Mountain was and still is one of my all time favorite US hard rock bands and that mainly because of only two albums - "Climbing" and "Nantucket Sleighride" (see earlier posts). The rest of their production beyond genre average, but it's that pair that fill my mind with most joy, both presenting a perfect mix of raw and melodic making me feel both challanged and cared for at the same time. Sometimes opposites attract and that was certainly the case here when the artistically crude and outbursting singer and guitarist Leslie West met the more polished and thoughtful producer, multi-instrumentalist and singer Felix Pappalardi. This LP was tagged as a West solo album and he's behind most of the performing, but since it also includes Pappalardi as producer, arranger, song-writer, instrumentalist and was titled "Mountain" it is today often seen as the band's actual debute. And I do hear things here reminding of, or as good as, what's on "Climbing" or "Nantucket...". The slightly bouncy "Long Red" has that same balance between West's unpolished vocals and Pappalardi's soft melodic treatment, topped by a catchy organ lick. "Better Watch Out" stone hard with layers of attractive guitars. "Blind Man" a blusey guitar orgy...and so on. It may be counted as a West solo album, though musically it sounds Mountain. Not entirely up there with some of the band's later work, but certainly good enough for me. This US press sound a little dense at parts, but most of it coming out loud and clear. First issue on vinyl also in Canada (Bell Windfall 4500), Downunder (Bell 2308 017), Japan (Bell BLPL 10), UK (Bell SBLL 126) and a couple of other European countries. No clue about timeline for this copy but as the vinyl is rather thin it's probably from the seventies. It came with label as shown here in a glossy cover. (YZÄ*) (MÖU*)
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