About the Artist:  If there wasn't Cream, there wouldn't be Mountain.  Mountain actually began as a Leslie West solo career, which in turn was inspired by Felix Pappalardi's work with super-group Cream.  Pappalardi, who was a producer, featured musician, and songwriter on various works with Cream wanted to create a new band that was like Cream, but with his own touches.  Cream, as we all know, broke up, so Felix wanted to carry the torch.  Enter Leslie West, hot New York guitarist.  They got together with drummer N.D. Smart III and formed Leslie West's band.  The first Leslie West solo album, called "Mountain", was released in 1969.  Although an excellent album, it really didn't do that hot commercially.  A little time passed.  They played Woodstock and did a stellar performance.  They replaced drummer Smart with Corky Laing and included keyboardist Steve Knight.  Now as a foursome they released their first album as Mountain, called "Climbing!", in 1970.  It went gold.  So did their second album.  But with Mountain album #3, commercial sales dropped significantly.  "Flowers of Evil" was an outstanding album.  In many ways, better than the previous two.  But it was a sign of the times.  Popular music was changing.  The public was growing fickle.  It was hard to appease record buyers in the early 1970s.  The band broke up in February of 1972 after a tour of the UK.  Mountain was in a state of limbo.   Their record label Windfall was hoping that the breakup was just temporary, so they released an EP (mini-album) called "Live: The Road Goes Ever On" just to get something on the market so people wouldn't forget about them.  When the band still wasn't getting back together, a "Best Of" was released in 1973.  This "Best Of" did pretty well and you can still find this fairly common in music stores.  It was the first time their version of "Roll Over Beethoven" ever appeared in studio form.  Still, the band wasn't getting back together.  So another live album was released in 1974, "Twin Peaks: Live in Japan".  This album is awesome.  It's a really great selection of songs popular and obscure.  Later in 1974, Mountain got back together!  They released the album "Avalanche".  This is an outstanding album.  Every song is a winner.  But it didn't make as strong an impression commercially as their earlier albums.  It's a shame, really, because this is high quality music.  Mountain broke up again.  They did not release another album until 1985, and since then recordings have been sporadic.  But it does seem like since the late 1990s and especially throughout the 2000s there have been more new Mountain albums than ever before.  Mountain has probably been more popular since the 1990s than they were back in the day, and with their hit song "Mississippi Queen" used in the wildly popular video game "Guitar Hero III", it seems like more people will be catching onto the Mountain sound all the time.  That's a good thing.

    Since the days Mountain began, Leslie West has made a name for himself as a solo artist and has certainly earned his place in music history as a rock legend.  On April 17, 1983 Felix Pappalardi died tragically at the hands of his wife and musical partner Gail Collins.  It was ruled in court as an accidental shooting.  She has since lived very privately.  Gail Collins was a very important part of Mountain's success in the early years.  She designed many of the cool album covers they had, and she co-wrote songs with Felix.  Gail penned a lot of the clever lyrics in their songs, which for all the world sound like they could've come from a man.  She never did get the full credit she deserved for all that she did.  Since the departure of the "Felix and Gail Show", Mountain hasn't been exactly the same.  Leslie West and Corky Laing stick around, but other members come and go.  Still, if you're into hard rock and raunchy guitar, a good bet is Mountain!  Seek them out by all means necessary!


Polar Blair's Thoughts on the Artist:  Mountain's always been one of my favorites.  I've always thought that they were the first, real "hard rock" band.  There were a lot of great bands before Mountain, but none of them were truly "hard rock".  Not even Cream or Led Zeppelin.  They had a smoother edge.  Mountain was just right out there, loud and powerful!  Then other great hard rock bands followed, like Bachman-Turner Overdrive, and AC/DC.  I like most of Mountain's music, but they tended to play some real wimp tunes on occasion.  I guess they can't ALL be "Mississippi Queen" (but they should!).  This was mostly Felix Pappalardi's idea.  He wanted to expand Mountain's scope, but it really didn't need expanding.  All it needed was Leslie's rip-roaring guitar and Gail Collins' tough, knock-down lyrics.  Hard rock suited Mountain best.  The ballads don't jive with Leslie's raspy voice and wild guitar.  When Leslie's rockin', it's the best!

Personnel:

Discography: Album:

As "Leslie West":
Mountain (1969)

As "Mountain":
Climbing! (1970)
Nantucket Sleighride (1971)
Flowers of Evil (1971)
Live: The Road Goes Ever On (1972)
The Best of Mountain (1973)
Twin Peaks: Live in Japan (1974)
Avalanche (1974)
Go For Your Life (1985)
Over The Top: The Mountain Anthology (1995)
Man's World (1996)
Mystic Fire (2002)
Eruption (2004)
Masters of War (2007)
Sixty Minutes With Mountain: Live (2007)

Discography: EP:

Discography: Single:

Filmography (Film & Television):

Photos:


Videography: