Customer Reviews

Climbing

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

OK, I haven't yet heard the CD version of this album. However, I bought the LP when it came out in 1970 and I have played it to death over the years. It is a great, great album which is in my all time top ten. The contrast between the rough & powerful voice of Leslie West and the smooth vocals of his counterpart, Felix Papallardi (producer of Cream's "Disraeli Gears"), helps to provide a lot of variety, texture, and balance. Then, of course, you get West's awesome guitar work on milestones like "Theme For An Imaginary Western" (written by Jack Bruce), "Never In My Life", and the rock super classic "Mississippi Queen". There is not a bad cut on the album. If you want to hear what heavy rock sounded like before it was reduced to distorted noise, this album is a very good choice.

For the person who has the lp version of this recording and is considering purchasing the cd version.

The cd is not poorly remastered. The sound is as good as the lp (without the pops and clicks).

For the person who has a Mountain greatest hits recording and is considering purchasing individual Mountain cds, like this one.

You get quality but not quantity.

That is, the cd is only 32.34 minutes long (the same as the lp).

However all the songs are top rate. It is 3/4 very heavy blues rock songs with 1/4 sweet acoustic folkish blues

For a person new to Mountain and inquiring about their sound.

What caused me to become a Mountain fan was guitarist Leslie West's tone at that time (its changed since)

West was in the same league with B. B. King, Paul Kossoff, Elmore James etc.

That is while never technically brilliant and never dexterily smooth ala Eric Clapton; the tones coming out of these player's hands from basically one to three notes could impart more quality (tone) than a million notes by other players.

To sum up, if you are willing to put up with the lack of playing time, it would be a good cd to purchase because of the quality in it.

Because of the lack of playing time it only gets an 8/10.

Some consider Led Zeppelin IV, Black Sabbath's Paranoid and Deep Purple's Machine Head as hard rock's holy trinity, but I think "Mountain Climbing" belongs right there with them. Leslie West's fat guitar and powerful vocals along with Corky Lang's pounding drums and Felix Pappalardi's smooth voice, heavy bass and production skills makes this album a primer in what hard rock should be. The songwriting and performances are exuisite throughout. There is not a dead spot on this album. Felix Pappalardi's production, which helped make Cream's albums so great, is carried on in Mountain. Besides the cowbell laden hit "Mississippi Queen," this album also has the grinding "Never In My Life" and the beautiful "Theme From An Imaginary Western." In contrast, Leslie West has the solo acoustic song "To My Friend" and Pappalardi the soft trance like "The Laird" to add different dynamics to the album, and both succeed. The Cream-like "Boys In The Band" rounds out the album with glorious "woman tone" ala Disreali Gears, from West's guitar. "Climbing" is one of hard rock's finest moments.

OK, the critics are right. Mountain was loud and crude and not nearly as talented as Cream. But back in the early seventies I bought three of their albums and played the grooves off of them. Maybe it was because I liked the way the bass rattled my floors. I just dug out my old copy of Climbing and, yeah, thats it. My Advents haven't had a good workout in a long time.

Don't waste time listening to the samples on your tinny little computer speakers. Buy the CD and play it loud through a good stereo system. I still like this group!

Starting with the chart topping "Mississippi Queen", Mountain gained temporary monumental success! The song was so good, radio executives ignored the torrid lyrics. With nothing short of incredible lead and acoustic guitar playing, Leslie West shines on this collection with some of the most innovative guitar work of the period. Corky Lang's drums rivaled that of Jack Bruce of the time and Felix Pappalardi's vocals could be smoothly romantic "Theme From An Imaginary Western" or wild, as in, "Never In My Life". "For Yasgur's Farm" is a wonderful tribute to Woodstock, while "To My Friend" is an amazing solo work of acoustic picking. "Boys In The Band" is a grand finale to an all too short album that defined a period of rock and roll without overshadowing it. A must for any true rock fan.

Mountain was one of the greatest hard-rock bands of all-time. And as for Leslie West, the guitarists that he influenced are countless. But the greatest...Michael Schenker says Leslie West and Mountain were his favorite. That's all you really need to know.

Among the many fantastic shows I was fortunate enough to attend at New York's Fillmore East was a great double bill, Jack Bruce & Friends and Leslie West/Mountain. For those who never had the super fantasmagloria experience of attending The Fillmore East, I can only offer my sincere condolances. The place was pure magic. The show I'm referring to took place on a bitter cold and snowy Saturday night in early 1970. The scene in and around the theater was electric, or maybe it was something we injested on our way there that made it so. Either way I'll never forget seeing all the very young street urchins mingling about, ragged clothes and dirty faces, begging for spare tickets. The cabs jockeying for position along Second Ave and the sounds of The Rolling Stones singing "You Can't Always Get What You Want" on The PA system. It all made for a fanciful almost "Dickinsonian" like atmosphere.

