Mountain - Masters Of War - Big Rack 

Mountain was a staple of the hard rock circuit in the late 60’s, releasing rock staples like Mississippi Queen, Theme From An Imaginary Western  and Nantucket Sleighride to name a few.  Their career came to a near close by the early 70’s, only releasing records sporadically to no notoriety considering their past.  Now we have arrived to 2007 and I have in front of me a true oddity in that Mountain have released a covers album of Bob Dylan tracks.   Now I have seen off the wall records in my time but a hard rock band tackling the acoustic and political nature of a Dylan track just struck me to be odd.   After a few spins of this gem I can see why they did it, because they can.  Leslie West has proven to be versatile over his 35 plus year career and this is no different.  The material comes across as a bluesy guitar oriented tribute and I have to say that I am amazed at them for pulling it off.  The only throwaways would be Like A Rolling Stone and Mr. Tambourine Man.  They did not come up to what I would have thought them to be.   I would have thought Hard Rain or Political World would have fit better here but what do I know.  This is a gem for guitar enthusiasts as you will learn something from this legendary axe slinger.  

www.mountaintheband.com 

CD review by Jeffrey Easton