There is no better example of Mountain at the height of its powers than this New Year's Eve concert at the Fillmore East. The band was based out of Forest Hills so they were surrounded by friends, family and an extremely enthusiastic audience. They had recently released their strongest and most cohesive album, Nantucket Sleighride, and the realization of great new material combined with the success of their previous album and single, "Mississippi Queen," inspired the group to play at peak capacity.
This recording was possibly being considered for a live album at one point, as…entire summary
Leslie West - guitar, vocals
Felix Pappalardi - bass, vocals
Steve Knight - organ
Corky Laing - drums
There is no better example of Mountain at the height of its powers than this New Year's Eve concert at the Fillmore East. The band was based out of Forest Hills so they were surrounded by friends, family and an extremely enthusiastic audience. They had recently released their strongest and most cohesive album, Nantucket Sleighride, and the realization of great new material combined with the success of their previous album and single, "Mississippi Queen," inspired the group to play at peak capacity.
This recording was possibly being considered for a live album at one point, as quick fades occurring after each track eliminate most of the downtime. The show wad possibly re-sequenced, however, and it's questionable whether the tracks were played in this exact order.
Following the Happy New Year introduction, the recordings begin with a powerful take on "Never In My Life" featuring Leslie West's massive guitar tone and the pummeling rhythm section of Pappalardi and Laing. They follow with a new song off Nantucket Sleighride called "Don't Look Around," which sustains the level of intensity. The hard rock crunch of "Mississippi Queen" is next, and they have some fun with the arrangement, expanding the guitar solos and doubling the length of the album version.
Next are two, relatively rare performances of "Baby, I'm Down" and "Long Red," both from Leslie West's first, pre-Mountain LP. Considerable jamming occurs during both and West's screeching voice seems to have never sounded more appropriate or passionate. Next, Felix steps up to the microphone for one of the best tracks off their previous album, "Silver Paper," taking a more melodic approach while maintaining the band's distinctive crunch.
Next up is an intriguing, 10-minute guitar solo by West. This remarkably fluid performance on the electric is quite captivating and shows that West, although highly influenced by Clapton and Hendrix, was breaking ground and developing into a great guitar player in his own right. Two of the most intriguing new songs follow. "The Animal Trainer and the Toad," named after a critic's description of Felix and Leslie, proves the band had a sense of humor that they could translate instrumentally, and the new album's title track demonstrates the band's melodic and dramatic sides. It's a step forward in dynamics and control for the band, and at its tight, six minute length, contains none of the overindulgence that often marred Mountain's later performances of the song. By the following year, this song was being played for half an hour or more.
The group's ode to the Woodstock Festival, "For Yasgur's Farm" is up next, followed by another new one, "Traveling In The Dark." They close the set with the powerful, riff driven "Blood Of The Sun," another vintage track from Leslie's first LP. They cap things off by returning for a lengthy jam on the encore. The highly expanded, improvisational treatment given to "Dreams Of Milk and Honey" pummels anyone left standing into submission. This is classic Mountain at their best, featuring a memorable call and response section between West and Pappalardi. Corky Laing's drumming is always spot on and powerful without being overindulgent. The energy level is astounding and the performance remains imaginative throughout its 23-minute length. This comes to a close and West belts out "Old Lang Syne" before the group signs off on 1970.
Few hard rock bands of the era had the raw energy level of Mountain and this is certainly one of their finest performances.
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