#Magic carpet ride steppen wolf plus

Despite a lie-up change (bassist Rushton Moreave was replaced by ex-Sparrows man Nick St.Nicholas) and flashes of “second album syndrome” during recording, The Second was eagerly anticipated and out-performed its predecessor by reaching number three on the chart. Steppenwolf’s second album (imaginatively titled The Second) was released in October 1968. But as I’ve already indicated – Steppenwolf had lots more than Born To Be Wild in their arsenal. The song was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018 as one of the singles that shaped Rock and Roll and, most visibly to many around the globe, it’s provided significant sales pushes to Volvo and Suzuki. What is certain is that the song’s inclusion in the Easy Rider soundtrack gave it a cachet it retains to this day and places it well ahead of Bat Out of Hell on every biker’s favourite playlist. For a start, the song is popularly credited with the introduction of the term Heavy Metal to music although, taken in its lyrical context: “I like smoke and lightning, heavy metal thunder, racin’ with the wind….(etc)” it’s clearly a reference to a motorcycle rather than ear-shredding riffing – and the term Heavy Metal also pops up in William Burroughs’ 1961 novel The Soft Machine so perhaps the Steppenwolf link to the genre is more tenuous than is often assumed. It’s worth, at this point, pausing to consider the influence that Born To Be Wild has had on popular culture over the years. A welcome supplement to the version of the debut album that forms Disc 1 to this boxset is the eight mono cuts of the ‘A’s and ‘B’ sides of each of their early singles, including those chart-breaking hits.

Spurred on by the success of its first three singles, A Girl I Knew, Sookie Sookie and, particularly, Born to be Wild, the album, which reached number six on the Billboard Chart, propelled Steppenwolf into the big league. However, a hook-up in late 1967 between Sparrows’ former rhythm guitarist and vocalist John Kay and ABC Dunhill Producer Gabriel Mekler led to a request that Kay re-form The Sparrows under the new, more contemporary name, Steppenwolf (Mekler was reading the 1927 Hermann Hesse novel of that name at the time.) Kay duly rounded up McJohn, Monarch and Jerry Edmonton and, by placing a trade advert, found bassist Rushton Moreave, and Steppenwolf was born.Īfter a false start and with huge help from engineers Bill Cooper and Richie Podolor (who became the band’s engineering partners throughout the entirety of their ABC Dunhill years) the band’s debut, eponymous album quickly emerged in January 1968. The Sparrows relocated to San Francisco in 1966 and made some minor waves on the Haight-Ashbury counterculture scene but, frustrated at failing to secure a record deal, decided to call it a day in early 1967. At various times, John Kay, Jerry Edmonton, Nick St.Nicholas, Goldy McJohn and Michael Monarch (all of whom were to feature in classic Steppenwolf line-ups) as well as Dennis Edmonton (who, under the nom-de-plume Mars Bonfire was to be the author of Born to be Wild) all passed through The Sparrows’ ranks. The Steppenwolf story started in Oshawa, Ontario in 1964, with the formation of a beat outfit called London Jack and The Sparrows. And, of course, there’s the usual comprehensive booklet, packed with photographs, album information and Malcom Done’s detailed band biog notes. For the record, the albums included are: Steppenwolf, The Second, At Your Birthday Party, Early Steppenwolf, Monster, Steppenwolf Live, Steppenwolf 7 and For Ladies Only. Each of the eight discs comprises an original album, supplemented by ‘A’ and ‘B’ side (mainly) mono mixes of contemporaneous singles, and each disc comes in a reproduction cover in the original artwork. It’s the usual deluxe package that we’ve come to expect from Esoteric/Cherry Red.

#Magic carpet ride steppen wolf plus

You may have forgotten Steppenwolf now, but there was a time when they were ubiquitous!Īnd now, Esoteric/Cherry Red have compiled the eight albums that the band released during their halcyon 1968-1972 period plus 26 bonus tracks drawn from non-album singles and mono mixes into a single set. And, of course, both Born to be Wild and The Pusher were selected for inclusion on the Easy Rider soundtrack. They sold over 25 million records, all the albums included in this fine new set achieved Gold status and, on the hit singles front, had a further twelve successes – Magic Carpet Ride, Rock Me, The Pusher, Monster, Snowblind Friend and Screaming Night Hog amongst them – to accompany their ultimate biker anthem.