distance Call")10. Cold Cold Cold>11. Dixie Chicken>12. Tripe Face Boogie13. Willin' (encore)14. Teenage Nervous Breakdown (encore)15. Spanish Moon (encore)The sound quality is decent and seems to have been taken from a first generation source, after a rough start the mix improves as it goes along, de rigueur for live radio concerts. Recorded at the 2,500 seat Orpheum Theatre the band had just finished a five night residency at Paul's Mall, a smaller Boston club (those were the days!). Coupled with the fact it was Halloween night, the boys are red-hot and ready to shake the rafters, egged on by an obviously stoked audience. The warts-and-all performances are not as spit-polished as those on 'WAITING FOR COLUMBUS' which works in the band's favor. Although 'WFC' is a terrific album, especially the cuts with the added TOWER OF POWER horn section, it sometimes suffers from the occasional sterility and studio tinkering found on most major label "event" releases. Here you hear the group at their arguable peak and the energy generated is so strong and thick you can almost smell the sweat and pot smoke. The CD comes with a nice slipcase and short, but to the point, liner notes. If your a FEAT Fan this is an essential purchase, if your a novice and wonder what all the critical hullabaloo is all about, grab this and prepare to hear Hellzapoppin'......Other fine classic FEAT live for the fan: 'Late Night Truck Stop' (2CD, two sets from Ebbets Field In Denver), 'American Cutie' (single CD version of 'LNTS'), Hoy-Hoy (rarities and more live from the 'WFC' concerts), 'Rockpalast Live' DVD (with bonus performance from 1974), 'Skin It Back' DVD (same as Rockpalast, no bonus but an additional complete filmed rehearsal!), 'The Old Grey Whistle Test Collection' (the clip of "Rock And Roll Doctor" on this essential collection is their best filmed performance IMHO), '40 Feat: the Hot Tomato Anthology' (3CD set, CD One only from Lowell George era). There is also a fantastic sounding "Live At Winterland: Valentine's Day 1976" CD worth searching for on the WhyArts label with 3 more tracks than the download available at Wolfgang's Vault......ADDENDUM (4/15/14): There's a live LITTLE FEAT CD+DVD set now available, 'Live in Holland 1976.' The 10 song recording is the same concert that provided the bonus footage ("Cold, Cold, Cold") on the above-mentioned ROCKPALAST LIVE DVD, a preview is available on Amazon.uk of the band performing 'Rock And Roll Doctor." Although the video and audio are fine, unfortunately the direction is so-so, at least on that cut. The band is on a stage WAY above the audience, and the cameraman on the ground has to point his camera WAY up, so when those shots are used you get a clear picture front and center...of the stage monitor! No matter, it's real live FEAT in 1974, my copy is already pre-ordered......