The band Mountain is known, by most casual rock fans, for being one hit wonders for the song Mississippi Queen. First time I heard Mississippi Queen was on a compilation cassette I got from a used record store as a kid called Metalmania. There was no metal music on it, but, lets not get picky ;0)
I must have been about 12 or 13 years old because I remember my Mom driving me to the record store. (Hi Mom!!! 💗) Some good stuff on this compilation, but look at track 5 on side A.... yes, that is Michael Bolton! He started out as a rock singer! Is there a video? Oh yes, there's a video.
Anyway, back to why we are here....
Mississippi Queen has always been one of my favorite classic rock songs but I had never listened to any albums by Mountain or cared to dig into any of their other material. In late 2022 I purchased a used turntable, receiver, and speakers and started collecting vinyl. One of the first albums I bought at Vinyl Emporium (used record store in NewBo) was kinda based soley on the artwork. I saw the band was Mountain and thought "oh, they are the Missisippi Queen guys" and figured it was worth taking a chance on buying it.
 |
| Nantucket Sleighride album cover |
Possibly enhanced by the excitement and joy of my new hobby, I was a little blown away by the songs on Nantucket Sleighride. The more I listened to it the more I liked it. I began to wonder who these guys were. So.... lets get started, shall we? We shall. (you don't need to answer yourself, Nick).... (shut up, Nick).
The heart and soul of Mountain is the guitarist and co-lead singer Leslie West. This amateur documentary has a lot of interesting information on Leslie's early career before and during Mountain.
I learned a lot from this little documentary. As a teen, Leslie West started band with his brother, Larry West, called the Vagrants. They started by playing covers of Stones and Beatles songs, but were good enough to gain some attention and record some original material.
A dude named Felix Pappalardi produced a couple of songs for the Vagrants, and that is how Leslie West ended up starting the band Mountain with him... eventually.... Before they became the band Mountain, Felix produced a solo album for Leslie West titled 'Mountain', released in 1969. Many people assume this was the first Mountain album, but it is not. It's a solo album called Mountain with the main dude from Mountain and the other main Mountain dude as producer before they became the band Mountain. Not sure why anyone would be confused 😕😏😵.
 |
| Leslie's album 'Mountain'.... (of hair) |
I am still getting familiar with this album but there are some songs I really enjoy. My favorite song on this album and now one of my top five of any Mountain/Leslie West songs is Long Red.
After Leslie West's Mountain album was released, Leslie and producer/bassist Felix Pappalardi decided to go on the road calling themselves Mountain. Thus the record Mountain became the band Mountain! And evermore it shall be!!!! The band played two shows and, for show number three, they played Woodstock (yes, THAT Woodstock).
 |
| The band at Woodstock 1969. Pappalardi is the cool mustachio'd man with a cloud of smoke on his face. |
Now that Mountain was Mountain, they recorded and released their debut as a band, 1970's Climbing.
 |
| Climbing! (1970) album cover. Their artwork was so cool! |
The first song on Climbing is the granddaddy of so many rock and metal songs that came after... Mississippi Queen. Below is part of an interview with the drummer who played on Climbing, Corky Laing, with some background on how the song came to be.
Listen to the guitar tone on Mississippi Queen and then listen to some other, ANY other rock recording released in 1970 and you will see how ground breaking this sound was. So good. Below is a live appearance from February 1970, one month before the album was released, of the band playing the song on "The Show".
Ok, ok, enough about the song everybody already knows... lets talk about the stuff nobody knows about.... aka EVERYTHING ELSE MOUNTAIN EVER RELEASED. 😂
My other favorite songs from Climbing (1970):
Never In My Life - great riff, great guitar tone, great singing, and the drumming is crazy heavy and good.
Sittin On A Rainbow - is that double bass drum?! YES 💥
Mountain's second album, Nantucket Sleighride (1971), is named after the unfortunate situation of having your whaleboat dragged around by a harpooned whale... weeeeeeeee!
 |
| 8-track! |
I loooooove this album! It is one of those rare times that I can listen to every single song and not skip any tracks. This album features Felix Pappalardi much more than the debut, and his voice is a great change of pace from Leslie's rough soulful wail.
 |
| Felix Pappalardi around 1970ish |
Don't Turn Around - Similar to the songs from Climbing... hard driving song with great drumming.
Taunta / Nantucket Sleighride - A piano and some other instrument intro the title track. Not sure why I dig it so much but I do! This is an epic song featuring Felix Pappalardi's vocals and several different sections. It's almost a prog rock song. One of my favorite parts is the instrumental break at 4:03. Wikipedia says it uses the melody of traditional Scottish song "The Parting Glass". It rocks my world, brother!
Tired Angels (To JMH) - Probably my second favorite song from this album. Great guitar riffs (surprise!) from Leslie West and Felix's vocals are wonderful. I just learned writing this that the dedication to JMH is referring to Jimmy Hendrix... interesting!
Travelin In The Dark (To EMP) - Felix sings on this one too, but I think that is Leslie singing backup on the choruses. Another song with heart, soul, and great musicianship and hooks. The dedication is to Pappalardi's mother, Elia.
The band released Flowers of Evil in late 1971 with side A being new studio tracks and side B being a live recording. The band split up after making this album but reunited in 1973 to release their third full length album Avalanche in July 1974. Avalanche has a couple of songs that are worth mentioning here...
 |
| Avalanche album cover. Great hair, birds! |
Sister Justice - You can tell some advances in recording technology had occurred between this album and 1971's Nantucket Sleighride. Lesley West's guitar tone is especially crispy and crunchy. 💪 Pappalardi doing the vocals.
Swamp Boy - I LOVE Swamp Boy! It's a slowish plodding blues song and, like many other Mountain songs, West's guitar tone is fuzzy and warm. I think there are some bongos in there somewhere also.
Thumbsucker - I LOVE Thumbsucker! See a pattern here? This one is similar to Swamp Boy. Fuzzy distortion and funky melodic verses by Pappalardi. Oh, also it kinda rocks. 👅
You Better Believe It - I am a sucker for harmonized guitar leads. The main hook on this one is a.... harmonized guitar lead. This one is a West vocal. "You better believe that everything will be alright."
Avalanche was the last album from the team of Pappalardi/West. The band played its final show on New Years Eve, December 31st 1974.
Felix Pappalardi died in 1983 after being shot by his wife. Whoops.
In 1992, Leslie West and Corky Laing reunited under the Mountain name to play the Dennis Miller Live show. YouTube video below. Sounded pretty good, right?! After Mississippi Queen they play some of the instrumental break from Nantucket Sleighride. Well done, guys.... well done.
Leslie West continued to make music up until his death in 2020 at age 75. There are a lot of music fans and musicians out there saying he doesn't get his due for how important his playing and guitar sound was in paving the way for heavy music and the distortion revolution. I totally agree. Leslie also struggled with being overweight for his entire life and sometimes poked fun at himself because of it. His 1975 album was called "The Great Fatsby". I relate to that very much and it hurts my heart knowing that there was always a part of himself that made him feel less-than. But, I guess we all have that little voice in some form or another telling us we aren't good enough. Don't listen to it, people!! Thank you Leslie West, Felix Pappalardi, Corky Laing, and all the other members of Mountain for all your wonderful music. You are still making new fans all these years later!!
 |
| West and Pappalardi at some huge festival. RIP, my dudes 💜 |
Comments
Post a Comment