Radio Gonzo

Corky Laing may be best known as the renowned drummer with Mountain, but for two years from 1972 he joined forces with Mountain's Leslie West, and legendary bass player, Jack Bruce. The latter band actually came straight out of the dissolution of the former. Mountain's bass player and producer Felix Pappalardi who had produced all but one of the albums by the seminal British hard rock three piece Cream, and when Cream dissolved in 1968, the last show of which was filmed by film-maker Tony Palmer of whom more later, Pappalardi produced Bruce's first solo album 'Songs for a Tailor'. Therefore, when Pappalardi left Mountain in favour of advancing his career as producer to the stars, there was only one real option for who would replace him. This week I telephoned Corky at his studio and we talked about his memories of Jack Bruce.