Fat Mattress

Fat Mattress is one of those laughably bad ‘70s band names, the sort of moniker that usually emerges after a heavy night of drinking (you may think I’m kidding, but the first song on this record is actually called “All Night Drinker”). There is nothing particularly funny about the group’s music, however, a lightweight collection of psychedelic-flavored hippie rock. A short-lived, two-record quartet led by former Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist Noel Redding, Fat Mattress released its debut album in 1969 on Polydor Records. “Everything’s Blue” and the aforementioned “All Night Drinker” are two of the lp’s more inspired hard rock moments, both successfully escaping the otherwise muddled mix of acoustic guitars and swirling woodwinds. The lyrically and musically challenged “Petrol Pump Assistant” and “Iridescent Butterfly” are more representative of the group’s material, however, two songs saddled with odd references to the “man” who “got down off his ship” and “flowers reading poetry”. The album’s biggest claim to fame is the song “Magic Forest,” a bouncy, up-tempo track that apparently was a huge hit… in Holland. The band released one final record—the unimaginatively titled Fat Mattress II—before calling it a day. Redding formed a horrendous band called Road, while the remaining members recorded tracks for an unreleased third album.

Notes: I actually found a great Fat Mattress song called “Cold Wall of Stone.” It never found its way on to an official release, but appears as one of six bonus tracks on Esoteric’s 2009 reissue of the band’s second album. Here is an audio-only YouTube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH0V5Ws3P-g&feature=related.