Apr 4
Steppenwolf in swiss magazine POP, 1970
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Steppenwolf in swiss magazine POP, 1970
Steppenwolf - John Kay
John Lewis, Letters from Gaza, Designed and printed by John Kay, Quaker Peace & Social Witness, The Millrind Press, [Fordham], 2002
John Kay is 82 today.
Born to Be Wild: The Story of Steppenwolf (Oliver Schwehm, 2024).
Steppenwolf
Steppenwolf: At Your Birthday Party (1969)
When Steppenwolf unveiled their third LP, At Your Birthday Party, 55 years ago, they were riding high off two hit albums powered by two ubiquitous hits: "Born to Be Wild" and "Magic Carpet Ride," so all they had to do was, you know, write another smash.
No pressure.
And while the resulting collection proved even less popular with critics (hey, what do they know?) and yielded nothing quite as ballsy or hooky as those prior hits, band leader John Kay still delivered a solid, driving single in "Rock Me," which climbed to No. 10.
The song also appeared in the 1968 erotic comedy, Candy, though it's arguable whether that helped or harmed its performance, and the same could be said for its extended, minute-long percussive bridge, which echoed Santana's Latin vibes.
Far from tracing a clear new direction, though, this and other highlights like "It's Never too Late" and "Jupiter's Child" merely saw the band divesting itself of increasingly unfashionable psychedelic elements, even if they weren't yet sure what should replace it.
To wit, "Don't Cry" suggested heavy blues rock would remain on the menu, and the finger-snapping "Chicken Wolf" saved the last frug for -- anyone? -- but instrumental filler like "Cat Killer" and "Mango Juice" seemed to be taking the piss.
By contrast, "Lovely Meter" was a baroque ballad inspired (but nowhere near as good as) The Rolling Stones' "Lady Jane"; it's credited to producer Gabriel Mekler and sung by drummer Jerry Edmonton, who also did the honors on "She'll Be Better."
Not to be left out of the fun, new bassist Nick St. Nicholas took his turn at the mic on "Sleeping Dreaming" and guitarist Michael Monarch contributed the country fried "Round and Down," which almost morphed into Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love?" and The Champs' "Tequila."
Only organist Goldy McJohn sat out the album's busy credits, and the meddling Mekler couldn't stay put on the other side of the studio glass, adding the closing "Happy Birthday" and making me wonder if this gave Uriah Heep the idea for "The Magician's Birthday."
Probably not ...
But I think you can blame (or at least I will) Steppenwolf's lacking creative focus on this democratic songwriting distribution, because when Kay re-asserted his benevolent dictatorship, the band's follow-up, Monster, turned out much, much stronger.
Not strong enough, though, because At Your Birthday Party proved to be the group's last Top 10 album, and both musical and personal differences would continually undermine Steppenwolf's career in years to come.
p.s. -- I'd be remiss if I didn't discuss this die-cut gatefold sleeve, which revealed the band sitting amongst the charred remains of amplifiers and other equipment after a fire tore through Canned Heat's Laurel Canyon rehearsal studio.
p.p.s. -- Oh yeah, and because guitarist Monarch was a no-show for the photo-shoot conducted by Henry Diltz, that's producer Mekler standing in for him.
More Steppenwolf: Stepppenwolf, Steppenwolf the Second, Monster, Steppenwolf 7.
been very inactive w posting art lately since ive moved houses, but now that i’m settled in expect some more activity! here’s some quicky stuff from last month :]