There’s many reasons why they need retrieving from the sands of time, but most prominent is Leslie West, the acerbic wise-cracking New Yorker of a front man, who’s equally happy to be insulting the audience as he is showing his massive talents on the guitar.
 | | Mountain's Leslie West |
"Did I meet you in re-hab?" he spits, batting down one heckler before turning to introduce his fellow founding member on the drums as "my pal, Corky Laing. If I’d shot him when I wanted to, I’d have been out of jail already." There’s always a feeling with West that he might just mean it. The interplay between Laing and West showed the age of their relationship. As much as Richie Scarlet on bass (the long-time replacement for the late Felix Pappalardi, their original bassist and former producer of Cream) tried to keep up, there were moments when he simply backed away and wondered at the flurry of riffs and beats that shot from the pair.
 | | Mountain's Corky Laing |
Alongside the cracking Theme From An Imaginary Western, the classic blues of Mississippi Queen (to be re-recorded by Ozzy Osbourne this summer, according to West) and the massively epic Nantucket Sleighride (complete with noodles off into Michael Jackson’s Beat It and the Rolling Stones’ Paint It, Black), there was a tribute to the band that inspired West to "practice for longer than 10 minutes a day", the freshly reformed Cream, in the shape of a medley of Sunshine Of Your Love, Politician and Crossroads, plus an acoustic version of Dylan’s Blowin’ In The Wind belted out at the top of West’s voice. If it had not been for the technical problems nibbling into the set, there’d have probably been more. As it was, the trio were off stage by half ten and out to the merchandise stall to meet their fans, sign autographs and pose for photos. The music world in general may not totally remember them, but there are a select few still riding their massive riffs. | 
