JIMI HENDRIX

Reviewed:

- Are You Experienced (1967)

- Axis: Bold as Love (1967)

- Electric Ladyland (1968)

- Smash Hits (1968, compilation)

- Band of Gypsys (1970, live album)

ARE YOU EXPERIENCED          1967          (Sony Music)

- Standouts: Everything (obviously).

Jimi Hendrix obviously needs no introduction. Any self-proclaimed rock fan should already know who he is, so I'm not going into huge detail regarding how he came onto the scene in the mid-60's, and his history prior etc.. Long story short, he's arguably the most influential rock guitarist of all time, and his band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience consisted of Jimi on guitar/vocals and a couple of Brits in the rhythm section - Noel Redding on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums. Of course, Are You Experienced, Jimi's first full length with the Experience is a legendary and extremely influential album. It's exciting to listen to now, so imagine how exciting it was in 1967. Like a lot of albums in the 60's, Are You Experienced came in both UK and US formats, with different track-listings for both, but I have the CD and vinyl reissues, which features all tracks that were featured on both editions - a grand total of 17 tracks. So that's the version I'm referring to; I've never owned an original pressing of this album (sadly), so to me, the album's always been both the UK and US versions combined.

There's not a lot I can say about this record that hasn't already been said. But whatever, here's my take on it anyhow. I think it's probably one of the best albums ever made, across any genre - period. I'll just put that out there now; I don't know if it'd make my own personal top five, but I'm sure it'd make my top ten. Jimi was obviously a very talented guitar player from a technical point of view (when you consider his opposition in the 60's), but he doesn't play in a way that is note-for-note perfect. And that's part of what makes him so great. I remember watching an interview with Ritchie Blackmore on YouTube, and I can't quote him directly, but he basically said he loves Hendrix's playing because he has to search for the notes. Sure, guys like Joe Satriani and Steve Vai can play guitar in a way that is technically-proficient to the extreme - to the point where they play so good that they almost sound inhuman at times - and of course, this is no bad thing, but there's definitely less heart and soul if you play so well that you never fuck up. I totally agree with Ritchie. 

Essentially, this album is a groundbreaking piece of rock n' roll for it's deep musical innovation, but it's still so pure. Jimi brings blues influences into almost all the tracks, but his playing also makes use of heavy rock (particularly heavy compared to whatever else was around in the 60's), R&B, soul and psychedelia - you can hear all these different influences throughout the album. Tracks like the unmistakeable 'Foxy Lady' and 'Purple Haze' are bombastic slabs of heavy blues rock, and you can see why they even influenced heavy metal later down the line. But some of the stuff on here is really soulful - 'May This Be Love' is a mellow, psychedelic number with tons of heart. And you've gotta really love the ballad 'The Wind Cries Mary' - Jimi even sings and writes lyrics in an almost Dylan-esque sense - at least that what I've always thought about this lovely song (of course, Jimi would cover Bob Dylan tracks live). Certain tracks groove hard as well. 'Fire' for example, is a fast, driving blues number with some really great backing vocals from Noel Redding ("Let me stand next to your fire"), and this track in general just makes me feel good! It's a go-to song for when I'm feeling glum, or pissed off.

The acid rock/psychedelic touches are written all over songs like 'Third Stone from the Sun' and the trippy title track, which is fair enough, because this was still 1967 - and Woodstock hadn't even happened yet. Jimi did psychedelia better than anyone else. There's a couple of more straight-forward blues numbers on here too, such as 'Red House' and 'Remember', but as straightforward as they are, with Jimi playing them, they're never dull. And there's a lot of great hook too, especially on 'Highway Chile' and '51st Anniversary', the latter of which may be the most underrated song on the album, in my eyes. Of course, 'Hey Joe', the Billy Roberts cover is one of the best known songs on here, and was a hit for Hendrix. Jimi doesn't go all-out with his guitar playing on 'Hey Joe', but it features some of the best vocal melodies on the album.

