''Climbing!'' (also known as ''Mountain Climbing!'') is the debut studio album by American

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band

Mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

, released in 1970 by Windfall Records.

Background

In 1969, Leslie West recorded his debut solo album, titled ''

'', with Felix Pappalardi on bass and drummer Norman Smart. 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!'' on March 7, 1970, and it reached number 17 on the American ''Billboard'' Top Albums chart. 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. Both were sung by West, while Pappalardi supplied the vocal on another radio favorite, "

Theme for an Imaginary Western "Theme for an Imaginary Western" is a song written by Jack Bruce and Pete Brown. The song is sometimes referred to as "Theme from an Imaginary Western". It has been performed by many artists, including Mountain, Jack Bruce, Leslie West, Colosseum ...

Critical reception

Matthew Greenwald, in a review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, gave the album four and a half out of five stars. In '' Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies'' (1981),

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

wrote:

Track listing

On the 2003

Legacy Recordings Legacy Recordings is an American record label that is a division of Sony Music. Formed in 1990 after Sony's acquisition of CBS Records, Legacy originally handled the archives of Sony Music-owned labels Columbia Records and Epic Records. In 20 ...

CD, a live version of "For Yasgur's Farm" was added as a bonus track.

Personnel

Band * Leslie West – guitars on all tracks, vocals * Felix Pappalardi – bass guitar on all tracks except 6 and 7; piano on tracks 1, 2 and 9; rhythm guitar on track 7, vocals;

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

* Steve Knight – organ on tracks 2, 3, 4 and 5;

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

on tracks 2 and 9; handbells on track 4 * Corky Laing – drums on all tracks except 6 and 7;

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

on tracks 7 and 9 Additional personnel * Bud Prager – executive production * Bob d'Orleans –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

* Lillian Douma – engineering assistance * Beverly Weinstein –

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...

* Gail Collins –

cover artwork Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper (Tabloid journalism, tabloid), comic book, video game (box art), Album, ...

, photography

Charts

Certifications

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1970 debut albums Mountain (band) albums Windfall Records albums Albums produced by Felix Pappalardi Albums recorded at Record Plant (New York City)