Ghastly camera work, but you do get to see them in action
Thank you blueser - Blues To Die For - Great CD - Leslie in later years cut some stuff as Mountain, some solo - Doggin The Dirt, a later Mountain CD
the in-your-face intro to Thumbsucker - those last 3 power chords at the end of For Yasgur’s Farm - his TFAIWestern solo compares favorably w/Hurdy Gurdy Man or any - the nasty slide on the live Crossroader - his fantastic acoustic stuff
the big man left a big imprint on music & is sorely missed
king of the tone
One of the all time greats, a personal favorite and influence on me. Theme From an Imaginary Western and The Boys in the Band contain some of my favorite guitar solos of all time.
Someday, everything's gonna be different
When I paint my masterpiece.
@tenorsfan: That live performance of Theme For An Imaginary Western is up in my Top 5 YouTube videos of all-time. Really catches the band in all of it's glory.
I remembered this appearance on Dennis Miller and just found it.
West has a great tone and can rip off those harmonic squeal notes with the same ease as Billy Gibbons doing La Grange.
Apparently Leslie is playing an LSR Leslie West custom guitar. I think he initially called it a West berger but Gibson objected to "berger" being in the name so it was changed.
Initially West played a Gibson Les Paul Junior with P-90s and big amps to get his mountain tone. Said he was expecting new Marshall amps when the shipman arrived in the late 60's. But when he opened the boxes it was Sunn equipment. West wasn't sure he could even use the amps but when he hooked up and turned up, presto there was his Mountain tone for the first time.
Later he moved to Dean guitars and occassion played Guild and Les Paul Sr. guitars.
Later West said a guitar tech told him his Mountain tone was more from his right hand attack. West said the man was right. That he discovered with the amps set right he can get his Mountain tone with any guitar he wants to play.
Mountain is a top 5 favorite band for me.
I was lucky enough to have seen the very last show they did with Fe.ix Pappalardi at the Felt Forum in NYC on NYE 12/31/74. They played two shows that night.
I have seen various versions of Mountain a couple of dozen times after Felix died and Leslie never dissapointed.
He did a bootleg series back in 2004-2006 of SB and audience recordings from Leslie's and Corky's private collections. The company that released them may have gone out of business as Leslie mentioned in an interview he doesn't know why they stopped releasing new titles. He said they had some West Bruce and Lang tapes that never got released which is a pity.
You can still find them on. Ebay at reasonable prices.
https://www.discogs.com/label/404139-Official-Live-Mountain-Bootleg-Series
Mountain is a top 5 favorite band for me.
I was lucky enough to have seen the very last show they did with Fe.ix Pappalardi at the Felt Forum in NYC on NYE 12/31/74. They played two shows that night.
I have seen various versions of Mountain a couple of dozen times after Felix died and Leslie never dissapointed.
He did a bootleg series back in 2004-2006 of SB and audience recordings from Leslie's and Corky's private collections. The company that released them may have gone out of business as Leslie mentioned in an interview he doesn't know why they stopped releasing new titles. He said they had some West Bruce and Lang tapes that never got released which is a pity.
You can still find them on. Ebay at reasonable prices.
https://www.discogs.com/label/404139-Official-Live-Mountain-Bootleg-Series
i have most of that bootleg series, great stuff
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
I remembered this appearance on Dennis Miller and just found it.
West has a great tone and can rip off those harmonic squeal notes with the same ease as Billy Gibbons doing La Grange.
Apparently Leslie is playing an LSR Leslie West custom guitar. I think he initially called it a West berger but Gibson objected to "berger" being in the name so it was changed.
Initially West played a Gibson Les Paul Junior with P-90s and big amps to get his mountain tone. Said he was expecting new Marshall amps when the shipman arrived in the late 60's. But when he opened the boxes it was Sunn equipment. West wasn't sure he could even use the amps but when he hooked up and turned up, presto there was his Mountain tone for the first time.
Later he moved to Dean guitars and occassion played Guild and Les Paul Sr. guitars.
Later West said a guitar tech told him his Mountain tone was more from his right hand attack. West said the man was right. That he discovered with the amps set right he can get his Mountain tone with any guitar he wants to play.
A little Mountain trivia.
The bass player in that video, Ritchie Scarlet, went to high school in Carmel, NY which was the next town over from where I grew up. He was a local guitar hero and had a band named Scarlet Fever.
