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Twin Peaks

Mountain - Twin Peaks Audio CD

A fair review of the Mountain "Twin Peaks" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Mountain reviews here, or go back to the Mountain tabs.

Band: Mountain
Title: Twin Peaks
Rating:

Release Date: 2008-03-01
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Never in My Life 2: Theme for an Imaginary Western 3: Blood of the Sun 4: Guitar Solo 5: Nantucket Sleighride 6: Crossroader 7: Mississippi Queen 8: Silver Paper 9: Roll over Beethoven

Mountain
If you're a Mountain/Leslie West fan. . . . THis is a must have. Great classic rock guitar and live music.

Watch Out!!!!
The remastered import version I tried to get is supposed to be the Repertoire(a German label, but with all notes in English) version from 2006, but is listed as being from Sony Japan. PLEASE make sure you know which version you are getting!! I attempted to buy the remastered import version, and got the new unremastered Sony BMG Custom Marketing version, which is also listed. Problem is, THAT version(MUCH more expensive!) also has its own listing! Several third-party sellers have understandably listed their CDs under the wrong listing, including at least two under the Repertoire(supposedly) listing as I explained earlier. The Repertoire version DOES exist, as I bought the correct version from another not-to be-named website! E-mail the seller first if you're not sure!!!.

Poor sound, good performance
Columbia edited some of the songs and significantly brightened up the sound to the point of being piercingly tinny. If this is a reissue of the original Columbia CD, its sound is a pale imitation of the original Japanese vinyl edition. Very sad, and I suggest searching out the Japanese 2CD mini-vinyl version released in 2008. That version, although very loud, is much less bright and sounds very good. .

Mountain the real deal
I don't mean it's a skyscraper , i mean to say it builds and has different chord progressions that move along ,and highten in intesity , They are following what seems to be a structured improvisation , and the group works really well off of one an other tastefully . The Version of Sliegh ride here is beutiful , the guitar solo sings and has a nice building structure.
Blood of the sun is really good , some ssay Mountains better shows were never recorded and the lesser shows appear on CD , aside from a couple of missed lyrics and a slightly out of tune and guitar here and there . The chemistry is amazing .
Leslie has rerecord some of this stuff with a more modern GTR sound and his own vocal , but the group dynamic , is not the same .
This is Mountain as the Pioneers of Blues rock , in a dark era where there were only gaints and empty space . This is as raw as it gets. .

I climbed the Mountain, and I'd gladly climb it again
This kind of music was never to regain the same kind of popularity again in the world of popular music. What's the deal with all sorts of negative reviews for Mountain's Twin Peaks album? It's actually a really solid live album released right before the style of hard rock/blues rock Mountain performed so well was about to come to an end as the music scene would change just a couple years later (and people would unfortunately prefer disco over this- yuck). That's why it's important to treasure the oldies and respect the musicians from back in the day to create rock music that was refreshing, different and creative. Mountain is one of these bands.

Mountain had the talent to do three different things. They could write pretty vocal melodies that positively tear me to pieces. They could create heavy short rockers, and finally Mountain could even go the distance and write some of the longest and coolest guitar jams I've ever heard (and I've heard everything from the Allman Brothers to Fleetwood Mac to the Grateful Dead perform them). Twin Peaks gives you all three. All the special talents of Mountain are well-represented on this live album.

"Never in my Life" is exactly how a live album should begin- featuring a loud and heavy riff-driven rocker with tons of energy. The guitar solo is quite good as well. "Theme For An Imaginary Western" is all about those incredibly emotional vocal melodies I mention above. *NO ONE* could sing a vocal melody like this band. At least none of the rock bands back then that focused mainly on straight ahead rock or blues rock knew how to write a vocal melody this memorable. Mountain had a gifted singer who wasn't afraid to hold back his honest feelings, even if it meant bringing the fans to tears. The live version of this song is somehow even more devastatingly beautiful over the studio version.

"Blood of the Sun" is quite awesome as well, with some more really fascinating guitar soloing playing *at the same time* the verse melody is playing to give the crowd exactly what they came to hear- exciting guitar soloing. I like when bands jam while a vocal melody is going on. That means if you don't like the vocal melody you can just listen to the guitar work instead. Luckily the vocals here are decent, and the guitar jamming would be like extra spinkles on a chocolate cupcake.

"Guitar Solo" is exactly what the title says- 5 minutes or so of great guitar playing. Unfortunately the only negative about the entire album is that the final 20 seconds of this song features a rather pointless "Jingle Bells" melody. I hate that song, but more importantly, it doesn't make sense that a band like Mountain would perform a traditional Christmas song, especially as part of a live album. I bet most people would rather not hear it. It was probably meant as a joke but it shouldn't have been put on tape. I can't really complain about 20 seconds of Christmas music, though.

Let's talk about "Nantucket Sleigh Ride". It's a REALLY enormous guitar jam that stretches just over 30 minutes. Wow. It's an exhausting listen if you're not in the mood to be challenged by lots of dazzling and creative guitar work. Thankfully the song goes through all sorts of rhythm changes, riffs and seemingly a never-ending amount of guitar solos to keep all the listeners focused. Not the best jam I've ever heard, but it was definitely a very impressive task for Mountain to play for such a lengthy period of time and end up with successful results. Again, the vocal melody (which can be heard in the beginning and very end of the song) is really beautiful and more emotional than most musicians would be able to create. On second listen, the lengthy jam sections are actually pretty exciting after all.

"Crossroader" is the best song on the album. A catchy guitar riff plays throughout most of it, but there's a few spots where some incredible guitar soloing occurs. It sounds a bit like the famous Cream tune "Crossroads" but it's not really the same thing. "Mississippi Queen" is better here compared to the version we hear on the radio all the time. Less time is devoted to the annoying, screaming vocal melody and *much* more time focused on guitar soloing. If you love early 70's live rock music you will certainly fall in love with this. A significant improvement over the version we all know, that's for sure. It's nice to hear a different version for a change instead of the same old radio version. "Silver Paper" is one of those feel good rock tunes that will probably take you back to the 70's (or if you weren't alive then, make you THINK about being there). Once again, I can't say enough about the excellent guitar soloing that dominates the song (and album). It's extraordinary stuff.

An average version of "Roll Over Beethoven" finishes up the rather impressive set. It's only a couple minutes long so at least it's short and harmless, and I guess it was included to wake up the people who may have fallen asleep back at the 30-minute guitar jam. There's been better versions of the song released over the years (such as the Beatles version). It's not long enough to really say it's a weak point on the album, though.

All this talk about Mountain being a terrible live band doesn't make sense to me. Twin Peaks obviously proves the band could stand up with the best live acts of the day such as the Who, Deep Purple and Humble Pie. An album well worth buying for your 70's rock collection.
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You can see a complete list of all Mountain discography, or go back to the Mountain tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.