Corky Laing, the last member of the original Mountain lineup, has been keeping the legacy of one of the first hard rock bands alive since 2015 with Corky Laing's Mountain. Recorded in Belgium in 2019, the live album looks back at the greatest hits of the band Mountain, which was formed 50 years earlier and to which Laing joined shortly after. It's a kind of anniversary album, in which the band around Laing has once again recorded a greatest hits live album.
Most of the songs come from the band's most successful period in the early 70s, although the setlist is also peppered with songs like "Long Red" from Leslie West's solo album "Mountain" or "Why Dotcha", which West, Bruce & Laing released after Mountain split up for the first time after only a few years.
Laing brought Mark Mikel, a bassist, into the band. He also performs lead vocals on most songs. Both vocally and in terms of bass playing, he is a worthy successor to Felix Pappalardi, who passed away early. Richie Scarlet also demonstrates his mastery of the guitar, shining with an occasionally brutal style, but also with a warm, soulful style on ballad-like pieces like "Theme From An Imaginary Western," which was written by Jack Bruce.
What many people have long been unaware of is that Laing is not only an excellent hard rock drummer, he can also sing and contributes lead vocals on several songs. The Dylan cover of "Like A Rollin' Stone" is particularly humorous, where he accompanies himself almost narratingly with just the drums.
The fact that Mountain was not wrongly called one of the first hard rock bands is demonstrated by the power trio, particularly in the two hits “Mississippi Queen” with its opening cowbells and “Never In My Life”, which makes the hearts of rock fans beat faster and also shows the timelessness of many of Mountain’s songs, including the lyrically rather dark “Nantucket Sleighride”, to which Laing draws a comparison between whalers and musicians who wanted too much and were dragged into the depths or disappeared into nothingness.
With this album, which is also technically well produced, Laing demonstrates that Mountain's music hasn't disappeared into obscurity, but is kept alive by the band. In this regard, one can quote a line from Laing's compatriot, Neil Young: "Rock 'n' Roll Will Never Die."
01 Dreams Of Milk And Honey / Blood Of The Sun
02 Travellin' The Dark
03 Long Red
04 Beautiful Flies
05 Theme From An Imaginary Western
06 Why Don'tcha
07 Mississippi Queen
08 Never In My Life
09 Nantucket Sleigh Ride
10 Like a Rollin' Stone
11 For Yasgur's Farm
12 Sitting on a Rainbow
13 Going Home
14 Silver Paper
