Mountain
was the combined forces of
Leslie West
, a gigantic guitarist/vocalist who had played with New York garage-psych rockers
the Vagrants
, and
Felix Pappalardi
.
Pappalardi
had a slightly more impressive track record, coming from the modern East Coast
folk-rock
movement (
the Youngbloods
), before he applied his production skills to
Cream
. Through this,
Felix
never really stopped playing and eventually formed
. Often billed as a junior-league version of
,
Climbing!
's debut, had a lot of things going for it as well. Indeed,
West
was a changed man from the moment he saw
Clapton
play, and
was able to help him achieve the exact same tone
employed on
Disraeli Gears
. The hit off
"Mississippi Queen"
is a boogie classic, and it paved the way for countless imitators such as
J. Geils Band
Foghat
, and others. There are a lot of other great tracks here, such as
"Never in My Life,"
which was an FM radio staple at the time. ~ Matthew Greenwald