Someone may have already posted this sad news..
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/m...-dead-1106777/
Someone may have already posted this sad news..
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/m...-dead-1106777/
RIP !
Wow another great one gone. Have to play some Mountain. RIP Leslie
Sad news indeed, RIP.
I hope someone let's Progeezer know. He'll be devastated (with glee)
This just kills. An all-time favorite.Originally Posted by Zeuhlmate
RIP, Leslie. My favorite guitarist
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
Descanse Maestro!!
Pura Vida!.
There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind. ∞
Duke Ellington.
Listening right now!.
GREAT!
Pura Vida!.
There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind. ∞
Duke Ellington.
I can't recall any other guitarist that gutsy !
Huge as a mountain!
RIP. He had a hell of a tone with that Paul Jr. LP Jrs sound great with overdrive. Leslie was a huge influence on all things HEAVY.
I can't imagine any tone better than this:
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
I recall being 13 and buying both the Woodstock albums, this being mid-80s when anything even remotely reminiscent of 60s pop culture and heritage was shunned as the plague in Norwegian trend-circles. I'd left my childish loft of Kiss- and Rainbow-fanaticism out of interest in precisely that music's alleged origin, discovering 60s psych and vintage hard rock as a result. Being 13 at the time, most freaky and stretched examples of that decade's transcendence either deluded or scared the shit out of me - like the aggressive chaos of Blue Cheer or the dopey ecstasy of Fudge in b/w performing "Keep Me Hanging On". But having just moved on from piano and acoustic guitar to electric such myself, and obviously being an apostate of 80s hard-rock (which I duly deemed goodbye on buying the first TSister- and Mötley-records), Mountain's "Blood of the Sun" was something I could relate to.
I still think it paved the way, for me, into more overt difficult and radical 60s US rock like The Doors and Love, and for that I am eternally grateful. Ironically, perhaps, some of West's voice lost a lot of its "fat" sound once he - on doctor's orders, supposedly - lost bodily weight. It was such a significant part of not only his image but his actual sound. There's still a lot to dig on those 70s Mountain albums, even on Avalanche; they were undoubtedly influential on following artists particularly in swampy American hard rock. And the devastating fate of Pappalardi was one of the most tragic ever in rock - truly worthy of a biopic all in itself.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
One of the greatest axemen to have played the instrument. RIP.
RIP Leslie
He passed that gutsiness down to his students. In a Guitar Player interview, he said he put students in a small room in front of a cranked up Marshall Stack. Eventually, they'd learn to control it.
"Well my son, life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?"--Dalai Lama
I saw a LWest interview a few years ago
He said he got his tone from a Sunn bass amp head. In the same interview he said how he developed his vibrato and pinch harmonics.
I don't see tone as a particular sound. Maybe the amp enabled his tone, but I see tone as something that comes from inside the artist. It's an extension of their soul that comes out through their playing.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
There are 2 videos (I found one of them here) on YT with guys who have bought the Sunn Coliseum P.A. head type that Leslie used - and the sound is there, but the amp is definetely not enough. His brain and fingers was the crucial part.
But do you know how he developed his vibrato?
Technically? No. But, I know where it came from.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
Just finished listening to Mountain's entire Woodstock performance. In the song Dreams of Milk and Honey, his guitar was slightly out of tune. When he went into the unaccompanied solo portion of the song, he made bringing the guitar back in tune part of his performance. Any other guitarist would've said 'scuse me while I tune this guitar. Except Hendrix, who had the uncanny ability to make an out of tune guitar sound in tune.
"Well my son, life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?"--Dalai Lama
I was just checking the Wikipedia page on Leslie West and saw this:
RIP, Leslie.Other Mountain fans include John McLaughlin, Johnny Ramone, Clutch, Karma to Burn, comedian Dennis Miller, and John Frusciante (the Red Hot Chili Peppers track "Readymade" off 2006's Stadium Arcadium features a Mountain-influenced riff). Martin Barre, guitarist for Jethro Tull has stated in interviews that Leslie West was a direct influence on his playing.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
Recently posted and not seen for 53 years!
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
Excellent. Man Felix was a talented cat (no pun intended). I loved these guys.
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