# Leslie West passes at 75. Dec. 22, 2020



## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Leslie West guitarist of Mountain passed away on Dec. 22.
He was 75.
Thank you for the great music Leslie.
Rest in Peace :angel:


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Yes, a wonderfully emotive guitarist. He could convey so much with just a few touches on the guitar. I loved his work also as part of West, Bruce, and Laing, especially on the _Why Dontcha_ album.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

A friend of mine never forgave West for hitting on his wife, right in front of him, some 40 years ago. Apparently in person West could be quite the ill-behaved rock star.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Bearing in mind West's obesity twinned with unbridled drug use during his Mountain years and then various other health issues later on in life he did pretty well to get this far. On the musical front, credit to him for being part of one of the world's first heavy rock bands.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Leslie still had it even with one leg. This version really smokes!


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

An interesting essay could be written concerning the whole lineage and personnel of the original band _Cream_ and its train of successors and spin-offs: _Blind Faith; Mountain; West, Bruce & Laing _. Certain names crop up as key influences responsible for some of the distinct sound of these several groups, besides the key artists themselves. Two stand out: Felix Pappalardi as the fourth member of _Cream_ and a key figure in _Mountain_. The other is the magical songwriter Pete Brown whose long collaboration with Jack Bruce produced so many great songs for _Cream, Mountain_, and _West, Bruce & Laing_.

"Those were the days; gold were their ways!"


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I think Felix Pappilardi brought more elements of Cream into Mountain than anyone else. His voice even had a similar timbre to Jack Bruce's.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

elgars ghost said:


> I think Felix Pappilardi brought more elements of Cream into Mountain than anyone else. His voice even had a similar timbre to Jack Bruce's.


True, and Pappalardi was the one who brought _Theme for an Imaginary Western_, a primo Bruce/Brown song, to Mountain, where it rocketed them to stardom. _Theme_ was one of those signature songs that was the product of Rock's "discovery" of Romanticism--faraway places (and times) with strange-sounding names. _Kashmir, Immigrant Song, Those Were the Days, Cortez the Killer, St. Charles, The Year of the Cat_, many examples (and more) of that window into wonderfulness when the city of Atlantis stood serene above the sea, long time before our time, when the world was free.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

It's a pity Mountain's star couldn't shine for a while longer after such a fine start - I was fairly underwhelmed with anything I heard post-_Flowers of Evil_. I could easily live without the flabbier parts of the _Twin Peaks_ live album as well.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

elgars ghost said:


> It's a pity Mountain's star couldn't shine for a while longer after such a fine start - I was fairly underwhelmed with anything I heard post-_Flowers of Evil_. I could easily live without the flabbier parts of the _Twin Peaks_ live album as well.


Same here. It seems to take a sustained effort among like-minded peers to generate a longish pattern of high-quality songs. Given the volatile and often ego-driven nature of many Rock artists, it is surprising that we can occasionally get those longish stretches of great music. You can do this either by having a charismatic figure or duo dominating the group--or a group very closely working together without much rumor of rancor or stress. The Stones, Springsteen would be examples of the first; The Police, Zeppelin, or R.E.M of the second.

The post-Cream crowd were too diverse. I had hopes for Robin Trower working with Jack Bruce, but found the coupling unsatifactory. A shame, because both were so good in other settings.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I was disappointed with Beck Bogert and Appice - great band on paper (at least instrumentally) but their album was disappointing and none of them could sing well enough.


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## Jay (Jul 21, 2014)

elgars ghost said:


> I was fairly underwhelmed with anything I heard post-_Flowers of Evil_.


Agreed. I really only liked the first album under West's name, and even that hasn't aged all that well.



elgars ghost said:


> I was disappointed with Beck Bogert and Appice


Yup. And West, Bruce, & Laing was equally _meh_....


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Jay said:


> And West, Bruce, & Laing was equally _meh_....


Minor disagreement there. _Why Dontcha_ had two fine (IMO) Bruce/Brown songs, _Out Into the Fields, Pollution Woman_ as well as the title song, _The Doctor_, and _Love is Worth the Blues_. Not a bad album. But it was rapidly downhill from that modest peak. So, _meh_ if compared with the best of Cream; not so _meh_ compared with the the average run of uninteresting "product".


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## Shaughnessy (Dec 31, 2020)

In-depth article on "Mountain" which appeared in "Goldmine" magazine -

The story of the band Mountain
The story of the rock band Mountain was both a tumultuous and creative journey.

Another interesting article from "Goldmine" -

A quirky chat with Corky Laing
Mountain's drummer reflects on the highs and lows of the classic rock band.


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## Shaughnessy (Dec 31, 2020)

elgars ghost said:


> I was disappointed with *Beck Bogert and Appic*e - great band on paper (at least instrumentally) but their album was disappointing and none of them could sing well enough.


Probably not nearly as disappointed as I was.

Their eponymous debut album was released in 1973 and even though 47 years have gone by, I'm still bitter to this very day about having passed over "Frampton's Camel" to purchase it and what's even worse is the intensity of the seething bitterness I feel over having taken a pass on "Dark Side of the Moon" to purchase "Frampton's Camel".

1973 had a really tough time trying to follow 1972 - a year which featured Uriah Heep's "Demons and Wizards" in May and "The Magician's Birthday" in December - which would be the "best two consecutive studio releases in one calendar year" were it not for 1975's "The Kinks Present A Soap Opera" and "The Kinks Present Schoolboys In Disgrace".

Serious question (although it appears suspiciously facetious) -

Would Beck, Bruce, and Laing have made a better power trio than West, Bogart, and Appice?


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

^
^

West Bogert and Appice would be closer to Cactus, I think. Beck and Bruce and would possibly prefer to jazz up - assuming Laing had the necessary chops.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)




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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Roll of honor: recent deaths of notable non-classical musicians


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## Bill Schuster (Oct 22, 2019)

NoCoPilot said:


> A friend of mine never forgave West for hitting on his wife, right in front of him, some 40 years ago. Apparently in person West could be quite the ill-behaved rock star.


 might you be referring to a certain proggeezer? Anytime Leslie came up, I expected to see him appear to share that story again. I enjoyed it every time. I've had coworkers hit on my wife, but no rock stars. A currently active comedian got a bit personal hugging her, after a show last year.


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