![\"leslie-west-Issue-No31\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/leslie-west-Issue-No31.jpg\")
<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nWhen Leslie West finished\u00a0recording \u201cDyin\u2019 Since the Day I Was Born,\u201d the leadoff track on his new album Still Climbing<\/i>, he emailed it to fellow guitar monster Slash. \u201cI really respect the guy and wanted his opinion,\u201d says West. \u201cHe wrote back and said, \u2018You just can\u2019t get any heavier than that, man.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
recording \u201cDyin\u2019 Since the Day I Was Born,\u201d the leadoff track on his new album Still Climbing<\/i>, he emailed it to fellow guitar monster Slash. \u201cI really respect the guy and wanted his opinion,\u201d says West. \u201cHe wrote back and said, \u2018You just can\u2019t get any heavier than that, man.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Slash\u2019s comments could sum up virtually all of West\u2019s music since he burst onto the scene in 1969 with Mountain, the band he formed with late bassist Felix Pappalardi. West\u2019s massive girth was matched pound for pound by his hefty tone and indelible riffs on now-classics like \u201cMississippi Queen,\u201d \u201cNever in My Life,\u201d and \u201cTheme for an Imaginary Western.\u201d<\/p>\n While his overpowering guitar work and wailing vocals remain as robust, West presents a different physical image today, at 68. He\u2019s grayer and thinner, but most strikingly he gets around on and plays from a wheelchair. In 2011, West\u2019s lower right leg was amputated due to complications from diabetes. Less than two months later he was back onstage. Still, the adjustment was not easy. \u201cI went to rehab,\u201d he says, \u201cand they told me to bring the guitar. They said, \u2018See how long you can stand and play without losing your balance.\u2019 I lasted 40 seconds. So I play sitting down. I can\u2019t move around that much onstage but I can still play.\u201d<\/p>\n Play he does on Still Climbing<\/i>, whose title pays tribute to Mountain\u2019s 1970 debut, Climbing!<\/i>. Produced by West and Mike \u201cMetal\u201d Goldberg, the new set features a host of new West originals\u2014several with lyrics by West\u2019s wife, Jennifer. There\u2019s also a steamy cover of the Percy Sledge R&B staple \u201cWhen a Man Loves a Woman\u201d and a remake of Mountain\u2019s much-sampled \u201cLong Red.\u201d Other guests include Johnny Winter, Jonny Lang and Dee Snider.<\/p>\n Perhaps surprising considering the history he\u2019s lived through\u2014and helped create\u2014West shrugs off nostalgia. \u201cWhen people say, \u2018I remember the good ol\u2019 days,\u2019 if you really think back, maybe there were one or two days that were great and the rest were crap,\u201d he says. \u201cI was just learning to play then\u2014we were making up rules as we went along.\u201d<\/p>\n Today he\u2019s making new rules. \u201cEverybody gets knocked down in their life,\u201d he says. \u201cYes, things have changed dramatically for me, but the question for me is always, \u2018How do you choose to get up?\u2019 When it\u2019s all over, I just want people to say, \u2018He had some good songs.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013Jeff Tamarkin<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" LESLIE WEST A legendary guitar god keeps climbing with a blistering new set When Leslie West finished\u00a0recording \u201cDyin\u2019 Since the Day I Was Born,\u201d the leadoff track on his new album Still Climbing, he emailed it to fellow guitar monster Slash. \u201cI really respect the guy and wanted his opinion,\u201d says West. \u201cHe wrote back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[7328,2655],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11746"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11746"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11748,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11746\/revisions\/11748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}