Leslie West - ...and on guitar (1993) R.I.P.

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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Todd Rundgren - ...and on guitar (1980)

After departing Nazz in 1969, the 21-year-old Todd Rundgren briefly considered working as a computer programmer, and then decided that his calling was as a producer. He moved to New York in the summer of 1969 and involved himself with the clubs of Greenwich Village, particularly Steve Paul's Scene, and met a number of Manhattan musicians and fashion designers. Michael Friedman, a former assistant of Nazz manager John Kurland, offered him a job as staff engineer and producer under Albert Grossman, which he accepted. Grossman, known for his management of folk rock acts, had just founded Ampex Records, a joint business venture with the tape company of the same name, and built Bearsville Studios near Woodstock, with the Bearsville name soon becoming its own record label. One of Rundgren's first gigs as a producer was engineering and mixing for The Band, and in 1970, while producing one of the artists in Grossman's stable, he added guitar to James Cotton's 'Taking Care Of Business' album, although generally he stuck to engineering and producing artists such as Jesse Winchester, The American Dream, Great Speckled Bird, Jericho, Halfnelson (later Sparks), and Badfinger. In 1972 he added guitar, keyboards, drums and even lead vocals to future band-mate Mark "Moogy" Klingman's eponymous album, and from then on he was much more hands-on with his productions, adding his guitar if he felt it was needed. In 1973 he was part of the 'Music From Free Creek' album, which brought together a multitude of stars to play what was pretty much a jam session, with Rundgren's contribution being the superb instrumental 'Cissy Strut'. 
In 1974 he provided some screaming guitar-work to 'I Am Free' from Felix Cavaliere's self-titled album, and the same year he played on Grand Funk's 'Shinin' On' record. 1974 also saw him collaborate with Daryl Hall and John Oates, to take the soft blue-eyed soul that they were known for and turn it into the hard-edged, political album 'War Babies'. 1976 was a quiet year, just producing Steve Hillage's 'L' and Bette Midler's 'Songs For The New Depression' records, but 1977 brought perhaps his most acclaimed production work, on Meatloaf's classic 'Bat Out Of Hell' album. He limited his guest appearances to one a year over the next few years, as he was still busy recording and releasing solo albums, as well as records with his band Utopia. In 1979 he played on The Tubes 'Remote Control' album, and we end with a somewhat surprising collaboration with Shaun Cassidy (half-brother of heart-throb David Cassidy), writing and playing on songs on an album which has been pretty much universally condemned as being the strangest and worst record of Cassidy's career, although I have managed to find perhaps the one song that is not that bad. Rundgren redeemed himself in 1981 by producing, arranging and engineering Jim Steinman's 'Bad For Good' album, and then moved on to produce bands like The Psychedelic Furs, Ian Hunter, Cheap Trick and Dragon throughout the 80's, and he continues to release solo albums and produce other artists to this day, although the production work has tailed off recently. Looking through his credits on albums from the last 50 years as writer, singer, multi-instrumentalist, engineer, producer and mixer, it all just confirms that Todd Rundgren truly is a genius of modern music.      

Track listing

01 The Sky Is Falling (from 'Taking Care Of Business' by James Cotton Blues Band 1970)
02 Kindness (from 'Mark "Moogy" Klingman' by Mark "Moogy" Klingman 1972)
03 Cissy Strut (from 'Music From Free Creek' 1973)
04 I Am Free (from 'Felix Cavaliere' by Felix Cavaliere 1974)
05 Carry Me Through (from 'Shinin' On' by Grand Funk 1974)
06 Screaming Through December (from 'War Babies' by Daryl Hall & John Oates 1974)
07 Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad (from 'Bat Out Of Hell' by Meat Loaf 1977)
08 Late In My Bed (from 'Elizabeth Barraclough' by Elizabeth Barraclough 1978)
09 Telecide (from 'Remote Control' by The Tubes 1979)
10 Morning Chorus (from 'Air Pocket' by Roger Powell 1980)
11 Selfless Love (from 'Wasp' by Shaun Cassidy 1980)