Mountain

Cream's dissolution in the closing months of 1968 sent reverberations through rock, prompting the immediate creation of Blind Faith—which never truly coalesced as a functioning unit—and Ginger Baker's Air Force, while also paving the way for the solo paths of Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce. Via Cream's longtime associate and producer Felix Pappalardi, the same moment produced Mountain in 1969 as a kind of spiritual continuation.

Everything began with the Long Island psychedelic and garage outfit the Vagrants, a group that built a strong regional audience yet never crossed over nationally. Their lead guitarist Leslie West, already an imposing physical presence, had his approach radically reshaped after encountering Clapton's work with Cream. In 1968 Pappalardi discovered the Vagrants, recognized their promise, and secured them a contract with Atlantic Records, where he was then employed as a producer. Having already helmed Cream's Disraeli Gears and contributed multiple instruments to Wheels of Fire plus the studio material later compiled on Goodbye, he guided several of the Vagrants' strongest recordings; none, however, found buyers. When West exited the band late that year to cut a solo album titled Mountain, Pappalardi produced the sessions and also handled keyboards and bass. The resulting record stood as West's finest work to date, a robust blues-rooted hard-rock statement that revealed how deeply he had absorbed Clapton's style. Because the album echoed the sound of the recently disbanded Cream, the two men decided to form a partnership under the same name, Mountain. The initial lineup retained much of the album's personnel, adding drummer N.D. Smart and keyboardist Steve Knight while Pappalardi focused on bass. After debuting at the Fillmore West in July 1969, the band made only its fourth live appearance at Woodstock before several hundred thousand people on a bill that also featured Jimi Hendrix, the Who, the Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, who likewise received their first major national exposure there. Although the festival proved auspicious, Smart soon departed and was replaced by Corky Laing, West's longtime friend.

Signed to Windfall, the group issued its debut album Mountain Climbing! in spring 1970, preceded by the single "Mississippi Queen," which climbed to number 21 that June. The track's chart position understated its reach: a hard-rocking boogie that spotlighted West's guitar and somehow emerged as convincing Southern-fried rock despite being written by Queens- and Brooklyn-born West and Pappalardi alongside Canadian-born Laing—an improbability comparable to California native John Fogerty crafting "Born on the Bayou" or "Green River," and nearly as durable in the culture. While the single stopped short of the Top 20, the album reached number 17, fueled by listeners seeking more of the band's high-energy blend of hard rock and blues. The record also contained unexpected turns, including the progressive excursion "Theme from an Imaginary Western," co-written by Cream's Jack Bruce and therefore underscoring the indirect lineage to that earlier band; the piece, like "Never in My Life," received substantial FM airplay.

Equally crucial was the quartet's ability to replicate its recorded sound onstage, only louder. Mountain made another strong impression at the 1970 Atlanta International Pop Festival alongside the Allman Brothers, Cactus, and others. Their second album, Nantucket Sleighride, matched the debut commercially and introduced the title track, which later expanded to epic length in concert. Flowers of Evil arrived in November 1971, barely ten months after its predecessor, and betrayed the effects of the relentless schedule the musicians had maintained since July 1969: half the set comprised uneven studio originals, while the remainder consisted of a live medley and a concert reading of "Mississippi Queen." Predictably mixed reviews and sales followed, an impression of creative fatigue reinforced by the next release, Mountain Live (The Road Goes Ever On) (1972), a four-track collection built around lengthy solos. Dedicated fans embraced it as an extension of the studio work, yet many listeners and critics found it diffuse.

The band dissolved shortly after that album's appearance, partly because Pappalardi feared permanent hearing damage from the extreme stage volumes. He resumed production duties while West and Laing, still anchored in hard rock and the orbit Pappalardi had introduced, joined ex-Cream bassist Jack Bruce to form the power trio West, Bruce & Laing, which briefly carved its own path through the early-to-mid-1970s. A Best of Mountain compilation issued after the split kept interest alive. Late in 1973 West and Pappalardi reactivated the name with Bob Mann on keyboards and guitar plus Allan Schwartzberg on drums for a Japanese tour that yielded the live double album Twin Peaks (1974), a stronger document of their concert energy, highlighted by a 32-minute "Nantucket Sleighride." In 1974 West, Laing, and Pappalardi reconvened once more to record the studio album Avalanche. Subsequent years saw West and Laing revive Mountain for occasional shows, occasionally with Pappalardi participating; West also led his own Leslie West Band. Tragically, Pappalardi was shot and killed by his wife in 1983. Two years later West and Laing reunited with Mark Clarke on bass for another album before again disbanding. Laing worked as PolyGram's A&R vice president in Canada from 1989 to 1995. In 1996 he rejoined West and Clarke for the album Man's World. West and Laing collaborated again in 2002 on Mystic Fire. Eruption (2004) drew from concerts taped in 1985 and 2003, and the pair returned to the studio for 2007's Masters of War, a collection of Bob Dylan covers that became Mountain's final album with Leslie West, who died on December 22, 2020, at age 75.