Counting
Leslie West's July 1969 solo album,
Flowers of Evil was the fourth album in 28 months for
West and
Felix Pappalardi's
Mountain, and the pace was catching up with them:
Flowers of Evil was only half of a studio album with five new songs, its second side filled up with a live 25-minute rock & roll medley and encore of
Mountain's sole Top 40 hit, "Mississippi Queen." This was unmistakable evidence that
Mountain had run their course. There would be live albums, compilations, and reunions over the succeeding years, but
Flowers of Evil marked the creative end of a surprisingly short-lived enterprise. [Originally released in November 1971 as Windfall 5501,
Flowers of Evil was reissued on April 16, 1996, as Columbia/Legacy 52749.]