The largest stack of amplifiers onstage at Woodstock didn't belong to The Who, Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead or even Jimi Hendrix. It belonged to the then- unknown Mountain. The new band was playing only its fourth live show when it appeared at the legendary 1969 rock festival.
On that muddy Saturday - August 16, 1969- Mountain was in the unenviable position of not only being unknown, but of following, among others, an outstanding set by Santana that had throngs dancing, plus a hit-punctuated set by fellow blues rockers Canned Heat. The latter debuted an improvised "Woodstock Boogie" in honor of the fest.
Then Mountain's Leslie West unleashed his growling, bruiser voice and blistering guitar attack. Although the band was unfamiliar, "the crowd loved them," recalled festival co- creator Michael Lang in his 2009 book The Road To Woodstock. "Not to be outdone by Canned Heat, they came up with their own song at the festival" - "For Yasgur's Farm."
That baptism-by-concert was as it should have been. Few bands of the era were as superb in performance as Mountain. From Woodstock, the band went on to establish itself at the 1970 Atlanta Pop Festival and New York's Randall's Island Festival, also in 1970.
Prior to forming Mountain, Leslie West thought he was a pretty good rock guitarist - until he saw Cream's Eric Clapton. Multi-instrumentalist and fellow New Yorker Felix Pappalardi was Cream's producer. So who better to produce West's 1969 album, titled Mountain? The guitarist liked the experience so much that he recruited Pappalardi to form a band, also called Mountain. With keyboardist Steve Knight and drummer Norman D. Smart, the young group stormed the Woodstock stage.
The first Mountain LP, Climbing!, was issued in early 1970. It included the group's biggest hit, "Mississippi Queen." Smart was soon replaced on drums by Corky Laing. The dynamics of the group were created by the interplay between West's blazing and highly amplified vibrato guitar and Pappalardi's sophisticated and jazz inflected bass, particularly live.
Wisely, the group's third LP, Flowers Of Evil (1971), was half comprised of material recorded in concert at The Fillmore East. The follow-up was fully live, 1972's Mountain Live: The Road Goes Ever On. By then, the band had broken up. In 1974, West and Pappalardi re-formed Mountain. Again playing to the group's strength as a visceral live ensemble, Twin Peaks was issued as a double live LP. Then a second breakup occurred.
In 1983, Felix Pappalardi was shot. to death by his wife, Gail Collins Pappalardi. She had designed many of Mountain's album covers and written several of its song lyrics. West and Laing formed a new Mountain and dedicated its comeback album to their deceased comrade. In various incarnations, the group has continued ever since.
The legacy of the classic Mountain sound endures. Today, the band's music is heard in several video games. The live recording of Mountain's "Long Red" is one of the most sampled tracks in hip-hop, having been used by such stars as A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, and Kanye West, among others. Tracks like "Blood Of The Sun" and "Nantucket Sleighride" continue to influence hard-rock musicians.
More importantly, Mountain marked the true birth of American heavy metal. In Britain, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple had paved the way during the late 1960s. In the U.S., bands such as Blue Cheer and the MC5 had adopted feedback and other metal traits prior to Mountain. But in Leslie West, America found its first real metal-guitar god.
by Robert K. Oermann
Mountain
Felix Pappalardi - Bass, Vocals
Leslie West - Guitar, Vocals
Corky Laing - Drums (Tracks 1-3, 7-12)
Steve Knight - Organ (Tracks 1-3, 7-12)
David Perry - Rhythm Guitar (Tracks 1-3)
Norman D. Smart - Drums (Tracks 1-3)
Bob Mann - Guitar, Keyboards (Tracks 4-6)
Allan Schwartzberg - Drums (Tracks 4-6)
1970 Mountain - Climbing! (2013 blu spec edition)
1965-68 Vagrants - I Can't Make a Friend (2011 remaster)
Felix Pappalardi - Bass, Vocals
Leslie West - Guitar, Vocals
Corky Laing - Drums (Tracks 1-3, 7-12)
Steve Knight - Organ (Tracks 1-3, 7-12)
David Perry - Rhythm Guitar (Tracks 1-3)
Norman D. Smart - Drums (Tracks 1-3)
Bob Mann - Guitar, Keyboards (Tracks 4-6)
Allan Schwartzberg - Drums (Tracks 4-6)
1970 Mountain - Climbing! (2013 blu spec edition)
Related Acts
1965-68 Vagrants - I Can't Make a Friend (2011 remaster)
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