Steppenwolf - The Studio Album Collection 1968-1971 (2015) [Official Digital Download 24-bit/192kHz]

Steppenwolf is a Canadian-American rock band, prominent from 1968 to 1972. The group was formed in late 1967 in Los Angeles by lead singer John Kay, keyboardist Goldy McJohn, and drummer Jerry Edmonton. Steppenwolf sold over 25 million records worldwide, released 8 gold albums and 12 Billboard Hot 100 singles, of which six were top 40 hits, including three top 10 successes: "Born to Be Wild", "Magic Carpet Ride", and "Rock Me". Steppenwolf recorded six studio albums for Dunhill Records in the short span between 1968 and 1971. The band enjoyed worldwide success, but clashing personalities led to the end of the core lineup.

In the chaotic world of rock 'n' roll, in which the lifespan of most bands can be measured in terms of a few years or a few months, John Kay and Steppenwolf have emerged as one of rock's most enduring and respected bands, delivering hard-hitting, personally-charged music for more than three decades. In the late 1960s, Steppenwolf embodied that era's social, political and philosophical restlessness, building an impressive body of edgy, uncompromising Rock 'N' Roll that retains its emotional resonance more than three decades after the band's formation. Such Steppenwolf standards as "Born to Be Wild", "Magic Carpet Ride", "Rock Me" and "Monster" stand amongst Rock's most indelible anthems. At last count, the band's worldwide record sales exceed 25 million units. Its songs remain fixtures on classic-rock radio, and have been licensed for use in approximately 50 motion pictures and an even greater number of television programs. And, in addition to being the first band to use the term "heavy metal" in a song (in "Born to Be Wild"), Steppenwolf's punchy style helped to establish the fundamentals of the hard-rock sound that would flourish in the 1970s.

This landmark album that unleashed The Wolf upon the world! Hits on the record include "Born to Be Wild", "The Pusher", and "Hootchie Kootchie Man". Both "Born to Be Wild" and "The Pusher" were used in the 1969 movie Easy Rider. Steppenwolf peaked at #6 on the Rock Albums chart in 1968, and "Born to Be Wild" reached #2 on the Rock Singles chart in the same year.

Steppenwolf entered the studio for their recording debut with a lot of confidence – based on a heavy rehearsal schedule before they ever got signed – and it shows on this album, a surprisingly strong debut album from a tight hard rock outfit who was obviously searching for a hook to hang their sound on. The playing is about as loud and powerful as anything being put out by a major record label in 1968, though John Kay's songwriting needed some development before their in-house repertory would catch up with their sound and musicianship. On this album, the best material came from outside the ranks of the active bandmembers: "Born to Be Wild" by ex-member Mars Bonfire, which became not only a chart-topping high-energy anthem for the counterculture (a status solidified by its use in Dennis Hopper's movie Easy Rider the following year), but coined the phrase heavy metal, thus giving a genre-specific name to the brand of music that the band played (and which was already manifesting itself in the work of bands like Vanilla Fudge and the just-emerging Led Zeppelin); the Don Covay soul cover "Sookie, Sookie," which, as a single by the new group, actually got played on some soul stations until they found out that Steppenwolf was white; two superb homages to Chess Records, in the guise of "Berry Rides Again," written (though "adapted" might be a better word) by Kay based on the work of Chuck Berry, and the Willie Dixon cover "Hoochie Coochie Man"; and Hoyt Axton's "The Pusher," an anti-drug song turned into a pounding six-minute tour de force by the band. The rest, apart from the surprisingly lyrical rock ballad "A Girl I Knew," is by-the-numbers hard rock that lacked much except a framework for their playing; only "The Ostrich" ever comes fully to life among the other originals, but the songs would catch up with the musicianship the next time out.

Tracklist:

01 - Sookie Sookie
02 - Everybody's Next One
03 - Berry Rides Again
04 - Hoochie Coochie Man
05 - Born To Be Wild
06 - Your Wall's Too High
07 - Desperation
08 - The Pusher
09 - A Girl I Knew
10 - Take What You Need
11 - The Ostrich




The follow-up to Steppenwolf's enormously popular debut brought the band to even greater levels of success. Like the debut, this classic album was certified gold in the US and contains the full-length version of Magic Carpet Ride, Steppenwolf's longest-charting single, which peaked at number three and stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 for 16 weeks.

The group's second album was virtually a re-creation of its predecessor, only slightly more sophisticated in its range of songs and the manner of playing them, and the in-house writing had improved, though the latter also became highly derivative. Steppenwolf the Second embraces everything from hard rock to psychedelia to blues, and the band is in excellent form, playing very hard and edgy, except on the deliberately lyrical, reflective "Spiritual Fantasy," a rare acoustic number for the group. Much more to the point of the group was the single "Magic Carpet Ride," the ultimate psychedelic pop dance number of the decade, and the marijuana anthem "Don't Step on the Grass, Sam," the pounding "28," and the album-opener "Faster Than the Speed of Life." Side two of the original LP was a great achievement in its own right, opening with "Magic Carpet Ride," which leads into a nonstop extended array of hard-rocking numbers, mostly in a blues idiom: "Disappointment Number (Unknown)," "Lost and Found by Trial and Error," "Hodge Podge, Strained Through a Leslie," and "Resurrection." The playing was as good as the first album, and though there's nothing quite comparable to "Born to Be Wild" here in terms of cultural impact, the level of the surrounding numbers is higher.