I'm a huge fan of the way this album was recorded. It has a very dynamic kind of feel to it. It's raw, dirty and loud, and on songs like the ballsy 'Manic Depression', there's a lot of stuff going on that wasn't commonplace in contemporary albums, and I'm not just talking about the actual musicianship itself. Jimi's guitar and vocals are often shifting between either of your speakers, and this adds to the psychedelic and live feel of the album's overall sound. It's quite hard to describe, but either way, it's gold.

I'd like to pick out some flaws with this album, but I honestly can't really find any. So if you were looking for an extremely rare review of an angry rock fan slamming Hendrix for a change, then I'm sorry to disappoint you. Uh... maybe it's less ambitious than it's two follow-ups because it's a little less artsy and experimental? For some, that could be a flaw, but for me the fact that this is the most straightforward Hendrix experience actually makes it his best album - it's still exciting and full of varied songs that the whole product never gets boring or old anyway, even with the lengthy reissue track-listing of 17 songs. Maybe 'Stone Free' ends a little too abruptly, and maybe you could criticise Jimi's singing voice because in terms of his vocal ability, he's not exactly the best singer in the world - but I'm really clutching at straws here. Truth is, every rock fan should have Are You Experienced in their collection, regardless of whether you love indie, prog, folk or metal best. The album's so powerful and influential not just for Jimi's guitar playing, but for the fact the songs as a whole feature just about everything you could ever want in a rock n' roll album. And everything on here save for 'Hey Joe' was written by the band - covers were still rife with bands in the 60's, so I feel that's worth mentioning too.

Adam's rating: 10/10

AXIS: BOLD AS LOVE          1967          (Sony Music)

- Standouts: 'Up From the Skies', 'Spanish Castle Magic', 'Ain't No Telling', 'Little Wing', 'If 6 Was 9', 'You Got Me Floatin'', 'Castles Made of Sand', 'Little Miss Lover', 'Bold as Love'

As much as I love the three studio albums the Experience made together, I've gotta admit that Axis: Bold as Love is the one I care least for. Not that I think it's a bad album, no sirree - in fact, it's an incredibly strong work on almost all fronts. However, Are You Experienced is just one of those albums with so much character within the playing, and it's also the kind of album that I can either listen to in full and enjoy the hell out of it, or I can easily pick any individual track and play it on it's own - it's just that good. 

Well, the good songs on Axis are fucking classics, every bit as good as anything from Are You Experienced. For starters, 'Spanish Castle Magic' rocks! That track is just so damn cool, it has Jimi's attitude written all over it, a hard rockin', bluesy, groovin' gem of a song. 'Little Wing' is the other particularly famous song on here, and again, there's a reason why it's so revered. Jimi's guitar playing is so melodic and pretty on it; what a great, psychedelic ballad. Shame it doesn't even last two and a half minutes! Whatever, it's still one of Hendrix's best songs ever. I also really love 'If 6 Was 9' - it may seem quite muddled and disjointed, with a tempo and rhythm that kind of goes all over the place, and the middle part of the song is trippy to the max, but I guess there's just something about Jimi's presence that makes it so special to me.

'Ain't No Telling' is great too; this one sounds as if it could've fit on the first LP, and is an underrated blues rocker. I'm also very fond of the other Dylan-esque number, 'Castles Made of Sand' - it isn't as good as 'The Wind Cries Mary', which is what it's most comparable to, but it's still solid all-round. 'You Got Me Floatin'' sort of shares similarities with 'Fire'; it's another upbeat, blues-influenced rockin' blueser (hey, I just made up a word!), with some great backing vocal melodies again. However, it still isn't as good as 'Fire'! It just isn't! I love the almost funk rock of 'Little Miss Lover' - this song is really unique compared to anything off the predecessor, and 'Bold as Love' is a great ballad to end the album on.

The thing that really separates Axis from the debut is the added emphasis of psychedelia. I wouldn't say Jimi was trying as hard as possible to take you on an acid trip, but the album starts with a weird, cliche'd introduction called 'EXP' with Mitch Mitchell interviewing Jimi (playing some guy called Paul Caruso) about UFOs (?!), so that's uh... yeah... the product of LSD I guess. Obviously Are You Experienced had it's share of psychedelia too, but it isn't as blatantly obvious as it is here. I don't really care too much for 'She's So Fine' either; sure, Jimi's guitar playing is nice on it (as always), but for whatever reason Noel Redding actually handles the vocals this time, and despite Hendrix's playing, it kind of makes you forget you're even listening to the same band. It does have some nice hooks though, and it's certainly not a bad track - none of the songs here are bad, in fact. You could argue that the production is better here; it's certainly more refined this time around, and less raw, but the harsh-sounding, feedback-drenched debut still sounds better to me. But I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people preferred the production job that was done on this album.

