Mountain: I don’t know why I love them so much....

As any record collector knows, you get taken by a passion for a band for some reason and you must have everything they ever released. For me, one such band is Mountain. I don’t know why I love them so much. They seem the perfect heavy band. I think it’s something to do with the Windfall label. They are one of the few artists you see on this pretty label, a subsidiary of Bell set up by Felix Pappalardi and his partner to publish bands they manage. In fact in the UK their singles came out on Bell and were distributed by Bell in Europe.

They didn’t release many singles. So it’s relatively easy to collect them all. The American releases are the easiest to collect. But it’s easily the Japanese releases that are the nicest. All picture sleeves, they cost money if you can get them.
One of the nicest things is the Demos of some singles. These are black and white versions released to radio stations. I have several along with all the official releases. I have Dreams Of Milk And Honey on UK Bell and a Spanish version of Southbound Train.
I’ve haven't seen any Japanese releases, which continued till after the band had fallen apart. They reformed in 1985, but those records hold no fascination for me, but the other 22 releases are the juiciest ones. The best? Don’t Look Around. Released in Japan in 1972 with Dreams of Milk And Honey on the flip. It’s only 3:42 but had a crushing riff and insistent, so they didn’t have a long career but it was great and not like any other band in the way they mixed heavy riffs with strong melodies.

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