Why has Mountain been all but forgotten

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by TommyTunes, Aug 2, 2013.

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  1. rockledge

    rockledge Forum Resident

    Location:
    right here
    Flowers of Evil is my favorite Mountain album. They did work well together live.
     
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  2. Matthew Tate

    Matthew Tate Forum Resident

    Location:
    Richmond, Virginia
    well a bit of my opinion. each mountain album released in the last 35 years has about 3 tracks or so that sound like mountain because thats usually what west was responsible on early mountain albums. i'd have to listen to the 4 albums released without felix since the 70's but i think those 4 albums you get 11-13 great songs to make a top notch west solo album. the problem is you are missing the 20 great felix songs that would have been on them to balance it
     
  3. Malina

    Malina Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    Leslie West is a great guitar player, but I don't think Mountain had the quality songwriting that would appeal to subsequent generations.
     
  4. rockledge

    rockledge Forum Resident

    Location:
    right here
    I like a lot of the solo West stuff, which includes the Mountain stuff that doesn't have FP on it ( I consider it solo). Much of it is great stuff, but it just isn't the same kind of music that Mountain was best at. Even LWs guitar style and sound has changed, he does a lot more wankering now and uses fx. Which, I never thought he needed to.
     
  5. Matthew Tate

    Matthew Tate Forum Resident

    Location:
    Richmond, Virginia

    yeah i agree the fx and wanking is a bit much but the song "hard times" is great and the albums as phat as it gets, unusual suspects and still climbing are good. mans world by mountain in the 90's is the best of the post felix mountain albums
     
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  6. Black Elk

    Black Elk Music Lover

    Location:
    Bay Area, U.S.A.
    Come on, when talking of the early 70s and A-list artists the names Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, The Who, Bob Dylan, CSNY, Elton John, ELVIS PRESLEY, come to mind, and then there were album giants like Carole King, Simon & Garfunkel, etc. Neither Mountain nor Humble Pie fall into either category, despite the fact that they had some success. Let's face it, neither were as popular/successful as Black Sabbath or Deep Purple, and neither of those bands were A-list back then either!
     
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  7. Love the first three albums -never heard any Mountain beyond those classics. Flowers of Evil is an underated gem from '71.
     
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  8. old school

    old school Senior Member

    They were A-list to me and that is all that matters.
     
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  9. bhazen

    bhazen I Am The Walrus

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    Although obviously Pappalardi-less, Man's World from '96(? w. Mark Clark) has really grown on me. Some good songs on there. OOP probably, but Amazon still gets 'em used occasionally.
     
  10. Matthew Tate

    Matthew Tate Forum Resident

    Location:
    Richmond, Virginia

    you can pick it up cheap as dirt. i think i got a new one for $5 about 7 years ago
     
  11. rockledge

    rockledge Forum Resident

    Location:
    right here
    I like Mans World. Mystic Fire sounds like a bad attempt to mimic metal. The guitar sounds on it are quite bad.
     
  12. fitzysbuna

    fitzysbuna Senior Member

    Location:
    Australia
    the songs ! they were just not good enough! you can have a great guitarist but you need the songs to back them up with !
     
  13. Matthew Tate

    Matthew Tate Forum Resident

    Location:
    Richmond, Virginia
    Yeah mystic fire is the worst mountain album. Even the dylan covers album was better
     
  14. bluesky

    bluesky Senior Member

    Location:
    south florida, usa
    Mountain was Great.

    I have many of their LPs and when I play them, it's so right on!

    Leslie West wails, he's one great guitar player.

    Seen him in a solo concert headlining Foghat and the lead singer for Bad Company, about 12+ years ago. He was absolutely unreal. Blew me away... I needed that. Everyone was freakin out, standing on their chairs just screaming at the top of their lungs. And that was just 3 minutes into the guitar riff... Unreal.

    It was just 'one of those' concert moments. Totally awakening. Most Excellent.
     
