Search - Mountain :: Avalanche

Past their peak ...

M. McNeil | oak park, IL | 12/06/2004

(2 out of 5 stars)

"When I picked up this "new release" up in '74, I couldn't have been a bigger fan of Mountain. Imagine my excitement as I stared at the album cover, with it's promise of big, big things ... Leslie flailing away on his axe, Felix at his side, Corky no doubt pounding away in the background. It couldn't miss! Imagine, then, my dismay and confusion as I plowed through track after track. All the elements were there, but the magic was missing. Huh?

Time gives one perspective. We all know that Mountain went through the familiar arc of rock band rise/success/burnout, with its requisite chemical abuse, ego imbalances, legal/contract hassles, touring fatigue, and general ennui after riding too high for an extended period of time. This band was no exception. AVALANCHE documents a band in the beginning of a death spiral. Sure, there would be more "product" from them under this moniker, with or without any of the original members. But that delicate balance of savagery and poetry that was Leslie and Felix' relationship had soured. After Climbing the Mountain, they tasted too much of the Flowers of Evil ... the Nantucket Sleighride was over."

Mountain Peak

M. McNeil | 03/13/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In my opinion this overlooked work is the best mountain album.

mountain climbing though showing signs of greatness is still inconsistent. nantucket sleighride was a missed shot (the band dont sound like themselves!). flowers of evil is again a mixed bag. but with avalanche the band finally finds its stride. this is the complete finished product - simply put : their creative peak.



"Sister Justice", "Thumbsucker", "Swamp Boy", "You better believe it" - they're all stand out tracks. plus you got "Whole lotta shakin goin on" and "Satisfaction". leslie west is at his artistic best here. if you like guitar oriented blues rock it does not get any better than this!



actually other than this album, just get the "best of mountain" single disk (which btw has the best of the other mountain albums) - that's pretty much all you need of mountain."

Last of the originals: not great, not worse either

J. Talsma | Amsterdam, Netherlands | 02/24/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Having already released some of the finest albums of the seventies (like Climbing, Nantucket Sleighride and the half studio/half live Flowers of Evil, also including the earlier Leslie West solo-effort "Mountain" on which Felix Pappalardi is everpresent as bassplayer, songwriter and producer) the band split up for a short while. They had some kind of comebackshows in Japan, on which only West and Pappalardi were the bands nucleus, with other musicians filling in on drums and keyboards (as witnessed on the live "Twin Peaks") and disbanded again. Shortly after they teamed up with original banddrummer Corky Laing (plus David Perry on guitar instead of longtime cohort Steve Knight on keyboards) to record "Avalanche" and this is a somewhat different affair. Unfortunately it cannnot be matched against one of the albums before but it stands firmly on its own and has certainly a Mountainous flavor. I am not particulary charmed by covers (of wellknown songs) in general and those 2 on this album seem not to fit in either, were not necessary, given the songwriting talents of West, Pappalardi and his wife Collins. Those songs are not bad but could easyly have been replaced by own compositions, as the bulk of the rest shows. There is plenty of good songmaterial, well played, with strong guitarwork and vocals, courtesy of West. Pappalardi contributes bassguitar and backingvocals, also in a peticulair track "Sister Justice" piano and even mellotron, elsewhere keyboards. The role of Perry is unclear, with a guitarplayer like West aboard I am afraid he did not get room enough to shine. West wrote and played one song solo "Alisan" with acoustic guitar. The album containes some good songs, some straight rockers, overall it is not a bad album but the band has proved they could do far more better than this. Sadly it was also the final end for the band and as such its swansong (though not the one on "Flowers of Evil".

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