Mountain

About

Not to be confused with music by the band Mountain—which was named after Leslie West’s 1969 debut solo album—these recordings feature West on lead vocals and guitar, Felix Pappalardi (who produced Cream’s <i>Disraeli Gears</i>) on bass and keyboards, and N.D. Smart (who also played with Gram Parsons and Todd Rundgren) on drums. With West wailing his soulful rasp over heavily cranked blues-rock riffs, "Blood of the Sun" set the tone not only for this album but for most of Mountain’s career as a band. At just less than three minutes, “Better Watch Out” is a perfect slice of hard-boogying biker rock, while the slow-burning “Blind Man” filters swampy roots-rock through a stack of giant amps with the volume dialed to 11. This song and the lysergic “Dreams of Milk & Honey” blend Cream's knack for turning bluesy rock into something that could accompany a liquid light projection with Blue Cheer’s tendency to blast the blues at dangerous volumes. West’s heavy cover of “This Wheel’s on Fire” sounds more Dickie Peterson than Bob Dylan.

via Apple Music

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