Mountain Live: The Road Goes Ever On

Mountain are (sort of) still around, though their heyday was brief, and cut short by the inconvenient death of their star bass player, Felix Pappalardi. He was shot to death by his wife - who btw did the cover art for this album - in what she claimed was an accident. Pappalardi had actually gone deaf before this (probably as a result of too many excruciatingly loud Mountain concerts).This isn’t pretty music, but the guitar, bass and overall energy are absolutely undiluted power and rhythm. Leslie West was called the poor man’s Eric Clapton (and better, I think, as heretical as that may be), and Mountain were sometimes spoken of as the only band that could fill the void left by Cream’s breakup (indeed, Jack Bruce played with West for a while, and Pappalardi produced three of Cream’s albums). They played at Woodstock but didn’t make it into the movie.That Mountain were never more famous than they are is testament in part to just how much good music was around in the 1960's and 70's... the bar was very, very high back then, and many outstanding bands never rose to the top simply because the competition was so abundant, and so talented.This entire live album is about raw power, and I love everything on it. But if one has to pick a standout track, it's "Nantucket Sleighride"... amazing guitar and base that grabs you and just carries you along for 20 minutes. Trivia: that particular track is about whaling... it’s dedicated to Owen Coffin, one of the crew of the Essex (the famous whaler sunk by a sperm whale - read Nathaniel Philbrick's great book "In The Heart Of The Sea"). Coffin was later eaten by his starving shipmates... ketchup, anyone?

MountainLive: The Road Goes Ever On (1972)Although there is nothing in its (short) booklet that indicates when or where these four live songs were recorded, there are several sites who claim that the first two songs on this album ("Long Red" and "Waiting to take you away") are the actual live versions that Mountain performed at Woodstock (1969). Is that true? It is not possible to say for sure one way or the other just by listening to these tracks. The story goes that Mountain had the rights to release these two `Woodstock' recordings but could not legally label them as such. Again, there is nothing to verify such claims. It all comes down to whether or not you trust the various websites that claim the Woodstock authenticity of the first two tracks.Whatever you believe concerning the `Woodstock' origins of the first two tracks, both are very good and, at the very least, they are two of the songs the band did perform at Woodstock (even if these tracks do not prove to be the actual recordings from that Festival).The other two live tracks here ("Crossroader" and "Nantucket Sleighride" - assumed to have been recorded in 1972) are also very good performances. Nantucket Sleighride goes on for 17 minutes and is an enjoyable ride throughout.As a live album it is very good, if relatively short in the digital age. There certainly was enough room for Bonus tracks to be added, but there are none to be found here. Still, it is a very enjoyable album.IF the first two tracks are indeed Woodstock recordings (and that is a questionable IF), then this album is more significant than one would guess at first glance.This CD rates a solid 4 stars (4 ½)

I've loved this album ever since I was 15 years old when I borrowed it from the local library and "forgot" to return it (I wonder what the late fees would be decades later?). So, I thought it was finally time to upgrade the old vinyl to CD format.The songs still sound great and are a blast to crank up in the car on a sunny day. Live Leslie West heavy riffing at his best! Mountain was a great live jam band, and the 17 minute Nantucket is my personal favorite.The only thing I would have liked to see on the CD version would have been 1 or 2 bonus live cuts, as the album is quite short, and I know there's lots of live stuff floating around that could have been added. Some more live pics in the insert would be great too, as it's a 2 page bio of the band with the back photo repeated twice.Still one of the best live albums ever, even if it should have been longer...maybe someday an extended version will be released, like what happened with the classic Who - Live At Leeds.