For those unaware, heralded as one of rock’s greatest guitarists, Leslie West formed Mountain alongside vocalist/bassist Felix Pappalardi in 1969, and the group soon locked in a permanent lineup with drummer Corky Laing.

After five albums and extensive roadwork with the group, Pappalardi was tragically shot and killed by his wife in 1983. Two years later, former Uriah Heep bassist Mark Clarke was in Mountain.

The first disc of this brand new 2-CD set entitled Eruption Around The World was recorded with Clarke in 1985 at two legendary New York music venues (The Ritz in Manhattan and L’Amour in Brooklyn), while the second was captured with bassist Richie Scarlet while on tour in Europe in 2003.

This double-disc set was originally released in 2004 by Fuel 2000 (USA) and Snapper Music (UK) and an abridged vinyl release from Liberation Hall will follow later in 2022.

Disc 1 - Live in N.Y.C. 1985:
1. Hard Times
2. Never in My Life
3. Spark
4. Theme for an Imaginary Western
5. Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin)
6. Mississippi Queen
7. Rocky Mountain Way

Introduced one-by-one onto the live stage, they kick things off in jubilant classic rock style with a brilliant, and throaty Hard Times and the veritably thunderous instrumental Never in My Life and back those up with the blues-rock growl of Spark, the beautifully aching balladry of Theme for an Imaginary Western, a quite stellar Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin), this live set rounding out with the cowbell-embedded guitar jam Mississippi Queen, closing on a crowd-enhanced rendition of Joe Walsh’s Rocky Mountain Way.

Disc 2 - Live in Europe, 2002
1. Why Dontcha
2. For Yasgur’s Farm
3. Crossroads
4. The Sea
5. Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin)
6. House of the Rising Sun
7. Dreams of Milk and Honey

The second live set opens on a French welcome, along with plaudits given to a young, up and coming 4-year-old guitarist audience member at the show, before they launch into a rip-roaring Why Dontcha and a grizzed For Yasgur’s Farm, and then comes my own personal favorite on this set, an absolutely scorching Crossroads, which is backed by the mid-tempo foot-tapper The Sea, another Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin), this show rounding out (after a chat about West’s time spent in The Vagrants) with their lush rendition of House of the Rising Sun, closing (albeit actually fading out) on the drumtastic instrumental Dreams of Milk and Honey.

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