4.11.2007

Mountain - Nantucket Sleighride (1971)




Leslie West. One of the greatest American hard rock guitar players and volcalists in the 70's. The founding member of Mountain. This is Mountain's follow up to "Climbing" and my personal favorite. I think it was the artwork that first grabbed me. The used wax hanging on the record store wall, looked like a sin. So I got the dude to pull it down. I remember the first time spinning this on the turntable. Man... the guitar tones on the opening track " Don't look around" just blew me away! ...then into the soft piano of "Taunta (Sammy's Tune)"...then sliding into the majestic title track of "Nantucket Sleighride"...what a classic album!!....Enjoy!

Mountain is comming to town this month too. Bring it on WEST!!!!!!

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.

Nantucket Sleighride (1971) reached the top 20 on the US albums chart but failed to yield a hit single. (so what!)

Sleighride

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

One of the best bands of the 70s [and therefore of all time].
Great guitar from the most underrated guitarist imo and really solid bass from pappalardi make this a top record.
Thanks.

Anonymous said...

I LOVE THIS ALBUM!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Cheers for this