For some reason there is a portion of staunchly loved music from my (early/mid-seventies college days at LSU coming back home to roost in my mind recently. Specifically, the first four Feat albums, and certain of Ry Cooder’s early records. There is an unmistakable kinship between Ry (whom some reviewers here may recall played slide guitar on Feat’s first album due to a hand injury Lowell had experienced at the time) and Lowell George himself, who on these early records seems a Ry Cooder guitar/Captain Beefheart vocal hybrid. Of the Feat albums, Sailin Shoes especially is the one that separates itself. IMHP, Feat never again achieved the uninterrupted studio brilliance exhibited from start to finish on this particular recording. To the ears of the uninitiated, the record can seem deceptively sloppy and unrehearsed, but in reality is anything but, and therein lies it's brilliance. I’ve played in a band long enough now to realize just how tight the playing on this record truly is, and this is something that does not come without much rehearsal. The telepathic interplay between Estrada on bass and Hayward on drums is almost unprecedented in rock music, and when you listen to a song like ‘Apolitical Blues’ for instance, there is a wonderful spontaneity to Lowell’s vocal performance here. He suddenly converts his voice from Howlin’ Wolf mode, jumping to falsetto to sing the words ‘John Wayne’, and then immediately drops back down to Howlin' Wolf mode for ‘I just don’t wanna take no calls, NO CALLS'. Not an easy, nor studied vocal mannerism. As well, the linguistic gymnastics Lowell exhibits on Teenage Nervous Breakdown could tongue-tie the most astute jazz scat vocalist. Whew! The two Ry Cooder records of particular interest are Paradise and Lunch; and Chicken Skin Music. Roots music of the highest order! Too many great guitar licks to mention. Yet, he simplifies the language enough to make it somehow seem achievable. Man, I am digging these old records and listening to them with new ears. They have all endured the test of time.