Leslie West

Leslie West - Live! - 1993 - Shrapnel

One of the most indulgent live rock albums ever released was undoubtedly Mountain's Twin Peaks from 1974, which included a never-ending, over half-an-hour (!) long version of "Nantucket Sleighride." Luckily, the 1993 live album from Mountain guitarist Leslie West, Live, does not commit any similar flubs. Once considered to be one of rock's top guitarists -- with a style that was a more heavy metal-esque take on Eric Clapton's playing circa Cream -- West by the '80s committed the same blunder that a lot of other veteran guitar players did around this time. Instead of sticking to the style that garnered him recognition in the first place, he attempted to keep pace with the young bucks (namely Eddie Van Halen) by attempting to incorporate modern techniques into his playing, resulting in a muddled and unoriginal style. While some of Live shows that West was still coming out of the wilderness, for the most part, you're treated to solid readings of such Mountain classics as "Never in My Life," "Theme for an Imaginary Western," and of course, an album-closing reading of "Mississippi Queen." © Greg Prato © 2014 AllMusic, a division of All Media Network, LLC. | All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/album/live-mw0000239330

Great live power rock and Rock'n'Roll by the hugely underrated guitarist Leslie West who was the dynamic driving force behind the great Mountain band which Rolling Stone once called a ‘louder version of Cream’. Arguably Leslie is one of the most influential rock guitarists of all time and has played with many great rock musicians, from ex-Scorpion Michael Schenker to the one and only Jimi Hendrix. This live album contains some great covers of classic Mountain songs including "Theme for an Imaginary Western" as well as a few standard rock classics like Don Nix's "Goin' Down". Leslie plays plenty of virtuosic rock solos throughout. Listen to Leslie's "Blue Me" album and Mountain's great "Climbing" album [All tracks @ 320 Kbps: File size = 117 Mb]

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1 Intro Guitar Solo - Leslie West 1:34
2 Never in My Life - Leslie West, Gail Collins, Corky Laing, Felix Pappalardi 5:53
3 Theme for an Imaginary Western - Jack Bruce, Pete Brown 6:50
4 Third Degree - Willie Dixon 7:46
5 Voodoo Chile - Jimi Hendrix 6:58
6 Goin' Down - Don Nix 4:46
7 Baby I'm Down - Gail Collins, Felix Pappalardi 1:36
8 Nantucket Sleighride - Leslie West, Gail Collins, Corky Laing, Felix Pappalardi 7:31
9 Mississippi Queen - Leslie West, Corky Laing, Felix Pappalardi, David Rea 6:02

MUSICIANS

Leslie West – Guitar, Vocals
Richie Scarlet – Bass Guitar
Paul Beretta – Drums

BIO

Leslie West first gained recognition as the lead guitarist for the Vagrants, a locally popular 1960s Long Island group. One of that group's singles was produced by Felix Pappalardi, a bass player who also produced Cream. After the Vagrants and Cream split up, Pappalardi played bass on and produced West's debut solo album, Mountain (July 1969). Following its release, the two teamed up with drummer Norman Smart (soon replaced by Corky Laing) and keyboard player Steve Knight to form the band Mountain, which cut the albums Climbing! (February 1970; a gold-selling LP featuring the Top 40 single "Mississippi Queen"), Nantucket Sleighride (January 1971; which also went gold), and Flowers of Evil (November 1971). In 1972, Pappalardi left Mountain to return to being a producer. (Posthumous record releases included Mountain Live (The Road Goes on Forever) [April 1972] and The Best of Mountain [February 1973].) West and Laing joined with former Cream bassist Jack Bruce to form West, Bruce & Laing. The trio recorded two studio albums, Why Dontcha (October 1972) and Whatever Turns You On (July 1973). (A live album, Live 'N' Kickin', was released in April 1974.) Bruce quit in the summer of 1973, and West and Laing briefly formed Leslie West's Wild West Show. Then West, Pappalardi, Alan Schwartherg (drums), and Bob Mann (keyboards) re-formed Mountain, recording a double live album, Twin Peaks (February 1974), in Osaka, Japan, in August 1973. This was followed by a Mountain studio album, Avalanche (July 1974), made by West, Pappalardi, Laing, and Knight. Then Mountain split again, and West formed the Leslie West Band, releasing The Great Fatsby (April 1975) (which featured Mick Jagger) and The Leslie West Band (1976) (which featured Mick Jones, later of Foreigner). Bedeviled by substance abuse problems, West retired from music for a time, then cleared up and again re-formed Mountain with Laing and bassist Mark Clarke (Pappalardi had died in 1983) for Go for Your Life (March 1985). The group broke up again, and West made Theme (1988), again teaming with Jack Bruce. West then participated in the Guitar Speaks (1988) and Night of the Guitar (1989) recordings of legendary rock guitarists for IRS Records' Illegal subsidiary. His next solo album was Alligator (August 1989), followed by Dodgin' the Dirt (1994). In 1994, West and Laing teamed with ex-Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist Noel Redding in another edition of Mountain, recording two tracks for the compilation Over the Top (1995). The solo As Phat as It Gets followed in 1999. After an album for Voiceprint, Guitarded, in 2004, West released two blues-inflected albums for Blues Bureau International, 2005's Got Blooze and 2006's Blue Me. West lost a leg due to complications from type 2 diabetes in June of 2011, but it didn't slow him down much. He released Unusual Suspects, which featured guest spots from guitarists Billy Gibbons, Slash, Zakk Wylde, Joe Bonamassa, and Steve Lukather three months later in September. © William Ruhlmann © 2014 AllMusic, a division of All Media Network, LLC. | All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/artist/leslie-west-mn0000255371/biography