Guitarist Leslie West first achieved a degree of prominence during the mid-1960s as part of the popular group the Vagrants. While touring and recording with that band, West met producer/musician Felix Pappalardi, who had worked with Cream and produced one of the Vagrants' singles. Pappalardi was to become an important part of West's life over the next decade, producing and playing bass on West's 1969 solo debut album Mountain after the break-up of the Vagrants. Mountain the album would become Mountain the band, with West on vocals and guitar, bassist Pappalardi, keyboardist Steve Knight, and drummer Corky Laing.
Mountain Climbing!, the band's 1970 debut, delivered a classic rock staple with the song "Mississippi Queen" while scratching its way into the Billboard Top 20 albums. By the mid-1970s, though, Mountain would break-up and, after a brief collaboration with Cream bassist Jack Bruce as West, Bruce & Laing, Leslie West would launch his solo career in earnest in 1975. Thirty-six years later, the big man with the big voice and larger-than-life guitar sound is still mixing up blues and rock like nobody else. Following up on his 2006 album Blue Me, West has gathered up some famous friends to record 2011's Unusual Suspects, an amped-up and loudly-roaring collection of ballads and burners sure to satisfy.
Leslie West's Unusual Suspects
Unusual Suspects starts off with a bang, the boogie-flavored "One More Drink For The Road" a rough-n-tumble showcase for West's gruff vocals and Steve Lukather's blistering leads. With Phil Parlapiano's piano leading the way, West's heavy rhythm guitar and hearty growl provide a perfect counterpoint to Lukather's razor-sharp solos. The raucous "Mudflap Mama" is a bawdy, brawling blues-rocker featuring former Guns 'n' Roses fretslinger Slash, the two guitarists sharing vocals and swapping scorched earth leads on what is a deliciously riff-heavy performance.
The autobiographical "To The Moon" is a more atmospheric take on blues and rock, evoking shades of Robin Trower with its swirling, more considered fretwork and pleading vocals. "To The Moon" starts off soft and fuzzy before exploding into a chaotic blast of shouted lyrics and instrumental rage. It's a nuanced performance with a lot of guts and heart and soul, displaying both West's range as a guitarist but also as a vocalist.
With Friends Like These...
With friends like ZZ Top's Billy F. Gibbons, you know that the music-making is going to have some flavor to it, and "Standing On Higher Ground" doesn't disappoint. With more than a hint of Texas blues-rock boogie-woogie in the song's big fat groove, West and Gibbons deliver great tone and bluesy licks that threaten to boil over like a big pot of spicy gumbo. If Gibbons was singing this one, you'd swear that it was that little ol' band from Texas performing. The vocal harmonies behind West are a nice touch, and Gibbons' leads are never short of electrifying.
Popular bluesman Joe Bonamassa swings by for a stab at the Eddie Boyd/Willie Dixon classic "Third Degree," with shaking, rattling guitars leading into a particularly blustery West vocal track. You can easily identify Bonamassa's wiry lead when he jumps on top of West's riff-happy rhythms. Bonamassa's soulful vocals play well off of West's earthier howl, and the six-string pyrotechnics that ensue are simply spectacular, especially the buzzing fade-out.
Zakk Wylde & the Beatles
The Black Label Society's Zakk Wylde, former Ozzy guitarslinger, has frequently mentioned West as a major influence, so it comes as no surprise that he drops by for the incendiary "Nothing's Changed." An uncompromising hard-rocker with the faintest of blues undercurrent, Wylde's imaginative, manic solos dance around and on top of West's mountainous riffs, creating a gangfight of furious fretwork. Both Wylde and Slash pitch in on a spirited trampling of Willie Nelson's "The Party's Over" (A/K/A "Turn Out The Lights"). A high-flying blend of acoustic and electric guitars, West offers the lyrics just the slightest bit of New York City-bred twang while the three instrumentalists deliver an inspired performance.
The only mild clunker on Unusual Suspects is the inclusion of the Beatles' "I Feel Fine." While West's vocals soften and smooth out enough to provide the song's poppish roots with the right amount of levity, the rollicking boogie-blues soundtrack sounds horribly out-of-place though, to be honest, West's short solo that walks the song out will stomp your ears nicely. West's autobiographical "My Gravity" is a wonderful ballad that offers up some mesmerizing fretwork coupled with the singer's anguished vocals. West's tone here is amazing, vibrating and shaking with barely-contained emotion, providing a perfect backdrop for the heartfelt lyrics.
The Reverend's Bottom Line
West's Unusual Suspects is a rock solid collection of guitar-driven rockers and introspective ballads that doesn't stray far from the guitarist's road-and-time-tested signature blues-rock sound. The addition of West's rowdy friends – the "unusual suspects" of the album's title – on half the tracks is a nice touch, providing an extra instrumental dimension to the performance of each song. Each guest guitar brings his own sound to the party and West, to his credit, spotlights every instrumentalist's contributions. Overall, Unusual Suspects will appeal to any fan of blues and rock guitar, 'cause there's plenty of picking going on in these grooves! (Provogue Records, released September 20, 2011)
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