Mountain - Greatest Hits Live! (CD)

0707108804720. New condition. CD. This album contains a live recording made for the King Biscuit Flower Hour radio series of a concert by Mountain held at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ, on November 3, 1974. In a six-minute interview conducted 25 years later especially for this release, singer/lead guitarist Leslie West recalled the show as the first American date of Mountain's reunion. (The group had disbanded in 1972 and re-formed in 1973.) It seems more likely that it was one of the band's last performances, since Mountain had recorded its comeback album Avalanche the previous winter and released it in the summer of 1974. In any case, the sound quality is terrific and the show is a lively one, with bandmembers West, singer/bassist Felix Pappalardi, drummer Corky Laing, and new rhythm guitarist David Perry energetically working their way through favorites like "Mississippi Queen," "Theme for an Imaginary Western," and "Nantucket Sleighride." Two songs written by New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint, the 1966 Lee Dorsey hit "Get out of My Life Woman" and an instrumental version of "It's for You," are surprise additions to a set that also includes a timely performance of "Jingle Bells" to mark the holiday season and a concluding medley of "Roll Over Beethoven" and "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On." There is plenty of affection expressed in the stage remarks, but that didn't keep the band from breaking up soon after this show was recorded. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi