“The guitar sounded like a voice, the voice sounded like a guitar — I didn’t know what was up.” Leslie West on Eric Clapton, the album that inspired Mountain — and the bassist who refused to make the group a power trio

The story goes that Eric Clapton was inspired to form his power trio Cream after seeing Buddy Guy perform with his trio in England. The guitar sounded like a voice, the voice sounded like a guitar — I didn’t know what was up.”Cream’s next album, 1967’s psychedelic-inspired Disraeli Gears, took things up several notches, thanks to its adventurous production and arrangements, courtesy of the group’s new producer Felix Pappalardi. “And sure enough, when Disraeli Gears came out, I looked and saw that it was produced by Felix Pappalardi,” West said. “That was because Felix didn’t want us to look or sound like Cream,” West confirmed. “When [Felix] decided he didn’t want to go on the road anymore, we started West, Bruce and Laing,” West says.