STEPPENWOLF
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Scott <sreddy58@aol.com> (15.07.2001)
Huh? ... I hope you get paid wel ... otherwise it would be sad that someone spent that much time doing something that they didn't enjoy! [unless you are such a negitive person that you enjoy doing things that you don't enjoy!] also , a number of your facts are wrong ; for instance, every body knows that Jerry Edmonton sang lead on "She'll Be Better." Oh well, I was bored enough to give you my opinion after being bored enough to read that crap! stay well ... and good luck to you! ....
Edson Caldart <ecaldart@uol.com.br> (05.07.2002)
Dear fucking bastard:
I do not know your name and from where you came, but i'm sure about one thing: 1. If you hate john kay & steppenfolf, try to stay away to analise their albuns; 2. I'm not a fanatic admirer of the band; 3. I'm a musician and i feel , reading your comments, that you are just a great stupid ignorant bastard, specially talking about your opinions , mainly two albuns: slow flux and la hora del lobo........ How can a human beeing not be sensitive for lyrics such, 'children of night', 'smokey factory blues'...... surely you're not a worker, and could not be a lover, because you've got no soul and feelings. Just one more thing, the john kay's band steppenwolf is not my favourite band, but certainly you are the more stupid, eyes-closed person that i ever met in my life. Fucking you and specially, directly from my heart to you, go screw. Edson. P.S.: sorry 'bout my bad english, but if you don't feel right, you don't have to do it (read this and think about it) just leave a message on the phone and tell me to screw it (john lennon).Zak Remen <zulth@hotmail.com> (24.07.2004)
Before I begin, I would like to say that I am not here to "flame" you, in fact I agree with you on numerous reviews including your opinion on Led Zeppelin, and while I do like them very much, I do find them very over-rated. But that is not what I am here to tell you, it is a minor correction. You see, John Kay was originally German, but immigrated at a young age to Canada. It was there that he begin his career and formed Steppenwolf. The reason I am telling you this is that under the section Steppenwolf is under is "Dig That Country Blues Sound" and afterwords in brackets it say's "American Roots-Rock". And while I might have been able to say "ok Steppenwolf had a great influence over American music so they belong there" but then again so did the Beatles, hence I(as would the rest of Canada and certainly John Kay) would appreciate if you fixed this somehow, either by moving Steppenwolf elsewhere, renaming the title or something I don't know, I just took it upon my myself to correct this error.
[Special author note: This comment, naturally, refers to the earlier - aka crappy - classification of the artists reviewed on here.]
K. Canoe <tuleebird@yahoo.com> (26.06.2003)
Regarding:
>>Epecially if the Canadians are led by a German!<< I remember, circa '68 or so, John Kay being quite specific about his family's "Prussian" roots.David Ray <david56@duracom.net> (27.04.2006)
Just a little trivia for you on Steppenwolf's first album;
1) Born to be wild was origianally written as an ad for Honda of Canada. The original version was much slower, and more of an accoustic sound. 2) Hoyt Axton was the son of Mae Axton (who penned the little ditty "Heartbreak Hotel", for a relatively unknown from Tupelo Miss.) (Yup, it were Elvis) Hoyt was a rather prolific songwriter/musician/actor, who also had music recorded by Three Dog Night, such as "Joy to the World", "Never Been to Spain", and later had some airplay of his own with "Della and the Dealer". He also acted in several movies, most notably as the goofy inventor father in the first "Gremlins" movie. Oh, and by the way, Hoyt was an Okie also.
Michel Droste (24.10.2005)
" 'Faster Than The Speed Of Light', also credited to "Mars Bonfire" (a collective pseudonym, no doubt?) " Mars Bonfire is a pseudonym of Dennis Edmonton. He is the brother of Steppenwolf's drummer Jerry Edmonton. Perhaps you are already aware of this fact, but since your page gives no indication of any knowledge of this I thought I should send you an email.
