The Best of Mountain

Album Review

Mountain's meteoric ride through the early '70s was as memorable as it was brief — so much so that this excellent greatest-hits set was released less than four years after the band had inaugurated their career at Woodstock. In retrospect, its easy to understand why the strange chemistry (pun intended) struck between boogie-loving, Clapton-worshiping guitar hero Leslie West and eclectic bassist and Cream producer Felix Pappalardi was fated to be a short one. But during their brief run, Mountain's adventurous proto-metal did indeed resemble a somewhat twisted but effective American version of the legendary power trio that inspired them. Of course, Mountain would continue to re-form off and on over the years, but seeing as most of their later efforts were disappointingly under par, this set covers all the stuff you'll need — most essentially, Homer Simpson's favorite song, the immortal "Mississippi Queen." [The 2003 reissue of The Best of Mountain has new liner notes by Ben Edmonds, great photos, improved sound, and four bonus tracks: "Long Red" and "Dreams of Milk & Honey" from 1969's Mountain, "Silver Paper" from 1970's Climbing!, and "Travelin' in the Dark (To E.M.P.)" from 1971's Nantucket Sleighride.]