Mountain
2002-05-19
De Kade, Zaandam, Netherlands
(1:36:49)

1. Intro / Blood Of The Sun
2. For Yasgur's Farm
3. Leslie talks
4. Crossroads
5. The Sea (new version of Leslie West solo song Sea of Fire)
6. technical problems
7. Never In My Life
8. Theme From An Imaginary Western
9. Going Down (vocals by Richie Scarlet)
10. Nantucket Sleighride
11. encore break
12. Mississippi Queen

line-up:
Leslie West - guitar, vocals
Corky Laing - drums
Richie Scarlet - bass

lineage: AUD (by Jerry1970) > Aiwa stereo mic > Sharp MD MT80 minidisc recorder > MD > (2023 transfer by Jerry1970) M-Audio Microtrack II > WAV 16/44.1 > Audacity (amplification, track split, fades) and Ocenaudio (EQ) > FLAC 16/44.1 level 8


This was the second and last time I saw Mountain (still looking for a recording of my first Mountain gig, 1992-04-15 in Amsterdam!). It was on the Mystic Fire Tour (the album was titled Mountain High in Europe) and the place was a little weird. A small venue with a low ceiling in a city north of Amsterdam. I've attended only one gig there that sounded good, some OK, but I've also walked away during a gig of one of my favourite bands at the time because the sound was just unbearable. Nice attendance this night fortunately, and Leslie, Corky, and Ritchie were full of energy.

Technical problems, however, brough Leslie's enthusiasm down here and there. So much that during a guitar solo (I think it was Nantucket Sleighride) he was leaning against the drum riser, behind Corky. Ritchie was making jokes, and making photos of Leslie with the camera from someone in the audience. But when things were solved Leslie was his usual professional professional self and making jokes and telling stories.

Leslie's technical problems were not the only ones.

I set the recorded too low at the start but it was hard to see, and I thought it was too loud. At 2 minutes into the first track I brought the volume down, then saw it was 0, then turned it up again. I amplified the bits that were too soft. I tried several ways to remove the silent part and managed to find a way that it sounds fluently. We're missing 7 seconds here, two bars before Corky switches from 5/4 to 4/4. The keen-eared will hear, I listened to it several times and it's fluent enough to my ears to not disturb the listening.

Then, as I expected, the sound in the venue was not very good. The toms were louder than the guitar for a long time. Also, this was recorded in the time I was not aware that minidisc uses ATRAC file compression. (I bought another recorder as soon as I found out.) So the recording is limited by that as well. Although the spectrum does not look too bad, the sound is a bit tinny. I applied some EQ to make up for this.

Because of the sound in the venue, the error with the recording levels, and me forgetting all about my minidisc recordings completely, I have not touched this recording in more than 20 years. I have not seen any other recordings from this show so it's fair to say that not only this recording, but this whole show is new to circulation. That makes up for something, I guess.

I got the Mountain High CD signed by Corky and Richie but not by Leslie - he did not join the crowd after the gig, or much later and after I had left. Despite the quality it was a nice surprise listening to this again. Happy memories for me, hopefully a good-enough recording for you.

Enjoy!
Jerry1970

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