Mystic Fire is the seventh studio album by American hard rock band Mountain, released in 2002.[1] It is their final album of original material, as their following album, Masters of War, would consist solely of covers.

Mystic Fire
Studio album by
Released2002
StudioAt Showplace Studios, Dover, NJ, United States
GenreBlues rock, hard rock
LabelLightyear Entertainment
ProducerThe Insulin Brothers, Ben Elliott
Mountain chronology
Man's World
(1996)
Mystic Fire
(2002)
Masters of War
(2007)

The album includes the song "Immortal", which was co-written with and originally performed by Clutch. "Immortal" was originally released with different lyrics, and a different arrangement, as the song "Baby I'm Down" on Mountain (1969), Leslie West's first solo album. Clutch covered the song on their 2001 album Pure Rock Fury, rearranging it and changing the lyrics; their version has a guitar solo by Leslie West. Mountain then covered that version of the song on this album.

Reception edit

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [2]

Allmusic questioned the legitimacy of crediting the album to Mountain, arguing that ever since the death of Felix Pappalardi, compounded by the absence of Steve Knight, Mountain had been no more than a Leslie West solo project under a more marketable name, albeit with significant contributions from Corky Laing. They further criticized that "The songs are often rudimentary compositions that serve as excuses for the guitar excursions; they lack the poetic lyrics formerly contributed by [Gail] Collins and Pete Brown."[2]

Track listing edit

  1. "Immortal" (Leslie West, Neil Fallon) - 3:59
  2. "Mystic Fire" (Corky Laing, Leslie West) - 4:44
  3. "Fever" (Eddie Cooley, John Davenport) - 3:22
  4. "The Sea" (George Citron, Leslie West) - 5:19
  5. "Mutant X" (Corky Laing, Leslie West) - 5:17
  6. "Better Off with the Blues" (Delbert McClinton, Gary Nicholson) - 4:15
  7. "Mountain Express (Oh Boy)" (Leslie West) - 2:56
  8. "Marble Peach / Rotten Peach" (Corky Laing, Leslie West) - 5:01
  9. "Johnny Comes Marching Home" (Traditional) - 2:50
  10. "Nantucket Sleighride (Redux)" (Felix Pappalardi, Gail Collins) - 7:29

Personnel edit

  • Leslie West – guitar, vocals, arranger, producer
  • Corky Laing – drums, vocals, string arrangements & conductor

with:

  • Chuck Hearne – bass
  • Ritchie Scarlett - bass on "Nantucket Sleighride (Redux)"
  • Todd Wolfe – slide guitar on "Fever"
Additional personnel
  • Arnie Holland – executive producer
  • Lisa Walker – art direction

References edit

  1. ^ "Mystic Fire: Mountain: Music". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
  2. ^ a b Ruhlmann, William. "Mountain - Mystic Fire (2002)". AllMusic.com. Retrieved 28 June 2014.

External links edit