Jack Bruce and Friends was made up of Bruce on bass and vocals, Larry Coryell on electric lead guitar, Mitch Mitchell on drums and Fleix Pappalardi on various string instuments and percussion. The set consisted of mostly jazz instumentals with a few selections from Bruce's debut solo album, "Songs For A Tailor". Great stuff throughout and a most appropriate opening for the "shock & awe" electric thunder to follow with Mountain.

Mountain's second album "Climbing" was released about three weeks prior to the Fillmore concert. The big hit single "Mississippi Queen" was climbing the charts and the beautiful Jack Bruce/Pete Brown ballard "Theme For An Imaginary Western" was also getting some airplay. Mountain was playing before a hometown audience, (he being a native of Long Island. Remember The Vagrants?) and having a ball with the crowd. The set was super high energy and thunderously loud....My ears are still ringing.

All in all I still find "Climbing" to be Mountain's most satisfying recording. Perhaps I'm a bit prejudice as a result of having seen them perform most of the material live on that wonderful evening at The Fillmore East. I still get chills hearing "Imaginary Western", "Never In My Life", "Boys In The Band" and the great acoustic guitar tour de force, "The Laird". When I hear this stuff it takes me back to that surreal wintery night on New York's lower East-Side. Those were the days my friend...Now if only my ears would stop ringing!

I've never written a review before.. but am compelled to step in after reading here that Leslie West was not as technically proficient as guitarist X, Y, or Z.

Bull! I saw this band at the Fillmore East, twice, and it was a religious experience. Yes, Leslie's tone is unrivaled.. but his mastery of the instrument is second to none. He is a true virtuoso. I remember at one point, he broke into a solo, playing a dazzling intricate riff. He then proceeded to increase the tempo until the entire audience rose to our feet. There was no cheering though, we were all mute, totally hypnotized by a level of talent that we didn't know could exist.

Beyond his guitar playing, West possesses a roaring voice that is the perfect mate for his thunderous playing style.

This album may be short.. but it still has more incredible songs than almost any other album.

Perhaps the best example of the beautiful contrast between Pappalardi's silken voice and West's screaming vocals is 'For Yasgur's Farm'. It's a gorgeous sweet ballad until suddenly, here comes Leslie! Wow!

Other classics are 'Theme From an Imaginary Western', 'Never In My Life', 'Mississippi Queen' and the astonishing acoustic guitar piece, 'To My Friend'.

If you like rock and roll, you need this music.

this is an excellent album. it's not really mountain's first: leslie west had put out an album called leslie west-mountain the previous year that was produced by felix pappalardi-i guess you could call it either a west solo disc or the first proper mountain lp. i think that this is easily the group's best album. this is one of the cornerstones of american hard rock/ metal-although it is, musically speaking , much more than that. as much as i love the original jack bruce version of " theme for an imaginary western", it is bettered by the powerhouse rendition that mountain did on this album. leslie west was simply one of the best american rock guitarists at the time, and one can witness this opinion throughout this excellent track. pappalardi's vocals and bass playing do remind one of the great jack bruce, but they add to the mix of styles that were a feature of this fine band, possibly the most talented american heavy rock band of their era. the hit " mississippi queen", the fine hippie ballad "for yasgur's farm", the hard rock number "never in my life" (featuring great drumming from corky laing), the eerie ballad "boys in the band", the weird folk music of "the laird" (with some good sitar work from west)and the hard rock cut "silver paper" are the biggest highlights of this disc. nothing is bad on the album however. as i wrote above, this is certainly mountain's finest album.

"Climbing" made Mountain the band recording stars. (The name derived from Leslie West's first solo album, on which Felix Pappalardi had played as well as produced; they formed Mountain the band to tour on that and went from there.) "Mississippi Queen" remains perhaps the all-time heavy metal radio cruncher; "Theme For An Imaginary Western" and "Never In My Life" are practically its equals for firepower, though the former is a shimmering ballad (written by ex-Cream bassist Jack Bruce for his own first solo album) with a classically melodious guitar break. From there, it's a question of reaching - the songs aren't exactly equal to the first three, though the band's playing is pretty solid, mostly. Not to worry, though - this was really a warm-up for the best album of their career, "Nantucket Sleighride"...THAT was Mountain climbing and getting there.