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Mountain is a semi-legendary US band formed in the late 60's, that in a career at first lasting for all of 5 years managed to achieve quite a lot of stuff. Playing at Woodstock was one; writing the classic "Mississippi Queen" another, and unleashing the guitar skills of Leslie West unto an unsuspecting world a third. The band disbanded in 1974, had a more or less failed revival in the mid eighties; before sole founding member Leslie West reformed the band yet again in the mid-nineties. This last version of Mountain is still active; and on tour as this review is written.

Musically Mountain were all about heavily blues-tinged driving hard rock during part 1 of the bands history. When they reformed in the mid 80's they switched to a more commercial generic hard rock sound. What sound they have gone for now in the last decade or so is unknown to me; but chances are good that it is still good old-fashioned hard rock that is the name of the game.
Trademark for the band throughout has been the guitar skills of Leslie West though. Switching from raw riffing to melodic interludes and soloing effortlessly, and producing sounds from relatively simple guitars few or none can do after him has always been trademark aspects of all Mountain songs.

This release from 2004 has been gathering a lot of dust before reviewing. It was already an old release when I got it for reviewing; and after listening through this release first time around I really didn't feel like taking it on. It just sounded too awful. But as time has passed, and having listened through it quite a few times; this release suddenly clicked - and I sort of cracked a code that made me able to look at this release in a fair manner. Potential buyers should be aware of this; as I suspect many will get the same experience here.

Now, this is a double live CD, where disc one is taped live in 1985, and disc two is put together from several concerts in Europe played in 2003.

And it is the first disc that is most interesting here. The recording is low quality, and from what I can hear this is a raw live recording - from what I can tell this one hasn't been doctored in the studio at all; but just recorded on to CD as is.
And what a wild and frenzied concert recording this is. Leslie's singing voice is more like croaking than anything else, technical difficulties can be heard throughout, the sound is bad overall. But guitar wise Leslie seemingly has a perfect day; the riffs, licks, melodic twangs and soloing works like a charm, transfixing and hypnotizing the listener. Especially the first 3 tracks here oozes mood and atmosphere, the same can be said for the classic Mississippi Queen.
Neither of them being by far a perfect live recording; but the mood and intensity of them really is breathtaking.

The downside from this disc is Nantucket Sleighride for me, which seems to wander aimlessly for all of the 14 minutes it lasts.

The second disc here isn't as interesting. The performances here are good, but not spectacular in any way. The sound is much better here though; and I suspect that it is both because the recording equipment used here were far better as well as the tracks getting a good polish in a studio before these tracks were put on a CD.

Most noteworthy elements from this concert: Leslie West's chatting with the audience, which is great fun ("We played Woodstock. I can't remember being there, but we were at Woodstock"). The track "The Sea", one of their new tracks from the 90's, which is played with more emotion and mood than most of the other tracks here. And finally a killer version of "The House of the Rising Sun", played with a raw intensity that few others could insert into this evergreen.
Downside on this second disc is the rather lengthy "Dreams of Milk and Honey", that drones on and on for close to 23 minutes.

On both discs there is an uncredited blues track as well. They do not add to this release as such; although I suspect fans will appreciate these two bluesy jams.

Overall this is a rather nice release. Not perfect by far, but if you manage to "crack the code" for this release there is a fair share of good music to enjoy. And old fans will appreciate all the material offered here as well, as total playing time on these two discs clocks in at 158 minutes and 10 seconds. In other words, these CDs are filled to the brim.

Rating: 7 (out of 10)
Reviewer: Olav Björnsen

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: : Discography : :
Masters of War (2007)
Eruption (2004)
Mystic Fire (2002)
On the Mark (2002)
Mountain - Extended Versions (2000)
Super Hits (1998)
Blood of the Sun (1996)
Man's World (1996)
Over the Top (1995)
Go for Your Life (1985)
Avalance (1974)
Twin Peaks (1974)
Best of Montain (1973)
Mountain Live: The Road Goes Ever On (1972)
Flowers of Evil (1971)
Nantucket Sleighride (1971)
Climbing! (1970)
(Leslie West: Mountain 1969)