Gail Collins didn't shoot Felix until 1983. The couple of things I have gathered from interviews etc. why the original Mountain fell apart was 1.) bad deals and 2.) drugs.
Pappalardi produced Leslie West's first solo record which led to him and the guy that became their manager getting them a deal as Mountain. Situation they had was that the label was also their manager, which as you might imagine wasn't all that good a deal for everyone in the band. From what I understand Leslie West and Corky Laing really did not make that much money on the original run of the band at all. Felix being the producer, song writer and if I remember correct also partner in the label did well.
There are some pretty crazy stories about West out there about him and drugs.
I got to see Mountain as a teenager in the mid-80s reunion tour open for Triumph in old Market Square Arena. They were really good and I became a big fan.
― earlnash, Tuesday, 19 June 2018 00:06 (five years ago) link
mid-80s, so different bass player?
― dow, Tuesday, 19 June 2018 00:13 (five years ago) link
Yeah. This guy Mark Clarke was the bassist. Did not know his name, but I bet he has some stories to tell as he played in some interesting bands.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Clarke
― earlnash, Tuesday, 19 June 2018 00:18 (five years ago) link
This was the record at the time. I remember liking it and listening to it a bunch on cassette. It is kind of hard to find on CD or LP at this point.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/00/Mountain_Go_For.jpg
― earlnash, Tuesday, 19 June 2018 00:20 (five years ago) link
I kind of think of these guys as the essence of 70s heavy riff rock, not the best, not the originators, not the most creative, but a perfectly distilled example of it.
― Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Tuesday, 19 June 2018 01:13 (five years ago) link
Yeah, that seems likely. Just been reading about several of these guys (the cover of that reunion album is the view from Pappalardi's grave, according to Leslie West). No idea that they, incl. Clarke, did so much; he and West are still at it, though not together (currently). Would like to hear the expanded Who's Next for the early tracks incl. West and Kooper (would like to hear it for other reasons as well).
― dow, Wednesday, 20 June 2018 00:26 (five years ago) link
Better than Cream imo
Leslie West on a ventilator and in critical so thinking of him today and rocking this album
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Wednesday, 23 December 2020 19:11 (three years ago) link
Went through a big thing with this record (and West's solo lp "Mountain") this summer and realized that every time I was listening to Cream in my life and being bored to tears I should have been listening to Mountain, I would have been much happier.
Big ups to LW
― chr1sb3singer, Wednesday, 23 December 2020 20:28 (three years ago) link
...and now he's dead.
Mountain > Cream without question.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, 23 December 2020 21:45 (three years ago) link
This is a story
Saw Mountain after a minor league baseball game in 1996 with Iron Butterfly and Foghat. The ticket price was one bottle of A1 steak sauce. Leslie West stormed off mid-set for some reason. RIP— Sarah Hennies (@hhhhhennies) December 23, 2020
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 23 December 2020 23:09 (three years ago) link
I know it's cliche but goddamn Mississippi Queen is such a fucking monster riff. You could retired after that. RIP Big Man
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 23 December 2020 23:13 (three years ago) link
The Mississippi Queen in the middling 'Twin Peaks' live record is a speaker shredder. RIP Leslie.
― BlackIronPrison, Thursday, 24 December 2020 00:55 (three years ago) link
an aside:
here's my mom and felix pappalardi sometime around 1960 pic.twitter.com/IPY57NRAuk— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) December 15, 2020
― mookieproof, Thursday, 24 December 2020 02:10 (three years ago) link
Apparently he grew up partly in Forest Hills, where I lived until recently, and also I think spent some of his adult life there (people in my neighborhood mentioned that he lived in a building very close to mine, but not sure what years that was.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 24 December 2020 02:55 (three years ago) link
I've yet to hear a whole album by Mountain, but I was always impressed by how politely he begged our pardon for getting his kicks.
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 24 December 2020 13:04 (three years ago) link
First two Mountain albums are top notch early hard rock. Leslie West lived pretty hard. I've loved Mountain and his music since I saw them open up for Triumph as a teenager in the 80s. Never played it live, but "Never in my Life" is one of the few covers I ever worked up and sang with a band. I've always been curious about some of those records he did post 2000, as he made quite a few. Perhaps by economic need, he did seems to keep the fire to keep playing and seemingly enjoyed music late into his career from interviews I had read.
― earlnash, Thursday, 24 December 2020 17:15 (three years ago) link
I heard an interview with Jack Douglas and his first studio gig was emptying West's puke bucket because he was going cold turkey and trying to record
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 24 December 2020 17:27 (three years ago) link
― Washington Generals D-League affiliate (will), Thursday, 24 December 2020 17:41 (three years ago) link
Mississippi Cream (@ 0:18)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsFux_71fVQ
― Adoration of the Mogwai (Deflatormouse), Thursday, 24 December 2020 18:26 (three years ago) link
West sat in on the initial Who’s Next sessions in New York, but the band wasn’t happy with how they turned out (generally, not because of West), and started over a couple months later back in London. Most of the NYC sessions dribbled out on a few Who releases in the late ‘90s/early ‘00s.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqP3hiMdZpQ
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 24 December 2020 20:37 (three years ago) link
I think I have several of the tracks on 's Next 2cd Deluxe thing yeah. Not dug that out in a while though.
Not paid much attention to Mountain. Think the one thing I have by them is one of the official live sets that came out over the last decade. But have seen there is an official album series with several of their lps in. So may have more next week.Also seeing that BGO have several lps paired.
They played a set at Cincinatti Pop the festival that begat the infamous iggy in crowd and on crowd footage with the stooges. I can't cut and paste very easily on a phone or I'd include the link.
― Stevolende, Friday, 25 December 2020 08:18 (three years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ9Jh2HDUHY
― Stevolende, Saturday, 26 December 2020 17:41 (three years ago) link