Mountain

Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Jumpin' John, and in this podcast episode I will discuss a band that became one of the definitive hard rock acts of the early 1970's:  Mountain!  Over four decades the band Mountain would end up releasing six studio albums with a variety of different band members.  Since Mountain achieved their greatest commercial success between 1969 and 1972, I will devote most of this discussion to that early era.  It was during this time that they released three of those albums, establishing the band as one of the pioneers of hard rock and heavy metal. 

All podcasts on the Rock and Roll Flashback Podcast are produced by brothers-in-law Bill Price and "Jumpin' John" McDermott. The Podcast Theme Song, "You Essay", was written by John. It was initially recorded by Bill and John on April 1, 2004 with several revisions since then.
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Transcript

Thank you for that introduction and, yes indeed, you have landed on Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Jumpin' John, and in this podcast episode I will discuss a band that became one of the definitive hard rock acts of the early 1970's:  Mountain!  Over four decades the band Mountain would end up releasing six studio albums with a variety of different band members.  Since Mountain achieved their greatest commercial success between 1969 and 1972, I will devote most of this discussion to that early era.  It was during this time that they released three of those albums, establishing the band as one of the pioneers of hard rock and heavy metal. 

Leslie Weinstein was born on October 22nd, 1945, in Forest Hills, Queens, New York.  After his parents divorced, he changed his last name to West.  His musical career began with the Vagrants, a Long Island, New York R&B/blue-eyed soul-rock band influenced by the Young Rascals.  The Vagrants had two minor hits on the ATCO label in the Eastern United States:  1966's "I Can't Make a Friend" and a 1967 cover of Otis Redding's "Respect".  Despite gaining an enthusiastic following around the New York City metropolitan area, West wanted to take his music into a heavier, more guitar-oriented direction.  In early 1969, West left The Vagrants to form his own band, who he called "Leslie West Mountain", which was a reference to West’s 300 pound physical bulk.  The initial band ensemble included West on guitar and vocals, Norman Landsberg on keyboards and bass, and Ken Janick on drums.  After a few months of gigging around New York, West was offered a deal for a solo album to be produced by 29-year old Felix Pappalardi, best known at that time as Cream’s producer on their album Disraeli Gears.  West's solo album, titled Mountain, featured backing by Norman Landsberg on keyboards, Felix Pappalardi on bass, and Norman (N.D.) Smart on drums.  Released in July 1969, the explosive album immediately attracted a following far beyond the New York City metro area.  Rolling Stone magazine identified the band as a "louder version of Cream".  West and Pappalardi decided to take their show on the road, replacing Landsberg on keyboards with 34-year old Steve Knight.  They named themselves Mountain, after West’s album, and played a couple shows on the West Coast before returning back east for their third gig, a prime Saturday evening slot at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in Bethel, New York.  

With Steve Knight on keyboards and original drummer N. D. Smart, the band appeared on the second day of the Woodstock Festival.  On Saturday, August 16th, 1969, they started their nine song set at 9 pm.  Mountain's set was largely taken from guitarist Leslie West’s recently released solo album entitled Mountain.  They opened their Woodstock set with “Blood Of The Sun,” a tune driven along by a powerful riff.  Next up was their cover of T-Bone Walker’s blues standard, “Stormy Monday”.  Their third song featured Pappalardi's beautiful vocal on a song written by Cream bassist Jack Bruce and lyricist Pete Brown, “Theme For An Imaginary Western.”  Next was "Long Red", followed by a brand-new ballad, which was untitled at the time, but would come to be known as “For Yasgur’s Farm”.   Their sixth and seventh songs were “Beside The Sea” and “Waiting To Take You Away”.  The main set finished with an extended version of “Dreams Of Milk And Honey” that climaxed with an extended, unaccompanied Leslie West guitar solo.  The pumped up crowd roared for more and the group obliged, closing with a driving version of “Southbound Train”.  The Woodstock crowd heard a guitarist capable of uniting accessibility, melody, power, fluent vibrato, and strong rhythm playing into one package.  Leslie West's imposing frame juxtaposed against the small size of his Les Paul Junior guitar along with his surprisingly soulful and muscular vocals completed the picture.  His torrid performances on “Beside the Sea” and “Southbound Train” impressed many and didn’t go unnoticed by record executives.  The relatively unknown band Mountain had blown away the Woodstock audience, but surprisingly their exuberant performance was not included in either the 1970 Woodstock documentary or the soundtrack album.

Here is an excerpt from Mountain's studio version of “Theme for an Imaginary Western”:

One interesting development from Mountain's Woodstock performance had to do with their rendition of "Long Red".  The 24-second drum intro from Mountain's performance of "Long Red" struck a nerve, and it has since been sampled over 700 times.  Over the years following Woodstock, West's energetic ad-libs and drummer N. D. Smart's improvised beat have been used by countless sample-based hip-hop producers.

Thanks to the reception they received at Woodstock, Mountain was now primed for stardom.  Even switching drummers didn’t slow their ascent.  Despite N. D. Smart's unique drumming on the song "Long Red", West and Pappalardi had grown quickly disenchanted with the  drummer’s musical suitability.   Pappalardi recommended 21-year old Canadian-born Laurence Gordon “Corky” Laing as Smart's replacement.  Pappalardi had previously produced the debut album for the band Energy, which was Laing's band.  The addition of Corky Laing brought Mountain a versatile and physical percussionist unafraid to expand his style.  Also, Laing proved to be another songwriter to add to the mix.

