Barnstormin' Live, Vol. 1

AMG Review of Barnstormin' Live, Vol. 1

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All Music Guide

Barnstormin' Live, Vol. 1 contains ten highlights from Little Feat's 2004 tour, but unlike a lot of the live albums on the band's own Hot Tomato label, this avoids the group's standard repertoire, choosing to dig deep into their catalog and recent albums. Consequently, this doesn't merely downplay their concert staples from the '70s, it also downplays Lowell George's role, with only "Rocket in My Pocket," "Roll Um Easy," and the Paul Barrére co-written "Keepin' Up With the Joneses" coming from his pen. This may make it of less interest to Lowell loyalists, but frankly, folks buying a live album from Little Feat in 2005 have long since reconciled that this is a very different band than it was in 1975 -- if anything, they'll be happy to hear a fresher set of material, highlighted by a cover of Little Walter's "Last Night." As always, Little Feat are both tasteful and tasty, showing off their chops without strutting too hard, finding just the right blend of virtuoso playing and relaxed, funky grooves. While they may not reinvent their songs the way that, say, the Grateful Dead did, they do deliver consistently enjoyable performances. Barnstormin', Vol. 1 is not just proof of that reliability, but for the hardcore -- who, after all, are the ones who are buying these live albums -- this set of songs that aren't played as much as, say, "Dixie Chicken" is welcome indeed.