Axis: Bold as Love is a classic album - there's no denying that. However, aside from a handful of tracks, at the end of the day it just does most things worse than Are You Experienced. I get that the band probably were probably trying to be a little more creative this time around (I'm sure drugs had nothing to do with this...), and obviously as a result the album ends up being Hendrix with extra psychedelia. That said, I still think it's a fantastic album. It's still quite easily one of the best acid rock albums ever made, it's just that given the reputation of the first album, it had a hell of a lot to live up to. Are You Experienced was almost like a greatest hits of everything that made Jimi so great in the first place. 

Adam's rating: 9.2/10

ELECTRIC LADYLAND          1968          (MCA)

- Standouts: All except '1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)'

The third and final album from the Experience was Electric Ladyland, and it's clear that at this point, even though he'd only made two other studio LP's prior, Jimi was becoming a more accomplished songwriter and musician at this point. Some consider it his best work, and while there's a lot of fair points to be made for this view, I still think Are You Experienced is his finest hour. I guess it all depends on how you view him as a musician. To me, he's a guitar hero more than anything else (although he was obviously great at a lot of things), and if that's your main criteria, then you too, will probably find that debut album to be his best.

That said, Electric Ladyland has not only my favourite Hendrix tune, but also one of my all-time favourite tracks, 'Voodoo Child (Slight Return)' - a song that showcases his innovation as a rock guitarist, and one of the most ass-kicking songs of all time! It's just a track that really has everything you could want from a hard rockin', bluesy, supremely cool piece of guitar work - from all the whammy-based, wah-wah-drenched soloing to the riffs themselves. It's his best song ever, especially in terms of it's guitar work, as far as I'm concerned.

However, the rest of the album ventures into some new territories, and features a little more experimentation. There's a lot of organ work on this album, to the point where some tracks don't actually revolve around guitars. That means a chunk of the record is very soul-focussed, more-so than rock at times. The brief opening track, 'Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)' is an extremely soulful, psychedelic introduction. And then of course, you've got tracks like 'Burning of the Midnight Lamp' which is soulful acid rock that features gospel-like vocal harmonies and harpsichord-backed melodies. By the way, just because the album is a little artsier this time, does not mean tracks like these are bad by any stretch of the imagination. They're genuine classics that display Jimi's talents further.

Even if I do prefer Are You Experienced, I still love about 95% of this record. Along with 'Voodoo Child (Slight Return)', the album also has other tracks that are among his best ever. The pop rock-based 'Crosstown Traffic' is quite possibly the catchiest little number he ever wrote - the kazoo melody (which was actually makeshift) is irresistible, makes me wanna replay the song over and over! And obviously there's also the Bob Dylan cover 'All Along the Watchtower', which is by far my preferred version. Jimi transforms the song into a hard rock classic with his signature touches stamped all over his rendition. It's kind of like the ultimate Vietnam War track, well, apart from Creedance's 'Fortunate Son' that is. 'Voodoo Chile' too, is another of my favourite Hendrix songs. It's a sleezy, fourteen minute long bluesy jam that was supposedly recorded in one take - not really surprising given that it sounds live. To me it's comparable to the kind of stuff Jimi was doing with on the Band of Gypsys live album in 1970.

