Waiting for Columbus is the first live album by the band Little Feat, recorded during seven performances in 1977. The first four shows were held at the Rainbow Theatre in London on August 1–4, 1977. The final three shows were recorded the following week at George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium in Washington, D.C., on August 8–10. Local Washington radio personality Don "Cerphe" Colwell can be heard leading the audience in a "F-E-A-T" spellout in between the first ("Join the Band") and second ("Fat Man in the Bathtub") tracks.
Many of their more well-known songs were either re-worked or extended. For instance, one of their signature songs, "Dixie Chicken", was heavily extended to include a lengthy piano solo by keyboardist Bill Payne, a Dixieland horn arrangement and finally a dual guitar jam between the band's two guitarists, Lowell George and Paul Barrère. In some cases, songs such as "Rocket in My Pocket" and "Mercenary Territory" were re-worked to include the horn section, and Little Feat additionally covered such tunes as Fraternity of Man's "Don't Bogart That Joint" and Allen Toussaint's "On Your Way Down" (which had also appeared on 1973's Dixie Chicken album). Former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor makes a guest appearance playing slide guitar on "A Apolitical Blues".
The band recorded and mixed enough material from these performances for a triple LP, but for marketing reasons kept it to a double album. Three of the unused tracks were included on their 1981 album Hoy-Hoy!. All were eventually released on the 2002 "Deluxe edition" CD.
The cover art, by Neon Park,[7] depicts items from the Americas unknown to Europeans before Columbus: an anthropomorphic tomato on a hammock in front of a backdrop of American native foliage and cactus.
There have been two different half-speed mastered vinyl reissues on LP, both on the Mobile Fidelity label and containing the original full track list. The first reissue was released not long after the original Warner Brothers LP, was mastered by Stan Ricker, MFSL 2-013, and pressed by JVC in Japan and features a GOLD banner on the cover.[8] The other is a 2011 release on Warner Brothers Records. This version is MFSL 2-322. It was mastered by Shawn R. Britton and pressed on 180g vinyl by Record Technology Incorporated in Camarillo, CA. This version features a GREEN banner the cover.[9]
In order to fit the double LP onto one CD, the tracks "Don't Bogart That Joint" and "A Apolitical Blues" were omitted from this release,[10] but included as additional tracks on the CD issue of The Last Record Album.[11]
This release now contains all the songs that were performed at the series of shows recorded for this album.[12]
From the Rhino reissue liner notes (p. 23):
Disc 1 (all) & Disc 2, Tracks 1-5: From the original release of Waiting for Columbus. [Note: For aesthetic reasons, the playing order of Sides 2 (tks 9-12) & 3 (tks 6-8) has been switched so that the band's main set (contained on Disc 1) now concludes with the long ovation that leads into the encore.]
Disc 2 Tracks 6-10: Performances that were refurbished & mixed for the original album, but not used.
Disc 2 Tracks 11-12: Selections that were apparently never considered for inclusion on either the original album or Hoy-Hoy!. They are newly mixed from the original multitrack tapes and do not contain any overdubs.
Disc 2 Tracks 13-15: First issued on the album Hoy-Hoy!.
Disc one
No.
Title
Writer(s)
Venue & date
Length
1.
"Join the Band"
Traditional
Lisner Auditorium, Washington D.C., August 10, 1977
1:54
2.
"Fat Man in the Bathtub"
George
Lisner Auditorium, Washington D.C., August 8, 1977
4:53
3.
"All That You Dream"
Barrère, Payne
Lisner Auditorium, Washington D.C., August 8, 1977
4:29
4.
"Oh Atlanta"
Payne
Lisner Auditorium, Washington D.C., August 8, 1977
4:20
5.
"Old Folks' Boogie"
Barrère, Gabriel Barrère
The Rainbow Theatre, London England, August 4, 1977
4:26
6.
"Dixie Chicken"
George, Martin Kibbee
The Rainbow Theatre, London England, August 3 & 4, 1977
8:53
7.
"Tripe Face Boogie"
Hayward, Payne
The Rainbow Theatre, London England, August 2 & 3, 1977
7:09
8.
"Rocket in My Pocket"
George
The Rainbow Theatre, London England, August 2, 1977
3:57
9.
"Time Loves a Hero"
Barrère, Gradney, Payne
The Rainbow Theatre, London England, August 4, 1977
4:19
10.
"Day or Night"
Payne, F. Tate
The Rainbow Theatre, London England, August 4, 1977
5:30
11.
"Mercenary Territory"
George, E. George, Hayward
The Rainbow Theatre, London England, August 2, 1977
4:36
12.
"Spanish Moon"
George
Lisner Auditorium, Washington D.C., August 8, 1977
On 29 July 2022, Rhino released an eight disc "Super Deluxe Edition" of Waiting for Columbus. It contained the two shows used for the original 1977 album in their entirety, plus a previously unreleased live show recorded at Manchester City Hall.[13]
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