Prior to joining the band, Laing had worked out lyrics and a drum part to a song that he called "The Queen".  Leslie West had a guitar part without lyrics, so the two put their heads together to come up with “Mississippi Queen”, which is arguably the band’s defining work.  For the recording, Leslie West played a Gibson Les Paul Junior guitar into a 50-watt Marshall amp that went into a Sunn 12-inch cabinet.   “Mississippi Queen”, with its recognizable cowbell count off intro and signature riff would be ranked #10 on a 1995 chronological list of the "50 Heaviest Riffs of All Time" by Guitar magazine editorial staff.  The song would later be featured in a 1971 cult film Vanishing Point.  Mountain's 2 minute 31 second studio version of "Mississippi Queen" will be featured at the end of this podcast episode.

Mountain opened their studio debut album, Climbing!, with their signature song, “Mississippi Queen”.  The album of eight songs took just 10 days to record.  Many of its songs entered the band’s live set immediately and remained there for the duration of the band’s life.  The second song on the album, “Theme for an Imaginary Western”, was sung by Pappalardi and would over time come to be recognized as one of the best songs to emerge from Cream's Jack Bruce and lyricist Pete Brown’s songwriting partnership.   The third album cut was "Never in My Life".  No less an expert than Jimi Hendrix is said to have been impressed by the muscular and compelling riff dominating “Never in My Life”.  

Here is an excerpt from Mountain's studio version of “Never in My Life”:

Kicking off Side 2 of the LP was the "Woodstock Tune Without A Name".  Now known as “For Yasgur’s Farm”, it featured West’s ravaged soul singing at its youthful best.  Felix Pappalardi contributed the inspiration and smooth vocals behind two other album cuts:  the heavy pop leanings of “Silver Paper” and the light psychedelia of “The Laird”.

Windfall Records released the LP Climbing! on March 7th, 1970.  The album peaked at #17 on the Billboard 200 chart.  Climbing! was certified gold by the RIAA on August 28th, 1970.  "Mississippi Queen" was the band's debut single, released in February 1970.  The single peaked at #21 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.  "For Yasgur's Farm" was released as a single in August 1970, but it only reached #107 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.  "Silver Paper" was also released as a single in 1971, but it failed to chart.

Here is an excerpt from Mountain's studio version of “For Yasgur's Farm”:

By the end of the new lineup’s first year together, Mountain had criss-crossed the USA and played at least 132 shows.  They shared stages with acts as diverse as Sly and the Family Stone, Jethro Tull, Country Joe McDonald, and Van Morrison.  They performed on the main stage of the Atlanta International Pop Festival in July 1970 and provided one of the event’s highlights with a spellbinding rendition of the blues standard “Stormy Monday”.  

In the middle of Mountain's hectic touring schedule they recorded a follow-up album, which was released in January 1971.  This album, Nantucket Sleighride, reached #16 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart, but failed to yield a hit single.  The title track was used in the UK as the theme to ITV's Sunday political program Weekend World.  After these early releases the band continued to receive a certain measure of critical acclaim, but never again achieved great commercial success.

Following Nantucket Sleighride, the band produced Flowers of Evil.  Released in November 1971,  Flowers of Evil consisted of one side of studio material and one live side, which was taken from a concert at New York's Fillmore East.  Flowers of Evil peaked at #35 on the Billboard 200 Chart.

Mountain disbanded in February 1972 after a tour of the UK.  West later blamed the breakup on a combination of drug use within the band and Pappalardi's road weariness and hearing impairment.  A live album, Mountain Live: The Road Goes Ever On, was issued in April 1972.  That live album only reached #63 on the Billboard 200, but it had a bit more success in the UK Albums Chart, where it peaked at #21.

After the breakup, Pappalardi returned to studio work, while West and Laing formed West, Bruce and Laing with former Cream bassist Jack Bruce.  That new trio cut two studio albums and a live release over the next two years.  After Jack Bruce suddenly pulled out of the trio in 1973, West and Laing continued on briefly as Leslie West's Wild West Show, which also featured special guest Mitch Ryder plus guitarist Peter Baron and bassist Tom Robb.

By August 1973, West and Pappalardi had reformed Mountain with Allan Schwartzberg on drums and Bob Mann on keyboards and guitar.  Following a February 1974 live album called Twin Peaks, Laing returned to the lineup to play drums on a July 1974 studio LP called Avalanche. The group broke up again on December 31st, 1974.  Sadly, on April 17th, 1983, Pappalardi's wife and songwriting partner, Gail Collins Pappalardi, shot Pappalardi dead their East Side Manhattan apartment.

West and Laing would reunite Mountain three more times: in 1981 for 4 years, in 1992 for 6 years, and again in 2001.  In the 21st Century Mountain continued to perform occasionally with the lineup of Leslie West, Corky Laing, and Rev Jones.  On December 22nd, 2020 Leslie West suffered a heart attack and died at the age of 75.  In 2021 Corky Laing's Mountain briefly resumed touring with a lineup of Laing on drums and vocals, Joe Venti on bass and vocals, and Richie Scarlet on guitar and keyboards.  Despite their influence and popularity, as of 2026 Mountain has not yet been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Rock and Roll Flashback, where I reviewed the early years of one of the bands considered to be forerunners of heavy metal:  Mountain!  So, fellow travelers, may your path be smooth and your music always be rockin'!  And until next time...Rock On!