''Mystic Fire'' is the seventh studio album by American

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band

Mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

, released on July 30, 2002. It is their final album of original material, as their following album, '' Masters of War'', would consist solely of covers. In Europe, the album was released as ''Mountain High''. The financing for the album came from Europe, and the album was written and recorded to help the band promotionally in that region. The band toured Europe and the United States to promote the album.

Content

The album includes the song "Immortal", which was co-written with and originally performed by

Clutch A clutch is a mechanical device that allows an output shaft to be disconnected from a rotating input shaft. The clutch's input shaft is typically attached to a motor, while the clutch's output shaft is connected to the mechanism that does th ...

. "Immortal" was originally released with different lyrics, and a different arrangement, as the song "Baby I'm Down" on ''

'' (1969),

Leslie West Leslie Abel West (born Weinstein; October 22, 1945 – December 23, 2020) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was the co-founder, guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Mountain. West was named the 245th greatest guit ...

's first solo album. Clutch covered the song on their 2001 album '' Pure Rock Fury'', rearranging it and changing the lyrics; their version has a guitar solo by Leslie West. Mountain then covered that version of the song on this album. "

Fever Fever or pyrexia in humans is a symptom of an anti-infection defense mechanism that appears with Human body temperature, body temperature exceeding the normal range caused by an increase in the body's temperature Human body temperature#Fever, s ...

" is a blues standard written by

Eddie Cooley Edward James Cooley (April 15, 1933 – April 15, 2020) was an American R&B singer and songwriter, who co-wrote the much-recorded song "Fever." He also had a US pop hit in 1956 with "Priscilla," credited to Eddie Cooley and the Dimples. ...

and

Otis Blackwell Otis Blackwell (February 16, 1931 – May 6, 2002) was an American songwriter whose work influenced rock and roll. His compositions include "Fever" (recorded by Little Willie John), " Great Balls of Fire" and " Breathless" (recorded by Jerry ...

. Corky Laing also has drum solos on "Marble Peach/Rotten Peach" and "Johnny Comes Marching Home." He's also responsible for the string arrangements on "Nantucket Sleighride."

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

'' questioned the legitimacy of crediting the album to Mountain, arguing that ever since the death of

Felix Pappalardi Felix Albert Pappalardi Jr. (December 30, 1939 – April 17, 1983) was an American music producer, songwriter, vocalist, and bass violin, bassist. He is best known as the bassist and co-lead vocalist of the band Mountain (band), Mountain, whose ...

, compounded by the absence of Steve Knight, Mountain had been no more than a Leslie West solo project under a more marketable name, albeit with significant contributions from Corky Laing. They further criticized that "The songs are often rudimentary compositions that serve as excuses for the guitar excursions; they lack the poetic lyrics formerly contributed by ailCollins and

Pete Brown Peter Ronald Brown (25 December 1940 – 19 May 2023) was an English performance poet, lyricist, and singer best known for his collaborations with Cream and Jack Bruce.Colin Larkin, ''Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music'' (Muze UK Ltd, 1997) ...

Track listing

Personnel

– guitar, vocals, arranger, producer; bass on "Immortal" * Corky Laing – drums, percussion; string arrangement and conduction on "Nantucket Sleighride (Redux)" with: * Chuck Hearne – bass * Ritchie Scarlett – bass on "Nantucket Sleighride (Redux)" * Todd Wolfe – slide guitar on "Fever" ;Additional personnel * Arnie Holland – executive producer * Lisa Walker – art direction

References

External links

Mountain - ''Mystic Fire'' (2002) album review by William Ruhlmann, credits & releases
at AllMusic.com
Mountain - ''Mystic Fire'' (2002) album releases & credits
at

Discogs.com Discogs ( ; short for "discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''The N ...

Mountain - ''Mystic Fire'' (2002) album to be listened
as stream at Play.Spotify.com {{Authority control 2002 albums Mountain (band) albums