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From the Vault...
01/18/1998
#560 |
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info
Steppenwolf
"Steppenwolf 7"
© MCA Records
Year of Release: 1970
Rating:
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track listing
Ball Crusher
Forty Days And
Forty Nights
Fat Jack
Renegade
Foggy Mental Breakdown
Snowblind Friend
Who Needs Ya
EarSchplitten-
LoudenBoomer
Hippo Stomp
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Steppenwolf
"Steppenwolf 7"
Steppenwolf's seventh album was released in 1970,
entitled Steppenwolf 7. Most rock bands would keep the
chronological numbering system in their album titles; Led
Zeppelin did it with their first four albums, Steppenwolf also
did this with their first two albums. After a while, the California
band went back to this numbering system only for their seventh album.
Surprisingly, there are no real big radio hits from this album,
but I'm sure some small underground FM radio station back in 1970
was playing some of the tunes from this album rather quite heavily,
being the big fan of Steppenwolf as the station may be.
Like their previous albums, the band mixes hard rock with blues,
and this album, being that there were no big hits, is quite an
earful; a well-done release.
Lead by lead singer John Kay, by the time of this release,
the band had gone through many personnel changes. But the hard
rockin' blues is still there in Steppenwolf's music.
Ball Crusher starts out the album with great energy,
featuring a bluesy feel with the wah-wah guitar, mixed with
the hard rock style. Forty Days And Forty Nights
is a great bouncy tune, that sounds like a slowed down version
of an Allman Brothers' tune that I can't remember the name of.
But I can't help but sing out the lines from that Allman tune
that goes: 'Cause there's a man down there; might be your
man, I don't know, at the end of the main verses.
Fat Jack was not sung by John Kay, (at least it
sounds to me), but even so, it's another enjoyable rock/blues song.
Renegade returns Kay on vocals, as this one slows down the
pace a bit, based on the earlier hard rock tunes already heard.
Who Needs Ya starts out as a hard rockin' Lynyrd Skynyrd tune,
yet as it goes further, it's typical hard rock/blues Steppenwolf.
Two other songs that were impressive were Snowblind Friend
and the instrumental EarSchhplittenLoudEnBoomer.
Snowblind Friend is another slow paced tune, as the song
starts out sounding exactly like The Beatles' I've Got A
Feeling. But the entire song doesn't sound like The Beatles
tune, just the first few riffs of the intro. (Hmmm, Let It Be
and Steppenwolf 7 were released in 1970; I wonder which one
was released first in the year.) Also, Snowblind Friend
could pass for as a country song.
EarSchhplittenLoudEnBoomer is a different sounding
Steppenwolf tune. It's bluesy, and (surprisingly) jazzy.
Horns and keyboards are the main focus, with the guitars
supplying the rhythms.
Steppenwolf 7 brings out the 'biker' in all of us,
as any Steppenwolf album does. This album will be enjoyed for
the classic rock fan. John Kay is still performing today with
a new lineup of Steppenwolf members, as they have released albums
throughout the last 30(!) years. So, get your leathers out, rock
and enjoy the heavy metal thunder of Steppenwolf -- Classic
rock at its finest.
© WSVNRadio.net. All rights reserved.
Review or any portion may not be reproduced
without written permission. Cover art is the
intellectual property of
MCA Records
and is used for reference purposes only.
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