Leslie West
5 Originals

Lots of material here, from former Mountain guitarist, the late (and decidedly great) Leslie West. It's probably fair to say that, since the original dissolution of Mountain in the early '70s, his career has never quite reached the same level of mainstream success, with his solo albums (of which there have been many) often flying under the radar of all but the most dedicated West Watchers. This is an injustice, however, as a listen to almost any of his recordings (and certainly any of the original Mountain

The first surprising thing is that there is no room for West's very first solo album, entitled Mountain, from 1969. Giving rise to the band's name (and named for his famously considerable size), the album is highly regarded and gave rise to several Mountain songs such as Long Red, Dreams Of Milk And Honey and Blood Of The Sun, and featuring Pappalardi on it. It is often thought of as the 'unofficial' Mountain debut album, but one would imagine that licensing issues precluded its inclusion here. The first al

The follow up, 1976's The Leslie West Band, recorded by the band of that name which he had by now formed - including Mick Jones on second guitar, ex of Spooky Tooth and later of Foreigner - is cut very much from the same cloth. Indeed, it is close in terms of quality, with arguably higher peaks but perhaps a touch more filler. Cream of the crop here is the guitar genius of Sea Of Heartbreak, which is so good that it seems a crime when it finishes after only three and a half minutes. West's guitar here is so

Fast forward now to 1988, with the album Theme, recorded with Jack Bruce on bass and vocals. Unsurprisingly given the title, Bruce's song which Mountain made their own, Theme From An Imaginary Western, makes an appearance here, though despite Bruce's excellent vocal, it cannot compete with Mountain's own version. Similarly, live recordings of Red House and Spoonful pad things out rather, and despite standouts Talk Dirty, Motherload, I Ate It and a surprisingly well done if brief Love Me Tender, it's the wea

For the last album of the set we hurtle forward a full fifteen years to 2004 for the questionably titled Guitarded. In fact, in addition to the title, the cover of a 'disabled sign' wheelchair used holding a guitar make this one of those 'did they know what they were thinking?' moments. Had it been after Leslie lost his leg to diabetes it would have had a self-mocking humorous point, but is wasn't. Still, that is of no consequence as the material here - all thirteen tracks of it , lasting a full 70 minutes

In summary, the Five Originals set is the one for the casual fan. Apart from Guitarded, the other albums are all either too patchy or too short to be recommended as stand-alone buys, but collected in this way they give a very healthy serving of exceptional music. The absolute best way of getting hold of this material, and certainly recommended. Got Live is much more for the dedicated fan, as the sometimes poor recording quality and sloppy execution of the likes of ... Sleighride would probably test the uninit

Overall though, a fine tribute to a man larger than life in more ways than one. RIP Leslie, you were a talent to behold.

LESLIE WEST / FIVE ORIGINALS