Black Mountain [ENHANCED]

Black Mountain

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 18, 2005)
• Original Release Date: January 18, 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Label: Jagjaguwar
• ASIN: B0006SNKTY
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #48,080 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
From the first 60 seconds of the self-titled Black Mountain CD, you know that you are hearing something unique. An indie rock vocalist, deep, booming sax , and a joyful chorus is sung by a 70's sounding choir. Two tracks in, "Don't Run Our Hearts Around" is conversely dark and foreboding, with the guttural, Zeppelin-esque guitar. Black Mountain moves fluidly between very hard-to-near-psychedelic rock (with great, languid vocals courtesy of frontman/songwriter Stephen McBean and occasional lead/vocal doubling by Amber Webber, who shines especially brilliantly in the darkly emotive "Heart of Snow").

Most of the Vancouver band have been together for years under the moniker Jerk With A Bomb and later Pink Mountaintops. Though JWAB has been adored for years on Canada's West Coast it is Black Mountain's impressive debut has allowed them to truly break out, gaining substantial U.K. and U.S. press in the process. The disc is truly beautiful on the ears, filled with gorgeous dynamics, crisp, discordant playing and impressive production to boot. The music copies no one, but hearkens flashes of Pavement, Neil Young, Songs: Ohia, Nico, Jethro Tull--point being great players, fierce songwriting and unique timeless music makes this a mood-evoking lo-fi masterpiece. --Denise Sheppard

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A bit derivative, but great promise and real potential, August 3, 2005

By	John L Murphy "Fionnchú" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I was expecting a so-so album of stoner grooves, wailing vocals, and intermittent folk, given the 30-second samples. The fragmentary nature of the songs when heard in bits resolves itself into a return to the album-oriented format of the 70s, when you might pick up a "rock" album to find a rich variety of styles from cut to cut, yet a sequencing that unfolded logically to build a momentum that rose and fell throughout the 40 minutes.

Black Mountain has done this. I don't hear the Sabbath tones others have. It reminds me rather of the eclectic hard rock of the 1970s. While the opening tracks reminded me of Beefheart and Pere Ubu, the album settles into more Crazy Horse territory for much of the length. Neu!, Buffalo Springfield, and the Byrds surface, and early Pink Floyd can be heard later on; the mix of these disparate influences makes for a lovely, unsettling, and restless ambiance. The female vocals appeal far more than the only serviceable male vocals (of the bandleader, of course), however, and this limits the range that this album could have more fully reached. Heart of Snow best shows the harmonious side of the ensemble, and Druganaut their more swaggering manner.

The album works as a succession of moods, and the intelligent if not quite exciting experimentation finds a suitably retro-ish production to match. A problem might be that this is an ensemble more than a fully-fledged band, and the album suffers a bit from a narrower vision of its leader. I believe that if Black Mountain continues, that they will surpass this promising first effort with an amazing follow-up, one or two albums down the line. All of the influences are well-chosen, and the band should integrate them further into their own Northwest blend smoothly.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Past -AND- The Future.......... NOW! Buy this Record!, March 28, 2005

By	K. Hill "unobtrusivetones" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This album is simply amazing. A masterpiece. Mark my word, Kevin Hill says this is a masterpiece. I had the chance to see this band live and they will blow your mind. And the members are the most down to earth, sweetest people you could ever meet. I think some of these reviewers haven't even listened to the whole record. They're judging it by the first song, which granted, does sound all velvety strokey kings of leony whatever. BUT the rest is pure 14k Gold. Amber Webber has the voice of an Angel and Stephen McBean soon will be hailed as the great songwriter he deserves to be credited as. Who are these people who write about records on here? Old bitter people who have to sit around and nit pick the artist's influences from their generation and sit around and gripe meanwhile their ears miss the magic that THIS album contains which is NEW music. new REAL music. THere are only so many notes people. Black Mt. WILL be huge. And it couldnt happen to a more worthy band. This cd is great from start to finish, as is Pink Mountaintops, Stephen McBean's other cd. Amber sings on it too. A swell bunch of lads from canada who once they play a bit more round the states WILL have their ah-thor-a-tie! recognized. It is inevitable. But whats cool is I met these folks and shopped cds and vinyl with them and they are genuine down to earth people NOT "hipsters" as the "press" is calling them. They are young music lovers just like you are or you wouldn'yt be reading this. They just so happen to be musically inclined (maybe you are too!) Do Not hesitate, buy this record and Pink Mountaintops and most importantly see them live!!! Come back to Oklahoma soon Black Mountain! Dont forget us when youre on the cover of rolling stone. This album is like Black Sabbath meets Neil Young (ala Buffalo Springfield) dash of hendrix and floyd (especially live) (for all you nit pickers lol) These guys and gal are REAL artists. Not put together by a marketing team. Straight from the hills of Canada where they been smokin and playin some old vinyl in between rehearsal time. Thanks for encouraging me to by that Blue Cheer cd y'all! (They talked me in to buying Blue Cheer "outsideinside" which is a great record btw) buy that one too! check out my cd list under "unobtrusivetones".

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Black Mountain, August 8, 2005

By	Isildur? Quite. - See all my reviews

The best way I can describe this music is that you don't listen to it, but rather, you experience it. It meanders along, exploring a variety of musical avenues, from uptempto jazzy-sounding numbers like "modern music" to quiet, introspective, and powerful tracks like "set us free", but all the tracks wrap themselves around your head and invade your psyche like you never realized music could.

It's sort of like listening to [Gasp!] Dark Side of the Moon [though of course I'm not saying they're necessarily musically the same], in that no matter how long the songs are, the entire album captivates you for it's entire duration, and after the last note has played, and the album gracefully ends, you feel like you've really experienced something, something that you don't experience often in music nowadays. You could say that you sort of have to be in the right mood to enjoy music like this, but the results can be pretty spectacular. So, well, I recommend this album to anyone looking for some challenging and intricate music, though sometimes the 6 1/2 minute song lengths aren't completely necessary, it's still a powerful and awesome achievement. 4 stars.