Climbing!

Climbing!
Climbing!
Studio album by Mountain
Released	1970
Recorded	1969–1970
Studio	Record Plant, New York City
Length	32:38
Label	Windfall
Producer	Felix Pappalardi
Mountain chronology
Singles from Climbing!
	"Mississippi Queen"; Released: February 1970;

Climbing! (also known as Mountain Climbing!) is the debut studio album by American hard rock band Mountain, released in 1970 by Windfall Records.

Background[]

In 1969, Leslie West recorded his debut solo album, titled Mountain, with Felix Pappalardi on bass and drummer Norman Smart.^[1] Smart was replaced by Corky Laing on drums and percussion and keyboardist Steve Knight was added to form the classic Mountain lineup, with Pappalardi as producer.

Windfall Records released Climbing! in the spring of 1970, which reached number 17 on the American Billboard 200 albums chart.^[1] It included the group's best-known song, "Mississippi Queen", which became a hit and "Never in My Life", which was regularly aired on contemporary FM radio.^[2] Both were sung by West, while Pappalardi supplied the vocal on another radio favorite, "Theme for an Imaginary Western".^[1]

Critical reception[]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[2]
Christgau's Record Guide	C+^[3]

Matthew Greenwald, in a review for AllMusic, gave the album four and a half out of five stars. In Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau wrote:

We all know they're the original Cremora—what this makes clearer is that they're Jack Bruce's third of the jar. On "For Yasgur's Farm" Felix Pappalardi emulates JB's self-dramatizing vocal propriety as well as his bass lines, but when Leslie West runs an acoustic guitar solo from raga to flamenco without ever touching the blues you know he's not doing an Eric Clapton tribute. Can't fit the humongous 'Mississippi Queen' into this theory, but I can tell you who wrote "Theme for an Imaginary Western": Jack Bruce and Pete Brown.^[3]

Track listing[]

Side one
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Vocal(s)	Length
1.	"Mississippi Queen"	Leslie West, Corky Laing, Felix Pappalardi, David Rea	West	2:31
2.	"Theme for an Imaginary Western"	Pete Brown, Jack Bruce	Pappalardi	5:06
3.	"Never in My Life"	West, Laing, Pappalardi, Gail Collins	West	3:51
4.	"Silver Paper"	West, Collins, Laing, Pappalardi, Steve Knight, George Gardos	Pappalardi, West	3:19

Side two
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Vocal(s)	Length
1.	"For Yasgur's Farm"	Collins, Gardos, Laing, Pappalardi, Rea, Gary Ship	Pappalardi, West	3:23
2.	"To My Friend"	West	Instrumental	3:38
3.	"The Laird"	Collins, Pappalardi	Pappalardi	4:39
4.	"Sittin' on a Rainbow"	West, Collins, Laing	West	2:23
5.	"Boys in the Band"	Collins, Pappalardi	Pappalardi, West	3:33
Total length:				32:38

On CD reissues, sides one and two were combined as tracks 1–9. On the 2003 Legacy Recordings CD, a live version of "For Yasgur's Farm" was added as a bonus track.

Personnel[]

Band

Leslie West – guitars on all tracks
Felix Pappalardi – bass guitar on all tracks except 6 and 7; piano on tracks 1, 2 and 9; rhythm guitar on track 7; production
Steve Knight – organ on tracks 2, 3, 4 and 5; Mellotron on tracks 2 and 9; handbells on track 4
Corky Laing – drums on all tracks except 6 and 7; percussion on tracks 7 and 9

Additional personnel

Bud Prager – executive production
Bob d'Orleans – engineering
Lillian Douma – engineering assistance
Beverly Weinstein – art direction
Gail Collins – cover artwork, photography

References[]

^ Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c Eder, Bruce. "Mountain – Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved May 10, 2021.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Greenwald, Matthew. "Mountain: Climbing! – Review". AllMusic. Retrieved May 10, 2021.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: M". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 8, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.

External links[]

Climbing! at Discogs (list of releases)

[Eder-1] Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c Eder, Bruce. "Mountain – Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved May 10, 2021.

[Greenwald-2] Jump up to: ^a ^b Greenwald, Matthew. "Mountain: Climbing! – Review". AllMusic. Retrieved May 10, 2021.

[CG-3] Jump up to: ^a ^b Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: M". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 8, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.

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