Leslie Weinstein was born on 22 October 1945 in New York City to Jewish parents, and after his parents divorced, he changed his surname to West. His musical career began in 1966 with The Vagrants, an R&B/blue-eyed soul-rock band influenced by the likes of the Rascals, who had two minor hits in the Eastern United States with 'I Can't Make A Friend' in 1966 and a cover of Otis Redding's 'Respect' the following year. Some of The Vagrants' recordings were co-written and produced by Felix Pappalardi, who was also working with Cream on their album 'Disraeli Gears'. In 1969, West and Pappalardi formed the pioneering hard rock act Mountain, which was also the title of West's debut solo album of that year, and which Rolling Stone described as a band who were a "louder version of Cream". With Steve Knight on keyboards and original drummer N. D. Smart, the band's original incarnation saw West and Pappalardi sharing vocal duties and playing guitar and bass, respectively. New drummer Corky Laing joined the band shortly after their appearance on the second day of the Woodstock festival, and they had success with their single 'Mississippi Queen' in 1970, which reached No. 21 on the Billboard charts and No. 4 in Canada, and later with 'Theme For An Imaginary Western' in 1973, which was written by Cream bassist Jack Bruce. After Pappalardi left Mountain to concentrate on various production projects, West and Laing produced two studio albums and a live release with Jack Bruce under the name West, Bruce and Laing. West and keyboard player Al Kooper of Blood, Sweat & Tears recorded with The Who during the March 1971 'Who's Next' sessions laying down a cover of Marvin Gaye's 'Baby Don't You Do It', as well as early versions of 'Love Ain't For Keepin'' and 'Won't Get Fooled Again', as well as adding guitar to albums by Mylon, Bobby Keys and Felix Cavaliere during the early 70's. Mountain reformed in 1973 only to break up again in late 1974, after which West played guitar on 'Bo Diddley Jam' on Bo Diddley's 1976 '20th Anniversary Of Rock 'n' Roll' all-star album. Since 1981, Mountain has continued to reform, tour and record on a regular basis, while in 1991 West teamed up with Deep Purple's Ian Gillan to co-write and play guitar on 'Hang Me Out To Dry' on Gillan's 'ToolBox' album, and in 1993 he played guitar on three tracks from Billy Joel's last studio album 'River Of Dreams'. West suffered a heart attack in his home near Daytona, Florida, on December 20, 2020 and was rushed to hospital in nearby Palm Coast where he never regained consciousness, and died shortly afterwards. He was 75.
Track listing
01 A Sunny Summer Rain (single by The Vagrants 1967)
02 Hellhound On My Trail (from 'Maverick Child' by David Rea 1969)
03 Gray Afternoon (from 'Home' by Jolliver Arkansaw 1969)
04 Blue Suede Shoes (from 'Over The Influence' by Mylon 1972)
05 Key West (from 'Bobby Keys' by Bobby Keys 1972)
06 Love Ain't For Keeping (recorded 1971, from 'Odds And Sods' reissue by The Who 1999)
07 Hit And Run (from 'Destiny' by Felix Cavaliere 1975)
08 Masquerade (from 'Our Pleasure To Serve You' by Stanky Brown Group 1976)
09 Hey Bo Diddley (from 'The 20th Anniversary Of Rock & Roll' by Bo Diddley 1976)
10 Let Me Out'a Here (from 'Guitar Speak' 1988)
11 Hang Me Out To Dry (from 'ToolBox' by Ian Gillan 1991)
12 No Man's Land (from 'River Of Dreams' by Billy Joel 1993)
Thanks to Fredrick for the suggestion.
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