Mountain – But Is It Any Good?

ARTIST: Mountain

TITLE: Nantucket Sleighride

YEAR RELEASED: 1971

CHART ACTION: #16 US, #43 UK

SINGLES: The Animal Trainer and the Toad (#76)

OTHER SONGS YOU MAY KNOW: Don’t Look Around, Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin)

LINEUP: Leslie West, Felix Pappalardi, Steve Knight, Corky Laing

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: The follow-up release for this loud proto-metal band doesn’t have the high of “Mississippi Queen”, but it’s a better album through and through.

SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: Roaring out of the gate with “Don’t Look Around”, Mountain starts its second album like their first. However, instead of being a disappointment after that blast, the band settles in and delivers pretty decent cuts.

The title track, an elegy to Owen Coffin, who was an unfortunate victim of the shipwreck of the whaler Essex (the Dollop did an episode about it, and Owen Chase, a survivor, wrote a fantastic account about it. Coffin volunteered himself so others may survive). It’s a creative and moving telling of the tale (up to the shipwreck) and Mountain’s best song.

The other tracks don’t devolve into snoozers like the previous record. Even with a darker subject (“Tired Angels” is dedicated to Jimi Hendrix), Mountain keeps it heavy for most of the record, as they should. Sadly, this is the last Mountain record worth anything, unless you just LOVE blustery long live versions. And by long, I mean side or two side long.

NOTES & MINUTIAE: The band had some co-writers. Felix Pappalardi’s wife, Gail Collins, wrote most of the lyrics, but Sue Palmer also contributed lyrics as well.

IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: A single and a live track. Nothin’ special.

GRADE B+: This album has enough heavy tracks to make you eschew the compilation and grab this in total.

ARTIST: Mountain

TITLE: Climing!

YEAR RELEASED: 1970

CHART ACTION: #17

SINGLES: Mississippi Queen (#21), For Yasgur’s Farm (#107)

OTHER SONGS YOU MAY KNOW: Theme from an Imaginary Western

LINEUP: Leslie West, Felix Pappalardi, Steve Knight, Corky Laing

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: Most of the band that backed Leslie West at Woodstock take the name Mountain (after his solo album) and release a record that has a couple of memorable tracks.

SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: Let’s get this out of the way…”Mississippi Queen” has earned a place in the pantheon of riffs and intros. It’s been sampled enough to make it recognizable even if you know nothing else about the song or it.

Then there’s “Theme from an Imaginary Western”, where producer of Cream and now group member Felix Pappalardi had heard when producing Jack Bruce’s solo album and nicked it for Woodstock and this album. Those opened side one. To open side two, he also brought “For Yasgur’s Farm” from that performance as well.

And…meh.

There are a couple of soft throwaways, a few heavy throwaways, and you’re left with a semi-unsatisfying finish to a record that started with a great 1-2 punch. “For Yasgur’s Farm” isn’t anything to write home about, and sounds way too much like “Theme…” to make an impact. Mountain pulled its punches when it could have been a pile driver.

NOTES & MINUTIAE: Originally, the drummer for the combo was N. D. Smart (formerly of the Remains and later with Gram Parsons). But other commitments got in the way so Laing stepped in. Also, at Woodstock “For Yasgur’s Farm” was titled “Who Am I but You and the Sunset

IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: A verison appends the live version of “For Yasgur’s Farm”.

GRADE B-: The 1-2 punch from the beginning saves the record, but barely.