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Fat Water...group from the 70's...I need info please!


Sweet Jane 61

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probably no help; found it at cduniverse with the cd for sale. A little bit of info:

FAT WATER is the eponymous album from a rock act influenced by the San Francisco/Jefferson Airplane sound of the late '60s and early '70s.

Every once in a while here at Radioactive HQ we uncover an album where, try as we might, we can find no information at all about said recording. Some of these albums are so obscure that not even we can find information, as indeed is the case with Fat Water. It is left to your humble scribe to pen a few lines of colour to enlighten and elucidate. Fat Water probably hail from the west coast of America and fit ver y nicely into the dual male /female lead vocals of the late 60’s and early ‘70s. The vocals are very much of the west coast San Francisco scene of that time and bring the Airplane’s Grace Slick immediately to mind. Musically, the vocals are matched with acoustic guitars and swirling organ which gives a country rock feel that flows easily from full tilt boogie to slow blues. Found more info worth reading (Date,names,location) at http://lost-in-tyme.blogspot.com/2006_12_03_archive.html

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From an unrevised e-book version of Fuzz Acid & Flowers by Vernon Joynson -- a very thorough guide to U.S. psychedelic and garage music 1964-1972:

FAT WATER

Personnel:

BORIS ? bass, vocals

EVE ? keyboards

LANCE ? guitar, vocals

PETE ? drums, vocals

VICKI ? vocals

ALBUM:

Fat Water (MGM SE 4660) 1969

45:

_ Santa Anna Speed Queen / Amalynda Guinevere (MGM 14101) Dec 1969

From Chicago, a mix of psych and heavy rock, with good organ and guitars plus the powerful voice of their singer, who was probably influenced by Janis Joplin.

This outfit reportedly evolved out of The One Eyed Jacks* from Champaign, Illinois.

(Stephane Rebeschini/Max Waller/Nick Kontogouris)

------------------------------

* ONE EYED JACKS

Personnel incl:

B. FASMAN

G. HARVEY

W. SCHNEIDER

MICHAEL MURPHY

45s:

_ Die Today/Somewhere They Can Find Me (Lake Side 1981) 1967

_ Sun So High/Love (White Cliffs 265) July 1967

_ Another Lonely Day / Get Yourself Ready (Bang 548) 1967

_ California's Callin'/Together We're In Love (Roulette 7025) 1968

_ Sky Of My Mind/Gettin' In The Groove (Roulette 7035) 1969

They may have originated in Florida but became based in Champaign, Illinois and later evolved into Fat Water. Love, which was released on a Louisiana label, features some rather discordant psychedelic guitar work and good vocals (and a rarity - enhancing sax!).

Michael Murphy, who played on the last Roulette release went on REO Speedwagon.

(Max Waller/Gary Myers)

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Hello,

I actually have this album! I suppose someone in my family picked it up years ago, and now it's in my basement with a bunch of other records from the era. It just occurred to me to try and find something out about it online, and it's very surprising to see such a recent posting about Fat Water. This is probably the most press they've had in about 30 years (not to disrespect the band)!

Maybe I'll dig it out and give it another listen. I wonder what became of these guys?

Take care.

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Hello, again,

[i just typed this response in its entirety, only to have my computer choke and erase the entire thing. So...here we go again...]

I found the album. Alas, there are no liner notes inside. There is, however, some useful information on the back cover. My copy is a Canadian printing, MGM SE 4660.

Track listing:

Side One:

I Can Be Happy (2:51)

Joshua (4:19)

Amalynda Guinevere (2:04)

Gimme Your Sweet (2:20)

Guitar Store Song (1:00)

Only For The Moment (3:19)

Side Two:

It's Not The Same (3:11)

Wayback (1:32)

Waiting For Mary (4:10)

Mistress De Charmaign (3:07)

Santa Anna Speed Queen (2:07)

Gotta Get Together (3:20)

The album art, I must admit, I always found to be pretty clever. On the back cover, we see what looks like an old medicine cabinet holding 11 bottles, all of which look like those travelling medicine show "miracle cures". We have "Father John's Medicine", "Dr. Hand's Colic Mixture For Wind Colic and Sour Stomach". "Dr. Kilmer's Swamp Root", "Chamberlain's Colic Relief for Flatulence or Wind Colic", and, of course, "Fat Water --Original Essence of Rock & Roll: An Elixir Beneficial To The Mind and a guaranteed euphoric to the Heart." It appears that Fat Water can also "keep the spirits high. It gives happiness to young women, and pleasure to young men." If only it cured wind colic...

There are three "antique" Fat Water bottles on the shelf on the back cover. One of them holds the track listing on its label, one is the large bottle pictured on the front cover being held by (I presume) Vicki, and the last has some technical information about the project. It reads as follows:

"FW [just a logo at the top]

FAT WATER

LANCE, guitar, vocals

VICKI, vocals

BORIS, bass, vocals

PETE, drums, vocals

EV, keyboards

Produced by STEVE SPERRY for the Dick Marx Production Group, Inc.

Recorded at 8-Track Recording Company in Chicago. Engineer BILL BRADLEY, all tracks except side 2, tracks 4 and 6, which were engineered by STU WALDER. Recording & mixing by BILL BRADLEY.

Cover art and photography by HOWARD R COHEN

Spiritual guidance, Dick Jahn"

Unfortunately, that's it for the info. The record itself is in pretty good shape, but the jacket has seen better days. I'm very interested in any information found on this record, as it's been somewhat of a mystery to me for quite a long time. Please let me know if I can be of any more assistance. Good luck.

facedownowls

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p.s.

Check out the following links for a.) a brief mention of Fat Water (near the top of the page), and b.) a relatively detailed blurb about The One Eyed Jacks. The first link seems to have a lot of info about other bands from the same time and place, and there are probably lots of people to e-mail at that site who might be able to help.

http://www.hollywoodhangover.com/champaign%20page%202.htm

http://www.benmclane.com/OneEyed.htm

The name Bill Fiorio might also be of interest.

-fdo

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  • 4 years later...
  • 4 months later...

fat water was from chicago. my name is g.e. stinson and i played in the group for about 2 or 3 years. i only knew three of the original members, vicky hubley - vocalist, peter milio - drummer and boris schneider - bassist. i replaced their guitarist, lance, who was also the main songwriter. one of the reasons i got the gig was because i wrote songs and no one else in the band really did. when i joined the group they were signed to MGM records (i believe) but were eventually dropped. they were managed by dick marx (father of richard marx, pop singer from the late 80s, early 90s). we played around chicago and the midwest for several years but never got signed again. the most notable highlights of the later band was playing kickapoo rock festival which was a fairly unknown but a very large festival (some estimates were up to 60,000 people) near the town of heyworth in central illinois.

we also played a free concert at grant park in chicago where sly and the family stone were scheduled to play (plus the flying burrito brothers). we were the only band that played and shortly after we left the stage, the place erupted into a full blown riot. it was a hair raising experience but we had played at two other concerts earlier that year which also turned into riots.

i did not keep up with the other musicians except for the drummer, peter milio. peter eventually played with country joe mcdonald (of country joe and the fish). i ran into peter several years later when i was touring with my band, shadowfax.

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