Ain't Had Enough Fun

To be honest, Lowell George's death spelled the end of my relationship with Little Feat.  Yeah, I bought a couple of the post-George releases and saw them once more in concert, but my heart simply wasn't in it at that point.

Against that backdrop I first heard 1995's 'Ain't Had Enough Fun' at a party that brought a bunch of college friends together.  The funky groove sounded vaguely familiar, but lead singer Shaun Murphy (promoted from backing singer to replace Craig Fuller who'd reportedly gotten tired of the band's constant touring schedule) threw me for a loop ...  Little Feat with a female vocalist ...   I'm not saying that in a sexist way - Murphy had a great voice and more than held her own in the Little Feat line up - it was just odd hearing someone other than Lowell George fronting the band (yes, Craig Fuller sounded strange to me in that role as well).   Co-produced by Bill Payne and Bill Wray, I have to admit that this double album set was far better than I ever expected.  Yeah, it took a couple of spins to get acclimated to hearing Murphy, but she really did have a great voice and the band seemed to finally have come to terms with their post-George legacy.  Having spent the last decade trying to mimic their earlier sound, this time around they stayed true to their roots, but finally gave up the illusion of being that old Little Feat.  Sounds kind of dumb, but it made all the difference in the world and made for one of their best late-inning studio releases.