Mountain (band)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mountain | ||
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 Mountain performing in 1969
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| Background information | ||
| Origin |  Long Island, New York |
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| Genre(s) | Rock, Hard rock | |
| Years active | 1969—Present | |
| Label(s) | Columbia | |
| Associated acts |
West, Bruce & Laing | |
| Website | mountaintheband.com | |
| Members | ||
| Corky Laing Leslie West Richie Scarlet |
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| Former members | ||
| Felix Pappalardi (Deceased) N.D. Smart Steve Knight Allan Schwartzberg David Perry Robert Mann Mark Clarke |
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Mountain is an American rock band, popular in the early 1970s. The band broke up in 1972, reformed shortly thereafter, broke up soon after that, and now has begun touring again in recent years. Mountain remains popular in some circles despite having fallen out of the mainstream during the seventies. Mountain was influential during the development of hard rock, and their hit song Mississippi Queen, became a radio hit and a Hard Rock classic. VH1 ranked Mountain as number 98 on its 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.
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[edit] History
The band formed when guitarist Leslie West, having left the Long Island R&B band the Vagrants, recorded a solo album called Mountain with bassist and former Cream producer Felix Pappalardi producing. The album, Mountain, also featured former Remains drummer N.D. Smart and keyboard player Steve Knight. West's raw vocals and melodic, bluesy guitar style, and Pappalardi's heavy and elegant bass lines were the elements of Mountain's distinctive sound. The band was inspired by the power trio Cream, of which Pappalardi was an "unofficial" member: he featured heavily on Cream's third album, Wheels of Fire, contributing organ, viola, trumpet and handbells as well as producing.
Mountain played their fourth live gig at the Woodstock Festival, but the band did not appear in the film of the event nor was it included on the first album. Soon after, Smart was replaced by Laurence "Corky" Laing. The group's first album, Climbing! was released in 1970 and featured the band's best-known song, "Mississippi Queen"; the song reached the middle of the top 40 charts and the album reached the top 20 on the US album charts.
The follow-up album Nantucket Sleighride (1971) also reached the top 20 on the US albums chart but failed to yield a hit single. After these early releases the band continued to receive a certain measure of critical acclaim but never achieved great commercial success.
After Nantucket Sleighride, the band faced creative difficulties and failed to progress on their next album. After the release of Mountain Live, the band broke up in 1972. West and Laing later formed West, Bruce and Laing with Cream bassist Jack Bruce. They released three albums.
In 1974 West and Pappalardi reformed Mountain with Allan Schwartzberg on drums and Robert Mann on keyboards. A tour yielded the live double album Twin Peaks and the studio work Avalanche, with Laing and rhythm guitarist David Perry, who as an African American was also credited for "added color". It was the last heard from Mountain until the mid 1980s since which West, sometimes with and sometimes without Laing, has worked under the name Mountain, New Mountain or the Leslie West Band.
On April 17, 1983, Gail Collins Pappalardi, Felix's wife and songwriting partner who had designed many of the band's album covers, shot Pappalardi in the neck in their fifth-floor East Side Manhattan apartment. He was pronounced dead at the scene and Collins was charged with second-degree murder. She was cleared of that charge but convicted of the lesser criminally negligent homicide and sentenced to 16 months to four years in jail. After her release from jail, she vanished into private life.
The band has reformed, and Richie Scarlet has taken over as bass player on the band's recent tours.
[edit] Trivia
- The title track from Nantucket Sleighride was used as the theme tune to the British political and current affairs television programme Weekend World, which aired between 1972 and 1986).
- Mountain's song "Mississippi Queen" was in the Dukes of Hazzard movie. It was also covered by Ozzy Osbourne on his album Under Cover and by W.A.S.P.. Not coincidentally, Mountain guitarist Leslie West was featured on that album.
- Steve Knight did not play on West's first album, Mountain. Felix Papalardi played keyboards, along with N Landsberg on organ on Long Red, Storyteller Man and Southbound Train.
[edit] Discography
- 1970 Climbing!
- 1971 Nantucket Sleighride
- 1971 Flowers of Evil
- 1972 Mountain Live: The Road Goes Ever on
- 1974 Twin Peaks
- 1974 Avalanche
- 1985 Go For Your Life
- 2002 Mystic Fire
