Fat Mattress - Hall Of Kings (1970)

Fat Mattress was formed in late 1968 by Noel Redding with vocalist Neil Landon, bass guitarist Jim Leverton and drummer Eric Dillon, and came together while Redding was a still member of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, with a view to enabling Redding to both play guitar and sing lead, as well as to record original material. While he had done all three things with the Experience, they were restricted to rare occasions, and having his own band would give him the freedom to build on this more fully. The first major public exposure of the band was as the opening act to the Jimi Hendrix Experience on a tour of the United States, during which Redding would perform with both bands, with Landon, Redding, and Leverton all singing lead, allowing the group to employ a great deal of vocal harmonies. They signed to Polydor Records and released the eponymous 'Fat Mattress' album in 1969, with the single 'Magic Forest' becoming a hit in the Netherlands, and the album itself achieving some success. It was a distinct departure from the sound of the Experience, with a late 60's psychedelic feel to some of the songs, and with an overall gentler feel to the music. In August 1969 the band made an appearance at the Isle of Wight Festival in front of a crowd of an estimated 120,000 people, and the following month they appeared on the popular German TV show Beat-Club, performing 'Naturally', 'Mr. Moonshine' and 'Magic Forest'. In February 1970 the band headlined over David Bowie's new band Hype at the Roundhouse, before moving on to tour the US, although this was cancelled after completing only five dates of an initially anticipated thirty appearances. In the midst of recording 'Fat Mattress II', Redding and Leverton had a falling out, resulting in Redding's departure from the band. He was replaced by Steve Hammond at roughly the same time as Mick Weaver was added to relieve Leverton on keyboard duties, allowing Leverton to focus on bass and vocals. 'Fat Mattress II' was released to slightly less acclaim than their debut, and although there were plans for a third album, the band split in the middle of recording sessions, with only a handful of songs being completed. Although they remain primarily known as Noel Redding's band, he was only a member for about 18 months, and had a hand in writing just three of the tracks on their second album, but they were still an under-rated outfit, and nothing like I expected them to sound bearing in mind Redding's previous 'experience'. They left behind a couple of out-takes from their second album, plus some non-album b-sides, and if we combine them with those abandoned sessions then we end up with an idea of what that third album could have sounded like.    

Track listing

01 Little Girl In White (out-take 1969)
02 Eric The Red (out-take 1969)
03 Iridescent Butterfly (b-side of 'Naturally')
04 Black Sheep Of The Family (b-side of 'Highway' 1970)
05 Hall Of Kings (out-take 1970)
06 Margarita (previously unreleased 3rd album track)
07 Cold Wall Of Stone (previously unreleased 3rd album track)
08 Long Red (previously unreleased 3rd album track)
09 Words (previously unreleased 3rd album track)
10 The River (previously unreleased 3rd album track)
11 Future Days (previously unreleased 3rd album track)

I had to severely edit 'The River', as it seemed to be a perfectly good rocker up the three minute mark, where an entirely unrelated 14-minute instrumental was crudely grafted onto the end, so I've removed that completely, which also makes for a nice 43-minute album.