Mountain

On the first of March, 2020, John Darnielle, Peter Hughes, Matt Douglas, and Jon Wurster, aka the Mountain Goats band, visited legendary studio Sam Phillips Recording in Memphis, TN. Darnielle armed his band with new songs and reunited with producer Matt Ross-Spang who engineered last year’s In League with Dragons. In the same room where the Cramps tracked their 1980 debut album, the Mountain Goats spent a week capturing the magic of a band at the top of its game. The result is Getting Into Knives, the perfect album for the millions of us who have spent many idle hours contemplating whether we ought to be honest with ourselves and just get massively into knives. Getting Into Knives includes guest performance on Hammond B-3 organ by Charles Hodges (of numerous Al Green records) and guest performance on guitar by Chris Boerner (of the Hiss Golden Messenger band).

Following the success of their self-titled debut, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils' sophomore release, It'll Shine When It Shines, continues on their already established path of California-style country-rock. This release contained what would ultimately prove to be their greatest hit, "Jackie Blue," which ended up peaking at number three on the pop chart. Although "Jackie Blue" is by far the least countrified track on the album, it embodies the casual, understated groove of the band that could be found on any of the Daredevils' releases. Although when examined closely the album is really three neatly separate albums by three maturing songwriters (John Dillon, Steve Cash, and the underrated Larry Lee), the thread of their relaxed atmosphere and light harmonies runs throughout the album, binding it together as a cohesive whole.

Sony repackaged and re-released five LPs by Mountain on Windfall – Climbing!, Nantucket Sleighride, Flowers of Evil, Twin Peaks, and Avalanche – as a slipcased box set. It's not a bad way to acquire the albums if you don't already own them, but isn't recommended for the casual fan.

Mega-awesome, brain-damaging fourth disc from Grooveyard Records bad-ass, heavy-duty, retro-70s heavy guitar "tribute" project from Sweden featuring Janne "Rock Machine" Stark and an amazing cast of excellent "special guest" vocalists & axerippers that truly deliver the goods on a solid mission to Keep the Rock alive. Includes 14 tracks (79 minutes) of classic, over-the-top, supreme, powerful, intense, killer, blues-based heavy guitar riffage/mojo that will kick your ass & rock your world. On this outstanding follow-up to the previous three Mountain of Power discs, Janne Stark & Co. dig in deep on an awesome collection of killer 70s hard & heavy rock that lands bad-ass with tons of outstanding riffage and "musical brotherhood" all in the name of serious Guitar Rock.

One song about preparing to exact bloody revenge begets another song about the act of exacting bloody revenge and then more songs about the causes and the aftermath of being driven to exact bloody revenge, each delivered with the urgency and desperation deserving of their narrators and circumstances. John Darnielle & the Mountain Goats present Bleed Out, a brand new collection arriving on August 19th.

Coming on the heels of their live Twin Peaks, this release features more of a guitar-oriented sound than previous efforts. Highlights include their cover of Jerry Lee Lewis' "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and "You Better Believe It," the latter sounding like a return to the Climbing days. The rest, however, sounds like it could have been left buried under the Avalanche. Everything was downhill after this.

Mountain was the combined forces of Leslie West, a gigantic guitarist/vocalist who had played with New York garage-psych rockers the Vagrants, and Felix Pappalardi. Pappalardi had a slightly more impressive track record, coming from the modern East Coast folk-rock movement (the Youngbloods), before he applied his production skills to Cream. Through this, Felix never really stopped playing and eventually formed Mountain. Often billed as a junior-league version of Cream, Climbing!, Mountain's debut, had a lot of things going for it as well. Indeed, West was a changed man from the moment he saw Clapton play, and Pappalardi was able to help him achieve the exact same tone Clapton employed on Disraeli Gears…

Three prior Mountain collections, 1973's THE BEST OF, 1974's ON TOP, and 1995's box set OVER THE TOP, left few stones unturned in their overviews of these short-lived yet successful power rockers. If you're looking for a succinct collection of their best-known tracks, then 1998's budget priced SUPER HITS is recommended. Containing 10 tracks, SUPER HITS features such classic rock radio standards as "Mississippi Queen," "Never in My Life," "Theme for an Imaginary Western," and "Flowers of Evil." Although THE BEST OF may have a longer track listing, SUPER HITS contains several tracks not included on the former, which rank among some of the band's best–"Flowers of Evil," "Blood of the Sun," "You Better Believe It," and "The Great Train Robbery."