By 1985, lumbering heavy rock pioneers Mountain had been put to rest by guitarist Leslie West for over a decade, but with the rising hard rock scene in full swing, West decided to once again resurrect the band and the result was this solid album Go For Your Life. Joining West on this excursion was his drumming partner Corky Laing and ex-Uriah Heep/Rainbow/Natural Gas/Colosseum/Tempest bassist Mark Clarke. Fully remastered by Esoteric Recordings, this long out of print album that showcased Mountain's return to the hard rock world can now be enjoyed once again.
Don't go into this one expecting "Mississippi Queen", "Never In My Life", "Blood of the Sun", or "Nantucket Sleighride", but as a slice of '80s heavy rock, Go For Your Life works just fine. West, as always, is in fine form, both vocally and musically. His raunchy, crunchy, squealing licks, riffs, and solos are all over the place here, with tunes like "Hard Times", "She Loves Her Rock (And She Loves It Hard)", "Bardot Damage", "Spark", and "Babe in the Woods" all providing plenty of guitar firepower within catchy, heavy rockin' arrangements. Not all of the material here has held up well however, as "Shimmy on the Footlights", "I Love Young Girls", and "Makin' It In Your Car", are cliché ridden '80s fare with silly lyrics and tired musical formulas, obvious that West and the band were trying hard to be relevant on a scene enamored with sex, sleaze, and teenage angst.
Though Go For Your Life wasn't a big seller, the band did a fair amount of touring in support of the album and had hopes to record a follow-up that never happened (Mountain later resurfaced once again 11 years later with Man's World). Their label at the time, Scotti Brothers (part of Columbia) also had a pretty short shelf life as well. Esoteric once again have done a great job on this remaster, and the booklet contains a nice essay with commentary from Leslie West and a few photos. Mandatory Mountain? Probably not, for that you need all their early '70s albums, but Go For Your Life is still a solid '80s hard rock album that represents where the band was at that time...still rockin', still rollin'.
Track Listing
1. HARD TIMES
2. SPARK
3. SHE LOVES HER ROCK (AND SHE LOVES IT HARD)
4. BARDOT DAMAGE
5. SHIMMY ON THE FOOTLIGHTS
6. I LOVE YOUNG GIRLS
7. MAKIN' IT IN YOUR CAR
8. BABE IN THE WOODS
9. A LITTLE BIT OF INSANITY
Printer Friendly Page
Send to a Friend
