Gold Mountain was distributed by A&M from 1983-1985. In 1986, they switched to MCA for distribution. By 1989, Gold Mountain had metamorphosized into Gold Castle, a label distributed by Curb. Gold Mountain's biggest star was Bruce Cockburn (pronounced CO-burn), Canadian singer and commenter on life in general.

Another of the artists on Gold Mountain was the group HYTS, which included bassist Stan Miller, later of Earthquake, keyboardist/guitarist Tommy Thompson, Roland Little, and Roy Garcia. We received an e-mail from a bitter-sounding Tommy Thompson of the group, which explains some of the goings-on at the label, and certainly provided us with a smile or two. For obvious reasons, we have chosen to edit the note slightly, but we haven't changed the tone:

My name is Tommy Thompson. I played keyboards and guitar and sang background vocals on two albums recorded on the Gold Mountain label back in the early 80s. The name of the band was "HYTS", and our first album on Gold Mountain records was released in 1982 under the title of "HYTS". The second album came out in 1984 and was called "Looking from the Outside".

Both albums were produced by Matthew King Kaufman of Berserkley Records fame, and both were recorded at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley with Richie "Dr. Snooz" Corsello engineering. The first album in 1982 had a tune called "Backstabber" on it, the video for which appeared in "heavy rotation" on a then-up-and-coming cable TV station called MTV. The second album in 1984 had a song called "The American Way" which was picked by the Gavin Report on the week that it was released as a "4-star Red, White and Blue rocker that will probably excel this band over the top..."

Unfortunately for us, the folks at Gold Mountain Records had figured ahead of time [before the Gavin Report] that the album was gonna tank, and so they didn't have any more than about 5,000 copies pressed for release, and absolutely NO radio "push" at all. Oooops!! So they got caught with their pants down after the Gavin Report article...while we got the proverbial [shaft]...a classic "close, but no cigar".

Later on, in about 1992, Matthew Kaufman released a compilation CD in Europe of the best of both HYTS albums. This CD was entitled "Eleven Bloody Men". We, of course, never saw any money from that release....

Anyway, if y'all are interested and have got any spare time, you might want to verify this little addition to your Gold Mountain catalog. If not, then [expletive deleted] you too.... (signed), Tommy Thompson

What can we say, except it sounds like a story we've heard time and time again? As PPM sang, "it's a common tale but true...".

Tracks on each album are listed in the order they appear on the album. An asterisk (*) before the record number indicates we do not have information on the correct playing sequence of the tracks, and consequently they are listed in alphabetical order for that album.

We would appreciate any additions or corrections to this discography. Just send them to us via e-mail. Both Sides Now Publications is an information web page. We are not a catalog, nor can we provide the records listed below. We have no association with Gold Mountain Records. Should you be interested in acquiring albums listed in this discography (which are all out of print), we suggest you see our Frequently Asked Questions page and follow the instructions found there. This story and discography are copyright 2001 by Mike Callahan.