    Last edited: Oct 23, 2014
  15. Matthew Tate

    Matthew Tate Forum Resident

    Location:
    Richmond, Virginia
    i don't understand how mountain can't get a decent career anthology or some unreleased stuff put out by sony/legacy
     
  16. pool_of_tears

    pool_of_tears Searching For Simplicity

    Location:
    Midwest
    Try the 2 disc 1995 set, "Over The Top"
     
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  17. Matthew Tate

    Matthew Tate Forum Resident

    Location:
    Richmond, Virginia
    i meant to comment about the 2 different 2 cd sets available and yes i have OVER THE TOP. here are my comments about the sets

    1 OVER THE TOP
    good
    - does cover the bands entire career up until 1995 including most of the tracks from leslies first solo album, titled "mountain", climbing and nantucket sleighride
    - has 2 brand new songs with noel redding on bass
    - has the hard to get "stormy monday" live from atlanta pops festival

    bad
    - the semi hit "hard times" from GO FOR YOUR LIFE is missing
    - missing two great songs from AVALANCHE "sister justice" and the bands roaring cover of "satisfaction"
    - missing the complete "dream sequence" from FLOWERS OF EVIL. we get part of it
    - "waiting to take you away" from ROAD GOES EVER ON is edited
    - why wasn't unreleased woodstock stuff used?
    - either live version of "crossroader" is better than the studio version

    2 CROSSROADER AN ANTHOLOGY 1970-1974
    good
    -focuses on the bands prime years
    - includes "sister justice"
    - includes 1 disc of studio songs and 1 disc of live material
    - includes the complete "dream sequence"
    -includes the bands 2 officially released woodstock songs
    - includes the live "crossroader" and a live long "nantucket sleighride"

    bad
    - nothing from the years not included in 1970-1974 so not career spanning
    - missing the bands roaring cover of "satisfaction" from AVALANCHE
    - no need for the studio and live versions of "crossroader"
    - no rare/unreleased tracks
     
  18. bhazen

    bhazen I Am The Walrus

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    ?! The first three Mountain albums had loads of great songs! I'm not as familiar with the post-Felix era, other than Man's World, but those Windfall discs made a convincing argument; particularly Felix's Jack Bruce-influenced ballads. YMMV, of course.

    The big test is, I can still listen to Mountain 40+ years on; unlike so many of their contemporaries (e.g. Grand Funk, Foghat, Cactus etc.)
     
    Last edited: Oct 24, 2014
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  19. Matthew Tate

    Matthew Tate Forum Resident

    Location:
    Richmond, Virginia
    agree the first 3 are filled with great songs, assuming you are counting the west solo album titled MOUNTAIN. AVALANCHE was a big step down. i'd say it has 5 songs near the quality of the first 3 releases and 2 of them are covers. GO FOR YOUR LIFE has 3 good songs. MANS WORLD is the best non felix mountain release. MYSTIC FIRE varies in quality. the overall tune is trying to be a little too metal but it has some great tracks buried in there. it also has 2 of the worst songs mountain ever recorded. MASTERS OF WAR is an all dylan covers album and is really good.
     
  20. Matthew Tate

    Matthew Tate Forum Resident

    Location:
    Richmond, Virginia
    next year is leslie west's 70th birthday. maybe we can get a boxset from sony/legacy like they did for johnny winter on his 70th bday. include a few pre mountain west songs with the vagrants and then run through mountain, some solo stuff, some west, bruce, laing stuff and so on. throw in some rare/unreleased stuff. anyone know if there are a lot of mountain studio outtakes?
     
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  21. rcdupre

    rcdupre Flying is Trying is Dying

    and there's a good reason for that...
     
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  22. Matthew Tate

    Matthew Tate Forum Resident

    Location:
    Richmond, Virginia

    and the reason is they don't have a member who stood out on their own. appice and bogert always seemed like hired guns to most classic rock fans since they appear on a ton of releases by random artists
     
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  23. rcdupre

    rcdupre Flying is Trying is Dying

    for some reason I was never able to get into Cactus, maybe I should re-listen....I was never that into Mountain either, both bands seem to be very middle of the road to
    me, but at least Mountain has a few memorable songs, what is the ONE Cactus song I need to checkout to change my mind ???
     
  24. Matthew Tate

    Matthew Tate Forum Resident

    Location:
    Richmond, Virginia
    well leslie west has remained in the spotlight of classic rock fans by having people like eddie van halen and zakk wylde mentioning him.

    anyways check out "you can't judge a book" or "let me swim"
     
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  25. Kossoff is God

    Kossoff is God Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicagoland
    Jim McCarty definitely stood out. A great guitar player with amazing tone and chops. I think the main reason Cactus is nearly forgotten is because most of the songs lyrics are just plain bad. Rusty Day is not a good songwriter but all he's got is a great blues voice.
     
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