Mountain Climbing! - MOUNTAIN****

Mississippi Queen/Theme For An Imaginary Western/Never In My Life/Silver Paper/For Yagur's Farm/To My Friend/The Laird/Sittin' On A Rainbow/Boys In The Band

Climbing! was the debut album from the New York hard rock group Mountain, and was a successor to Leslie West's solo release of the previous year. The group have often been compared to Cream, not always flatteringly. (US:17)

"The hard rock band Mountain's debut is an epic slice of guitar blast fury and dinosaurean 70s metal stomp courtesy of man-mountain guitar wunderkind Leslie West. Climbing! has the song, Mississippi Queen, that made Mountain famous. It's a pure blast of scathing power chordage and was one of the heaviest songs on the planet at the time of release."

"Mississippi Queen is considered to be a defining track of the classic rock genre. Unfortunately it seems to be the only song that people know from this band even tough their discography features many other gems. Besides the monumental opener the album delivers many other cool tracks."

"Mountain's debut album is a nice mix of blues rock, psychedelia and early heavy metal sound. The album starts with their biggest hit Mississippi Queen which is a pretty good song even if it's so very overplayed. However my favourite songs here include Theme For An Imaginary Western and For Yasgur's Farm which are both totally perfect hard rockers. The rest of the material is mostly solid too and there's not much to complain about here."

"The songs here are some of the most tasty you will ever hear in hard rock, and some of the heaviest as well; they border on classic heavy metal. The crunchy and searing tone in Leslie West's guitar is one of a fiery, yet somewhat controlled and harnessed passion. You know the famous hit Mississippi Queen, with it's opening cowbell hits, and that thick, searing, and equally melodic riff from Leslie West. And for the rest of the song, we are treated to more melodic riffs which burn with a searing intensity to match that of Leslie's heated, highly-passionate, throaty vocals."

"Mountain got way too much flack for being a 'Poor man's Cream', but to my mind they were a very distinctive band. Climbing was the first 'official' Mountain album, but in reality the second album, following up on Leslie West's solo album. Mountain Climbing! is full of great cuts from start to finish. The first half is full of classic rock and while the second half sees a slowing down of sort it is still good enough to not take the steam out of this record."