Leslie West first picked up a guitar in anger as it were in the sixties when he was a member of the Vagrants. The Vagrants were just one of many bands on the club circuit on Long Island during the sixties. Two other bands were the Young Rascals and The Hassles, which featured a young Billy Joel. Many people however will remember Leslie West as a founder member of Mountain alongside Felix Papalardi and long time (although not founder) drummer Corky Laing. In fact aside from a short period of time during the seventies when Leslie was a member of West Bruce and Laing alongside Corky and former Cream bassist Jack Bruce Mountain has taken up a large part of Leslie's time.

His first solo album entitled Mountain led to the formation of the band of the same name. Leslie's second solo album The Great Fatsby emerged in the mid seventies during a break in Leslie's activities with Mountain and featured many world-renowned musicians including Mick Jagger who allegedly only participated if he could play guitar rather than sing!

There are plenty of rock tales and reminiscences about Mountain and beyond from both Leslie and Corky in the recent successful book entitled Nantucket Sleighride and Other Mountain On The Road Stories.

Alligator was originally released in 1986 and is one of Leslie West’s most popular solo albums among Leslie’s large and dedicated fan Base. The recording also features the legendary bassist Stanley Clarke. Featured tracks are Sea Of Fire, Dream Lover, Hall Of The Mountain King/Exodus and a superb cover of the Free song The Stealer. The album has long been out of print and due to its popularity with West’s core audience there will undoubtedly be a good demand for this album which has been re mastered for this release.