Boys in the band (Mountain) (LP 3292 - 3297)

Mountain  Mountain (2LP Vinyl, Polydor Records, 1972) ****  

Mountain  Climbing! (Vinyl and CD, Windfall/ CBS Records, 1970) ****  

Mountain  Nantucket Sleighride (Vinyl and CD, Windfall/ CBS Records, 1971) ****  

Mountain  Flowers Of Evil (CD, Windfall Records, 1971) *** 

Mountain  Avalanche (Vinyl and CD, Windfall/ CBS Records, 1974) ****  

Mountain  Go For Your Life (Vinyl, Scotti Bros. Records, 1985) *  

Genre: Heavy rock, hard rock, rock

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records, Fopp, The Warehouse.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin)

Gear costume: Never In My Life (Climbing!)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: The Mountain releases are super confusing given all the different labels involved, the different titles for the same album, different covers for the same album and similar sounding album titles. Then there are all the re-releases. For instance, the first album on the list is a double album that combines Climbing! with Leslie West Mountain (the 1969 version). Some of the latter now sounds like a demo album, but it does set out the template for Mountain. 

1970 on Bell Records.

Long Red is thin on Leslie West Mountain (1969) compared to the meaty version that appears at Woodstock. It can be found on Mountain Live (see below when we get to the equally confusing live albums).

Another case in point is that debut album. 

It could be called Climbing!, Mountain Climbing or Leslie West Mountain (on Bell Records - same cover/title but released in 1970). It's the same album, same songs, in the same order. Told you it's confusing.

To limit the confusion, I'll separate the studio albums from the live as much as I can (they also love to combine the two - one side live and one side studio on one album). So, there will be two peaks, if you will.

Whatever it's called, the 1970 Climbing! album is a brilliant debut that came out a year after they'd performed at Woodstock (their third gig). All power bass and chunky guitar from Leslie, plus Corky Laing on drums. Not quite a Cream style power trio though - Steve Knight's on keyboards.

Second album, Nantucket Sleighride is another awesome album. The title track is one of my favourites. All that seadog/ Moby Dick imagery gets me every time. Other standout songs are Don't Look Around (Corky in great form), and The Animal Trainer And The Toad (about Felix and Leslie).

Flowers of Evil is also from 1971. This is the one with a side live from 27 June 1971 at the Fillmore East in New York City/ a side in the studio. The live material was named Dream Sequence but was in reality a medley of rock'n'roll hits and Mississippi Queen. 

Crossroader stands out on the studio side, which is good on the whole, but the live side isn't essential. So, three-stars for Flowers of Evil.

The band went into hiatus after Flowers of Evil - notably Leslie and Corky joined up with Cream bassist Jack Bruce to create West Bruce and Laing. A brilliant power trio; we'll get to their three albums eventually. When that band flamed up the boys eventually reconnected with Felix Pappalardi, and Mountain was reborn.

By August 1973, West and Pappalardi had reformed Mountain with Allan Schwartzberg on drums and Bob Mann on keyboards and guitar; the new lineup toured Japan and produced a double live album, Twin Peaks from the tour (I'll get to this when I look at the live albums). 

Avalanche was the next studio album after Corky replaced touring drummer Schwartzberg, and it's a beauty! All the best components of Mountain's no-nonsense hard rock style are on display.

They kept going into the eighties and Go For Your Life (1985) was the next studio album after Avalanche. It's full of glossy eighties production ticks, questionable lyrics (I Love Young Girls is icky) and synths. Yes - synths! Felix Pappalardi is absent because, tragically, his wife - Gail Collins - the one who'd done those earlier artistic covers, had shot and killed him in 1983. Go For Your Life is best forgotten as a bridge too far after Felix was killed.

Where do they all belong? West and Laing hung in there for another three studio releases (from 1996 to 2007) - none of which I have, nor am I keen to get. After Felix left this mortal coil, his presence was sorely missed in Mountain. Next post - the live albums.