I used to go see his band when they had The Battle of the Bands contests at my local High School Auditorium. He is a fantastic guitar player in his own right.
He also was close friends with Ace Frehley and was a member in Frehley's Comet.
He was working in a large music store, East Coast Sound, in Danbury, CT in the late 1980's. I bought my first guitar I posted pix of in the Guitar Porno thread, ESP Mirage Custom, from him back in 1988.
Good stuff, Bill Graham! As a CT resident, I can attest that Richie is a living legend.
I can also attest that many of us bought loads of musical equipment at East Coast Music Mall using their wonderful credit plan, a 24% scam that we teenagers were too dumb to understand. Lol - just HAD to have that Steinberg
Good stuff, Bill Graham! As a CT resident, I can attest that Richie is a living legend.
I can also attest that many of us bought loads of musical equipment at East Coast Music Mall using their wonderful credit plan, a 24% scam that we teenagers were too dumb to understand. Lol - just HAD to have that Steinberg
You are right Jim! I was living in Bethel, CT when I bought my ESP in 1988 they were called East Coast Sound and later became East Coast Music Mall. Luckily I had the $$$ so did not have to finance the ESP.
The owner back then was Ed Roman (RIP) who sold the place and moved to Las Vegas and started Ed Roman Guitars.
Here is the clothe sticker inside my ESP case
I just read online that East Coast Music Mall closed in 2010-11(?)
a pic of Ritchie from back in the day
Back in the late 80's early 90's East Coast hosted a Guitar clinic (Kramer?) and had some well known musicians get up and jam on the stage they had in the back of the showroom floor.
Here is a pic supposedly from 1983 but most of the same musicians were there that night I saw the jam
From Left to right-> Vinnie Zummo (played guitar in Joe Jackson's band but was also a drummer), Ed Roman ( Owner of East Coast), Eric Bloom ( BoC), JJ French ( Twisted Sister) Leslie West, Roger Glover ( Deep Purple) Elliot Easton ( Cars), Buck Dharma ( BoC) and a couple of unknowns
From memory they played Mississippi Queen, Smoke on the Water, some blues standars and the members of Blue Oyster Cult played several of their songs including and amazing Godzilla. You would not have known there were only about a hundred people in attendance that night as the musicians really jammed. Leslie was his wisecracking self between songs that night and had Roger Glover laughing so hard he could barely play his bass.
Leslie and various versions of Mountain used to play at Tuxedo Junction in Danbury and it was always a great show. I have not been to downtown Danbury since I moved to Massachusetts back in 1999 but evidently Tuxedo's closed in 2013. It only held 600 people but saw many a great band there back then.
@bill_graham great stories and pics. great to see french from twisted sister with leslie. mountain was a big influence on twisted sister. dee snider appears on still climbing and the new west tribute album. also joe franco was in twisted sister as the drummer in 1987 and then with leslie for album Theme with jack bruce on bass
One of the all time greats, a personal favorite and influence on me. Theme From an Imaginary Western and The Boys in the Band contain some of my favorite guitar solos of all time.
these same 2 songs are my favorite playing of Steve Knight - that heavy duty organ in Boys in the Band, just amazing, esp during the bridge -
& backing up Leslie like that on TWestern - his playing almost makes the song for me - & those keyboard parts on Don’t Look Around……
those early Mountain albums w/Steve - Climbing, NanSleighride, Flowers, the live one……rust-free gems
several are like that for me - the 1st 4-5 albums of bands like the Brothers, ELP, Zeppelin, J Geils, the Band’s 1st 2…..also 1968-72 Stones🎵🎼🎶
Mountain broke up in 1972, then the West Bruce & Laing period….
& Steve didn’t rejoin for the Avalanche album - then Steve & Corky weren’t on Twin Peaks
Why Dontcha & Avalanche are good power-trio albums - even w/out Steve Avalanche is a great Mountain record - the acoustic instrumental Alisan shows the versatile brilliance of Leslie West
but at any rate Steve Knight gave the band a sound that keeps those Mountain albums fresh
hard to believe 10 years since his passing (Jan 2013)
the day I can’t whistle along to Steve’s short but oh so tuneful synth bridge in Nantucket Sleighride….ya I too will be ready to go upstairs,😆
listening to the Jeff Beck Group
…….RIP, Lisa Marie Presley - she lived a life of dignity & grace