Tracklist:

01 - Faster Than The Speed Of Life
02 - Tighten Up Your Wig
03 - None Of Your Doing
04 - Spiritual Fantasy
05 - Don't Step On The Grass, Sam
06 - 28
07 - Magic Carpet Ride
08 - Disappointment Number (Unknown)
09 - Lost And Found By Trial And Error
10 - Hodge, Podge, Strained Through A Leslie
11 - Resurrection
12 - Reflections

Steppenwolf's third album, released in 1969, sees the band moving away from the psychedelia of its previous releases toward the hard rock sound that would become associated with the group. Bandleader and principal songwriter John Kay says he had run out of original songs to contribute so the other band members and the producer tried their hand at songwriting for the first time, resulting in some of the best tracks such as "Happy Birthday" and "Jupiter's Child". Includes the top 10 hit "Rock Me" from the movie CANDY. Rocking out a little more, Steppenwolf hit gold again with this release.

Tracklist:

01 - Don't Cry
02 - Chicken Wolf
03 - Lovely Meter
04 - Round And Down
05 - It's Never Too Late (Single Version)
06 - Sleeping Dreaming
07 - Jupiter's Child
08 - She'll Be Better
09 - Cat Killer
10 - Rock Me
11 - God Fearing Man
12 - Mango Juice
13 - Happy Birthday

The group's most political album, tackling then-current issues such as the Vietnam War, draft resisters, and the decay of justice in America. These were (and are) important topics, but these lumbering hard rock tunes were not an effective means to address them, politically or musically. It's hard to make agitprop and pop mix, but even judged simply within the context of Steppenwolf's records, it lacks memorable compositions, the unexceptional tunes burdened by lyrics that are too heavy-handed.

Tracklist:

01 - Monster/Suicide/America
02 - Draft Resister
03 - Power Play
04 - Move Over
05 - Fag
06 - What Would You Do (If I Did That To You)
07 - From Here To There Eventually

This is a very worthwhile Steppenwolf recording, chock-full of their trademark sound, but nothing that was going to penetrate the Top 40. John Kay and Latty Byrom come back with more driving rock in "Who Needs Ya?", played well and listenable, but just missing the edge that gave "Rock Me" and "Magic Carpet Ride" their specialness. The blueish images of the bandmembers in a desolate area with two skulls above them on the album cover make an interesting statement. Steppenwolf 7 is an intriguing collection of album tracks showing the two sides of John Kay – the hard rock singer and the artist setting his sights on interpreting other musical styles. It came at a moment when the band needed to redefine itself on the AM band, but opted instead to just put out a decent product and take few risks.

Tracklist:

01 - Ball Crusher
02 - Forty Days And Forty Nights
03 - Fat Jack
04 - Renegade
05 - Foggy Mental Breakdown
06 - Snowblind Friend
07 - Who Needs Ya (Single Version)
08 - Earschplittenloudenboomer
09 - Hippo Stomp

The title track of For Ladies Only is a classic slice of Steppenwolf's brand of hard rock: gritty chord guitar from Blues Image refugee Kent Henry (Steppenwolf went through as many or more guitarist changes as the Guess Who), elegant piano from Goldy McJohn, even jazz flavors on a nine-minute-plus track as blatantly sexist as the album gatefold. The graphic photo of a huge penis car alongside the Hollywood walk of fame tucked inside the cardboard is completely juvenile, while the back of the LP features the boys all reading books, from The Sensuous Woman to Snow White & the Seven Dwarves – interesting imagery that doesn't complement the music as much as the artists might have thought it did at the time. The Jerry Edmonton/Goldy McJohn composition "I'm Asking" has a heavy "Jumpin' Jack Flash" riff that's all sludged out and a weak non-John Kay vocal – like, why bother? Kay's snarling voice was as much a part of the sound as the heavy keys, and without it the otherwise fine performance and production are just totally eradicated; it's a song that would've worked better as an instrumental. Ditto for Jerry Edmonton's "Jaded Strumpet," which is also in desperate need of Kay's authoritative tone, which is refreshingly surreal on the singer's co-write with George Biondo that is "Sparkle Eyes."

Tracklist:

01 - For Ladies Only
02 - I'm Asking
03 - Shackles And Chains
04 - Tenderness
05 - The Night Time's For You
06 - Jaded Strumpet
07 - Sparkle Eyes
08 - Black Pit
09 - Ride With Me (Single Version)
10 - In Hopes Of A Garden


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