LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

Complete anthology of Noel Redding's post-Jimi Hendrix Experience band.

Comprises their three albums (one unreleased at the time), non-album single tracks, outtakes, radio and TV sessions as well as the first-ever reissue of the alternative US-only mix of their debut LP.

Primarily a songwriting vehicle for former Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist Noel Redding, Fat Mattress were launched in a blaze of publicity in the summer of 1969.

With Redding (now reverting to his preferred instrument of guitar) joined by former Flower Pot Men singer Neil Landon and ex-Engelbert Humperdinck touring band members Jim Leverton and Eric Dillon, Fat Mattress recorded a fine debut album (actually cut in December 1968) that charted in America.

Unfortunately, Redding quit the band midway through a volatile US tour, the rump of the band going on to release a second album without him before he returned to the line-up for a third Fat Mattress LP.

But a disagreement with manager Chas Chandler meant that the third album failed to gain a release at the time, and Fat Mattress split again, this time permanently.

The final word on a talented but star-crossed band, How Can I Live? assembles everything that they recorded during their brief existence, including BBC radio and German TV sessions as well as the first-ever reissue in any format of the American mix of that impressive debut album.

• ALL NIGHT DRINKER
• I DON'T MIND
• BRIGHT NEW WAY
• PETROL PUMP ASSISTANT
• MR. MOONSHINE
• MAGIC FOREST
• SHE CAME IN THE MORNING
• EVERYTHING'S BLUE
• WALKING THROUGH A GARDEN
• HOW CAN I LIVE?

Bonus tracks

• LITTLE GIRL IN WHITE
• ERIC THE RED
• NATURALLY (single mix, stereo)
• IRIDESCENT BUTTERFLY (non-album single, stereo)
• MAGIC FOREST (single mix, mono)

1–10: The album Fat Mattress, UK Polydor 583 056, released August 1969

11–12: Outtakes from Fat Mattress

13–14: Single, Polydor 56352, released September 1969

15: Single, Polydor 56367, released November 1969

• ALL NIGHT DRINKER
• I DON'T MIND
• BRIGHT NEW WAY
• PETROL PUMP ASSISTANT
• MR. MOONSHINE
• MAGIC FOREST
• SHE CAME IN THE MORNING
• EVERYTHING'S BLUE
• WALKING THROUGH A GARDEN
• HOW CAN I LIVE

Bonus tracks

• NATURALLY (TV performance)
• MR. MOONSHINE (TV performance)
• MAGIC FOREST (TV performance)
• HAPPY MY LOVE (radio session)
• MR. MOONSHINE (radio session)
• NATURALLY (radio session)

1–10: The album Fat Mattress, alternative mix/versions, US Atco SD 33-309, released November 1969

11–13: Beat Club, German TV, 27th September 1969

14–16: BBC Radio 1 Top Gear session, recorded 6th October 1969, broadcast 25th October 1969

• THE STORM
• ANYWAY YOU WANT
• LEAFY LANES
• NATURALLY
• ROAMIN'
• HAPPY MY LOVE
• CHILDHOOD DREAM
• SHE
• HIGHWAY
• AT THE BALL
• PEOPLE

Bonus tracks

• HALL OF KINGS
• BLACK SHEEP OF THE FAMILY
• MARGARITA
• COLD WALL OF STONE
• LONG RED
• WORDS
• THE RIVER
• FUTURE DAYS
• WHICH WAY TO GO

1–11: The album Fat Mattress II, UK Polydor 2383 025, released October 1970

12: Outtake from Fat Mattress II

13: Single, Polydor 2058 053, released September 1970

14–19: Tracks from unreleased third album

20: Outtake, recorded as proposed Jim Leverton solo single