Thanks for having such a great site and keep up the good work.Mikkel Breiler <mibm@tdcadsl.dk> (29.01.2006)
Hi
The review for the Steppenwolf album The Second start off with "Some people cringe whenever they see bands giving their albums numbers instead of names - Led Zeppelin being the chief culprit, of course (Chicago is a bit of a special case since they practically turned this into a special kind of art) - but me, I really don't mind. " I'll have you know that a danish band that started 1973 as a humourous band with their own unique take on classic rock tunes (i.e. Marlon Brandon becomes Nylon Brando, and The Bee Gees becomes Brødrene Gebis which can be translated back into meaning The Prosthetics Brothers, but really is slight spin on how "The Bee Gees" sounds and looks like singing with wide smiles showing their teeth rather than anything actually dental). The bands name is Shu-Bi-Dua which is taken from a popular phrase uttered in many poptunes of the era preceeding the mid 60s. Anyway their albums are named like this: Shu-Bi-Dua, 1974 Shu-Bi-Dua 2, 1975 Shu-Bi-Dua 3, 1976 Shu-Bi-Dua 4, 1977 78'eren, 1978 ("the 78" which is a linguistic spin on the 78rpm record) Shu-Bi-Dua 6, 1979 Shu-Bi-Dua 7, 1980 Shu-Bi-Dua 8, 1982 Shu-Bi-Dua 9, 1982 Shu-Bi-Dua 10, 1983 Shu-Bi-Dua 11, 1985 Shu-Bi-Dua 12, 1987 Shu-Bi-Dua 13, 1992 Shu-Bi-Dua 14, 1994 Shu-Bi-40, 1994 (best of) Shu-Bi-Dua 15, 1995 Shu-Bi-Dua 16, 1998 Shu-Bi-Dua 17, 2000 Rap Jul og Godt Nytår, 2003 (special) Shu-Bi-Dua 18, 2005 Their unlisted live albums have non numeral names though! Another danish Band which started a few year before Shu-Bi-Dua is Gasolin'. Gasolin' released these albums: Gasolin', 1972 Gasolin' 2, 1972 3, 1973 Stakkels Jim, 1974(=poor jim) Gas 5, 1975 Efter endnu en dag, 1976 (=After yet another day) Gør' Det Noget, 1977 (=Is it a bother) Killin' Time, 1978 Their last concert was in Sweden in march 1978 after this no more studio albums were made and the members went solo. The lead Singer Kim Larsen tried to launch a solo career in the states by assembling musicians for aband called Jungle Dreams. He has since become very popular on his own in Denmark and has never issues any album with numerals that I know of. I can't remember any other local groups who did a lot of 'numeral albums' but these two are the ones that come to mind anyway. I am quite sure each country has more or less known bands that were also clueless when their record company call their manager for an album title.. Why Steppenwolf named their 5th studio album 7 is beyond me. But it shows something of a fresh thought in the naming process, I mean if you haven't got a proper name then doing something out of order would be just as intriguing. Might even get a reviwer to wonder if the record company chooses to send only some titles to him and he may be missing out or wether the band could only get some of their albums issued and distributed by a major label ;)
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Pat Fallon <patrick.fallon@rcn.com> (09.12.2005)
recorded live at The Matrix in San Francisco May 14th 1967 released in 1969
track list: power play; howlin' for my baby; I'm goin' upstairs; corina, corina; tightin' up your wig; the pusher The group was still called "Sparrow" John Kay - vocals, guitar, harp Dennis Edmonton - guitar, vocals Goldy McJohn - keyboards Nick St. Nicholas - bass, vocals Jerry Edmonton - drums, vocals Excellent live album from 1967. Good blues and the version of corina, corina is beautiful and better than the version on Steppenwolf Live. There is a 22 minute version of The Pusher that blows away any other recorded version as long as you skip the lengthy experimental jam part. Suppozedly recorded without the bands knowledge, this jam drifts into an incredible version of 'The Pusher'. Glad to see this has been rereleased as a cd.Mitch Pilchuk <mpilchuk@pilchuk.com> (10.12.2005)
I can remember listening to this album when I was in Military School in 1970-71. My one year in military school introduced me to so many musical groups, it boggles my mind. Grand Funk Rail road, The Beatles, Jethro Tull,Ten years after, the WHO,Steppenwolf, Hendrix, Frank Zappa, Wow so may angles of music. I didn't necessarily like all of it, but I was in awe of it. Most of it I loved
I remember listening to the album in question Early Steppenwolf and I still can't remember what is on the other side of the album, I just remember this tune up/jam (at sometimes sounding good other times not) and finally blend into Pusher. Whew. To this day, I love jam band music. This was the first jam band type sound I ever heard of. I didn't know it at the time, but that's what it was. When I hear a band that does jam band music I love it. Today I listen to bands like RAQ Phish,, Jazz is dead, Phil and friends and I think of this album. I never owned this album, hell I don't think I owned anything more than a small cassette player and later an 8 track in my car. I just remember this unorganized noise playing with my musical head and finally after may teases blending into the pusher.
Todd <FirstGarden1@aol.com> (16.02.2004)
I am a musician and have not followed Steppenwolf beyond Monster. However, I thought that that was their greatest work, at least up til then. I had always felt that this was a heroic attempt at contributing a great classic into the annuls of rock history - especially the title song. I'm not even a left winger - far from it.
I have read many reviews in my time. I just turned 50. And though your comments were certainly well-articulated, I did not get the sense that you were quite even-handed in your treatment of this work. Perhaps part of this is simply that you just didn't like it. I hope that you will reconsider... if not your actual thoughts and impressions, perhaps the spirit or attitude in which you criticize. There is nothing wrong with good, honest critical thinking. But, to me, it sounds like you're too into being a critic. That comes across more loudly than your well-articulated statements.
Kevin Baker <bakerspread@computron.net> (01.03.2001)
I like Steppenwolf. A good band, though not a great one. 'Snowblind Friend' is one of my favorites by them, and probably my favorite :anti-drug" song. It seems to address not only just drug addiction but also that whole attitude of esacpism that has crept into so many cultures. And not just lyrically, but musically as well.
Mike <Stempomj@aol.com> (12.11.2002)
I agree with your assessment of the album. It was hardly anywhere near a letdown for Steppenwolf and was actually a slight departure, showcasing their ability to change tone and style and still produce good material. I was actually here looking for that hilarious "penis mobile" picture in the inside cover of the album as a joke for a friend. I guess I'll keep looking. The art work on the cover so subtly follows in the theme of the music. The artwork within, a bit more bold... CD covers suck, with LP's you always got the double bonus of music and usually great artwork.
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Doug <djc@arwc.ca> (19.09.2005)
Kay didn't write "Play me a rock&roll song", Valdy did.