I first read about Leslie West in Rolling Stone magazine sometime in late 1969 or 70. It was a short piece about his new band, Mountain, formed with Felix Pappalardi who had just produced his solo album, also called Mountain. Pappalardi was Cream’s producer on Disraeli Gears and Wheels Of Fire, and with the band breaking up saw an opportunity for someone new to move into that vacuum. Mountain didn't, in fact, the music had already moved on by then. But it was a perfect vehicle for Leslie West for a couple of short years until management, internal politics, drugs and money inevitably took their toll.
In 1970 West had everything as a guitar player. He had the fattest tone imaginable, a perfect vibrato and played with the deepest feeling and great control. Even his heaviest power chords were more musical than just volume, his unique sound defined by Gibson Les Paul Juniors or a Flying V through a Sunn Coliseum P.A. head. Few guitar players have ever come close to such a perfect tone.
As Mountain tumbled, West carried on and later adapted his technique to the changing times, adding a whammy bar and more contemporary approach. He eventually lost a leg through diabetes and died in December of a heart attack at 75 years old.
To a 15 year old guitar freak he was just as important an influence as Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Johnny Winter or Albert King. Listening back now to the first two Mountain albums ‘Climbing’ and ‘Nantucket Sleighride’, his playing still moves me as much as it ever did.
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