Steppenwolf – Early Steppenwolf

3 Stars

Certainly not one of the most essential albums to have in your music collection. But certainly a very interesting one.

Recorded live at the Matrix Club in the San Francisco Bay Area by its manager over two shows in 1967, it’s a wonderful glimpse into a b gone era, capturing the essence of the Summer of Love’s Darkside.

Steppenwolf was not even called Steppenwolf in those days. That was still a year away. They were simply known as Sparrow back then.

If you’re expecting to hear ‘Born to Be Wild’ (which was written by Steppenwolf’s original guitarist Dennis Edmonton under the stage name Mars Bonfire in 1968), you are in for a huge disappointment. In fact, ‘Corina Corina’ and ‘The Pusher’ are probably the only two songs that will spark the fires of recognition.

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The band consisted of all members that went on to become Steppenwolf. Out the front wearing his biker leathers and heavy-duty shades, is John Kay, such an inspirational lead singer to so many in years to come. Goldy McJohn would create that incredible keyboard sound for Steppenwolf. Nick St Nicholas handled the bass whilst Jerry Edmonton, Dennis’s brother, pounded the drums.

The band became instant stars after both ‘Born to be Wild’ and ‘The Pusher’ were released on the soundtrack of the Easy Rider movie in 1969.

But in the days of Sparrow, they were quite a different beast. These recordings are quite the revelation.

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In the days of vinyl, the first side opens with five blues selections, two originals from the pen of John Kay and three blues standards. All well-executed, played with enthusiasm and surprising clarity. So far, so good, but nothing to set this collection aside. However, the freak flag is out on side two. There is a twenty-one-minute piece that can only be described as a psychedelic slab of acid rock. This is right out there with the most freaky music ever—something to really take you away on a trip.

On the track listing it’s labeled as ‘The Pusher’ but that famous riff does not come out until they have been playing for fifteen minutes and thirty seconds, and they drag themselves out of orbit and back onto that tiny San Francisco stage to peel into that infamous riff and John Kay leans into the lyrics on the rights and wrongs of the drug culture. A real space rock epic right out there on the Final Frontier. A real cosmic trip.

From 1968-1971, Steppenwolf recorded seven albums, all with varying degrees of success, regularly hitting the Billboard Singles Chart. They were also an enormous live sensation. ‘Born To Be Wild’ sold over a million copies in the USA alone, plus being recorded or at least played on stage by almost every rock band to this day.

Its writer, Bonfire Mars (Dennis Edmonton) was the first to leave. Well, he really did not need to work again. Pretty quickly all the others left too. Leaving John Kay at the helm playing to an ever-decreasing crowd with a more and more motley crew of musicians until putting the monster to bed in 2018.

Quite a magic carpet ride for the gang that coined the phrase ‘Heavy Metal Thunder.’

Track listing

Side one

“Power Play” (John Kay) – 2:55

“Howlin’ for My Darlin‘” (Dixon, Howlin’ Wolf) – 4:53

“I’m Going Upstairs” (Hooker) – 7:14

“Corina, Corina” (Arranged and adapted by Kay) – 3:54

“Tighten up Your Wig” (Kay) – 3:14

Side two

“The Pusher” (Hoyt Axton) – 21:27

Written by Mott the Dog from the Darkside itself in Pattaya.

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