Dammit 2020! We lost another legend today.

[ScottR]

The hits just keep on coming. Just heard we lost another great today. Leslie West of Mountain passed away. Sucks and I for one will be glad when all this is behind us. Stay safe folks. RIP Mr. West you'll be sorely missed!

 

[Lister]

D@mn. I know he's had a lot of health issues through the years, but it's still a shock. Sadly, I've got a feeling the next 5 years or so is going to be rough on us as our musical heroes age out.

 

[WEDGE]

RIP, Huge tone.

 

[Tony M.]

I knew him before he found his sound and hit it big.

He was the guitarist in the Vagrants, a local group playing clubs out on Long Island.
Their closing number was a spectacular instrumental version of Exodus, of all things.
His playing and sound were very different back then.
He played a Guild Starfire VI into an Ampeg Super Echo Twin.
The amplifier was tilted back on a chair right behind him.
He wore the guitar way high up and a lot of his playing
was blindingly fast and very flashy, completely unlike what came later.
(Funny how that evolved into Mississippi Queen...)

Goodnight big man, and thanks for all the music.

 

[dmatthews]

Aw crap.

 

[bodia]

This sucks!

 

[alantig]

Sucks big time. Total tone monster.

I only saw him once, when Mountain opened for Triumph. I loved how Corky Laing kept bouncing drum sticks off his cymbals at Leslie. One finally hit him in the back of the leg, and without stopping, he turned around, picked up the stick and wailed it at Corky. Both with huge smiles on their faces.

I’m way out of touch on Mountain. I need to rectify that. I’m finding myself more and more going back and exploring the guys I’ve overlooked for years.

RIP, sir. And thank you.

 

[gush]

Well that sucks and blows at the same time.

 

[ScottR]

I knew him before he found his sound and hit it big.

He was the guitarist in the Vagrants, a local group playing clubs out on Long Island.
Their closing number was a spectacular instrumental version of Exodus, of all things.
His playing and sound were very different back then.
He played a Guild Starfire VI into an Ampeg Super Echo Twin.
The amplifier was tilted back on a chair right behind him.
He wore the guitar way high up and a lot of his playing
was blindingly fast and very flashy, completely unlike what came later.
(Funny how that evolved into Mississippi Queen...)

Goodnight big man, and thanks for all the music.

Man now THAT'S a cool story! Great memories!

 

[RickP]

RIP Leslie! Inspirational tone and vibrato. The grunt on that bent note in the middle of the Mississippi Queen solo put me in search of the first P90 guitar I ever had, and made me keenly aware of Mr West. His body later failed him, but the music never left.

It’s been a rough year for guitarists on both side of the veil. I’m hopeful 2021 will be a year with more smiles, less loss, and a return to performing. It’s in the latter we get to pay a wordless tribute to those who went on ahead.

 

[Glenn Gross]

Damnit