Mountain - Best of (16 tracks) +Album Reviews

Much More Than Hard Rock To This Mountain...

Original Mixed Up-Kid | New York United States | 08/11/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Now remastered with better sound and additional tracks The Best Of Mountain is the type of CD that fans who own their 4 other studio albums will buy anyway for the fine sequencing and overall straight ahead impact of assessing Mountain in one smart package..Their ist album Leslie West Mountain, then Climbing, and Nantucket Sleighride and their 1/2 studio 1/2 live Flowers Of Evil(Fillmore East NYC 1971) were all better than good affairs but this CD, with it's mixture of the raw melodic riffing power chords with tuneful balladry awash with spacey keyboards in the right moments all showcases this band that accomplished a lot as a hard rock outfit where Cream left off.. Mountain in it's short duration was a very mighty late 60's band and left an additional legacy of fine live jamming albums placing them as a group of impact..it's blend of hard rock via the guitar flash of Leslie West and thunder of drummer Corky Laing, with the interplay of Cream Producer bassist Pappalardi whose fine tuneful songs and earthy vocals as distinct from West's rasp were highly reminiscent of Cream's style..no wonder after Mountain, West and Laing joined up with Cream's bassist and songwriter,Jack Bruce...Pappalardi was unfortunately shot and killed later by his wife..

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More tracks could've been added.

Greg Reece | INDIANA | 02/01/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"while this collection is great for the casual fan, more bonus tracks could've been added to fill up space. but for the more complete fans, i suggest the 2 disc set over the top, it has everything on here except 3 songs, the studio version of roll over beethoven, boy's in the band and king's chorale. although as of late, sony has been re-mastering the whole catalog with mountain climbing and nantucket sleighride which are probably their 2 biggest albums. with guitar driving songs, mountain climb the to the top in 1970 with the guitar drenched classic mississippi queen while nantucket sleighride was a radio hit on most FM stations. felix pappalardi, who not only played bass and shared some of the vocal spotlight, also produced the group cream. in 1983, pappalardi was shot to death by his wife gail who by the way, helped write some of the groups songs. one reviewer on her says that leslie west was over rated as a guitarist, that is hardly the case. west NEVER got the respect he rightly deserves, just like the band as a whole. if you like straight ahead guitar driven rock 'n roll, this collection is for you, or the 2 disc collection i mentioned above or STILL better, the whole catalog. what ever your pleasure, pick up something of mountain today, you won't be dissapointed."

A Great Band's High Points

Snorts | 12/01/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Leslie West, all 400 pounds, on guitar and rough vocals. Felix Pappalardi on bass and smooth vocals. Corky Laing, an animalistic powerhouse, on drums. Steve Knight on keyboards.

These 4 guys put out 3 albums of bi-polar power. About half the songs were lilting, melodic Felix Pappalardi compilations, the other half were pulverizing Leslie West guitar extravaganzas.

There is a good, solid mixture on this CD, "Theme From an Imaginary Western" and "For Yasgur's Farm" are great, subtly powerful songs sung by Felix. I personally love both of them. "Never in My Life" and "Mississippi Queen" feature the huge, fat tone of West's guitar AND voice.

This band could do a lot of things well. Play slow, thoughtful songs, and also pound you over the head with awesome up-tempo rockers. A great, underrated band. Great playing as well. If one was to rate the players from 1 to 10, you'd have to go with West at an 8, Pappalardi at an 8, Laing at a 9, and Knight, well, you don't really hear featured keyboards much with this band.

To hear the band in all it's glory, buy "Flowers of Evil" and listen to the live side. The fellow above posting that West played with no emotion...well, the live side on FOE is as good a hard rock live recording as there's ever been. West just blows the place apart.

Great Band, their best songs. 5 Stars."

I Don't Like "Best of" Compilations, but...

D. Allen | McKinney Texas | 03/21/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've got to agree with those who praise this collection of stand-outs, and in fact, I'll take it a step further: This is the best "best of" compilation I've ever heard. The song selection is right on and the playing order is perfect. Every song sounds like it was meant to follow the previous one. I've got all of Mountain's domestic releases, but this CD has taken on a life of its own in my head, and it doesn't get old.

Additionally, this version was remastered in 2003. And while the sound is a significant improvement over the original CD release, no miracles were performed, but it's definitely worth the upgrade if you own the previous version."

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