Fat Mattress [Import]

Fat Mattress | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Sequel Records UK
• ASIN: B000006YNE
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #361,861 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A pleasant surprise., May 6, 2000

By 

"oldtimerocker" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fat Mattress (Audio CD)

This album answers the question of what happened to Noel Redding after he left the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The album is not that bad. "All Night Drinker," "She Came In The Morning," "Mr Moonshine," and "Magic Forest" are all very good songs. The sound of the group has a folk style to it. It is not what you might expect from somebody who just left the JHE. Still, there are nice harmonies, some exotic instruments (at least for rock and roll) and some decent songwriting. Overall, a pretty good album.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shimmering Work of British Post-Folk Pop, July 16, 2006

By 

Captain_Pass "M.Cush" (San Leandro, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fat Mattress (Audio CD)

I was born the year the first Fat Mattress album was committed to vinyl. I discovered it some twenty years later, and it has not left my frequent play list since that time. The fact is, this is both a wonderful period piece and a highly under-appreciated classic work of post-folk British psychedelia. Indeed, if you are looking for Hendrix, a la "Purple Haze," you will be sorely disappointed indeed. There is no fuzz guitar; and, in fact, you are more likely to hear the pickings of an acoustic guitar placed to a crack drum and bass section than anything truly from the Hendrix/Thirteenth- Floor Elevators vein. However, if you are willing to lend an ear to the generation that learned a thing or two from both Dylan and the British band-hall sound more broadly, you will love what you hear.

While some of the pieces admittedly wear their mint date on their sleeves (Walking Through a Garden; Everything Blue; She Came in the Morning; Magic Forest; all, not coincidently, on the second side of the album and all conspicuously about drugs and the purportedly beautiful experiences induced by drugs), others remain timelessly beautiful and transcend the limits of the genre. Witness "How Can I Live" which has a sonorous bass-line anchoring an otherwise lush three-part harmony (in the fine British choral tradition) about existential angst. It ends a beautiful album that begins with the driving, but acoustic, "All Night Drinker," which, shall we say, is hardly existential.

Even the pieces that wear the late 60s hard and heavy--Mr. Moonshine and the Magic Forest are lyrical psychedelic pieces--are nonetheless quite beautiful and manage to combine a gritty root folk, acoustic sensibility with some of the late 60s finest instrumentation (electric reverb, chorus, sustain). Indeed, for my own ears, what separates this first album from the generally inferior second album is not simply better arrangements, but superb, top-notch production. The haunting and catchy "Petrol Pump Assistant" is under-written by the careful reverb-driven guitar and thick, plump notes of the bass that were carefully channeled through what I would imagine were mere 8-track studio boards. It was the production that brought this element of the sound to the fore, and it is this element that is all but lacking in the very "garage" sounding second album (where instrument tracks are muddled and the drums sound like they were miked three doors down from the studio). In short, it is impossible not to note the careful love and care that went into arranging what might have otherwise been another druggy, folk band and bring a real glowing, glistening sound out of these musicians.

Do yourself a favor, buy it today and hear the sound of a generation that truly believed--for a few years--that youth, beauty, and congregations of beautiful youths in the parks could change the world. It is a classic.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Noel Redding could play guitar too!!!, December 29, 2003

By 

Jason P. Pumphrey "the movie & music man" (Falls Church, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fat Mattress (Audio CD)

This great debut album from Fat Mattress has proof that the late Noel Redding could play some serious guitar not just bass (like He did with Jimi Hendrix)!!! This is a classic album!!! Magic Forest is the highlight but the rest of the tracks are great also. Traffic's Chris Wood plays flute on the song All Night Drinker. The other band members are great too,Eric Dillon's drumming is awesome(He is now an airline pilot!),so is James Laverton's bass and keyboard playing and Neil Landon's vocals!!! A true class act!!! Two thumbs up!!! A+