Mountain
- Eruption
By Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck
Classic Rock is as popular as it ever was.
For this listener, it never lost its appeal. Mountain was always one of
those bands that were hard to forget with songs like “Mississippi Queen”
and “Nantucket Sleighride” maintaining their popularity forever. Leslie
West, Corky Laing and the late Felix Pappalardi, their great producer and
bass player, were a trio comparable to Cream.
Eruption maintains the recognizable time-period
band colors and album cover artistry, while presenting several live sets
from two different eras. Disc 1 is dedicated to 1985 performances at The
Ritz and L’ Amour, while disc two is in Europe (unspecified location) in
2003.
I did not hear a big difference in the
way the band sounded between the two timeframes, however West plays a smokin’
incredibly inspired powerful guitar on all the songs from the 2003 recording,
particularly on the track that closes out the set, “Dreams of Milk and
Honey.” You can hear all the Cream and blues influence in Leslie’s playing
style to this day and he is as strong and determined as he ever was to
get on stage to give his paying customers a show they never will forget.
As great as this music always is to hear,
these performances did not have the sound mix to support the energy and
efforts the band was putting out. At times Leslie’s guitar and vocals fade
away, as if he was walking away from the mike while singing and playing.
This happens enough to certainly make mention of, but its not disturbing
enough to deter your enjoyment of this 2 CD set; it was not a crucial factor
to me listening several times I can tell you that for certain.
I am glad to see the Mountain remasters
are sparking more interest in the band and West and Laing decided to go
out back on tour. Rock ‘n’ roll keeps you forever young, just ask these
gents, they know.
CD Info
Mountain
- Eruption
Label: Fuel
2000
Rating:
Tracks:
Hard Times
Never In My Life
Spark
Theme For An Imaginary Western
Nantucket Sleighride
Mississippi Queen
Rocky Mountain Way
Why Dontcha
For Yasgur’s Farm
Crossroads
The Sea
Nantucket Slieghride ( To Owen Coffin)
House of The Rising Sun
Dreams of Milk and Honey
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Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck is
a veteran syndicated music critic, his reviews appear in over 35 publications
world-wide. To read more of Keith’s work visit muzikreviews.com
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