Noel Redding fronts another psychedelic pop rock number with 'Little Miss Strange', and I prefer this over 'She's So Fine' from Axis: Bold as Love. 'Come On (Part One)' aka 'Let the Good Times Roll' is the Earl King cover - Jimi doesn't do anything particularly special with it, he just knows how to have fun on a classic rock n' roll number! 'Gypsy Eyes' has loads of groovy, bluesy, multi-layered guitar lines while 'Rainy Day, Dream Away' features saxophones to accommodate Jimi's guitar licks. '1983 (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)' is probably my least favourite number on here - I mean, I like it, but it's really long and doesn't really go anywhere at times. It's more of an experimental, proggy kind of acid jam with no real structure. I guess I still like it because Jimi's playing is almost always enjoyable up to a point. 'Still Raining, Still Dreaming' is full of lengthy guitar solos on top of that classic, psychedelic 60's organ sound and 'House Burning Down' is yet another great psychedelic blues fest. 

Electric Ladyland is a mostly astonishing piece of music - 'All Along the Watchtower', 'Voodoo Chile', 'Voodoo Child (Slight Return)', 'Burning of the Midnight Lamp' and 'Crosstown Traffic' are all among Hendrix's best songs ever, and the rest of the album is brilliant too. I want to give it a 10, because for the most part I love the majority of the songs on here... but I always found the album to be a little too long! And while some of these tracks do truly display the brilliance that was Jimi Hendrix, there's a handful of material on here (e.g. 'Rainy Day, Dream Away' and 'Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)') that to me don't quite represent the man and what he was all about. They're still brilliant songs of course, but I still think Are You Experienced is the quintessential Jimi Hendrix album. It may not be the most radical, but it has the Jimi sound that I think of when someone says "Hendrix". Electric Ladyland though, represents Jimi at the peak of his creativity as a musician, and that's still a massive deal.

Adam's rating: 9.7/10

SMASH HITS          1968          (MCA)

I suppose there was a point to this compilation (which happens to be the first ever Hendrix compilation) when it was first released in 1968 since Are You Experienced was released in the UK and US with different song listings - apparently whatever four tracks on the UK version that were missing from the US are featured here - but this is kind of irrelevant these days since the newer reissues of the debut album, CD or vinyl, feature all 17 tracks anyway. Plus, I didn't actually know that there were UK and US version of this compilation until looking on Wikipedia. The UK version which I own does have 'The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam's Dice' on it though, which was a B-side to 'Burning of the Midnight Lamp' that was never included on Electric Ladyland, so there's that. The rest of the tracklisting consists of Are You Experienced songs and 'Burning of the Midnight Lamp'. The only reason I own this disc is because someone bought it for me way back when I was still at school.

BAND OF GYPSYS          1970          (Sony Music)

- Standouts: 'Who Knows', 'Machine Gun', 'Changes', 'Power to Love'

Well, my opinion of this record has deviated a little over time. Once upon a time, I used to think Band of Gypsys was one of the best live recordings in the world, but I don't think it sits among the best live albums ever anymore. In all fairness, there's a handful of legendary live albums that I still haven't heard and don't own (e.g. The Who's Live at Leeds or that unplugged Nirvana thing), but either way, I don't enjoy it as much as I do Deep Purple's Made in Japan, or Judas Priest's Unleashed in the East these days. I guess the reason I used to hold this thing in such high regard is purely because I enjoy Jimi's playing that much. But this ain't him and the Experince - it's Jimi jamming with a couple of famous R&B guys, Buddy Miles and Billy Cox. For that reason, none of the six tracks here are the same iconic stuff he was doing with Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, instead, it's a very long and drawn out set of improvised blues rock jams - don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Deep Purple's Made in Japan, which is legendary because of it's lengthy, improvised jams. The only difference is, Made in Japan is full of energy, whereas Band of Gypsys is much slower, more laid-back and soulful by comparison. Not quite the same kind of approach, then. Of course, this album was recorded in January 1970, and by September that year, Jimi passed away...

The first couple of tracks here are built around a single particular riff or melody, and Jimi (or occasionally Cox and Miles) adds vocals, but there's no real structure to the songs. Instead, Cox and Miles provide solid rhythm backing while Jimi solos over the top. Honestly though, despite everything I said in that first paragraph, I still really like Band of Gypsys. I just don't think it's a masterwork anymore, presumably because I've heard plenty more live albums since. I totally dig the nine and a half minute 'Who Knows', such a cool groove to that track. And Jimi's endless soloing on the ridiculously long 'Machine Gun' is great, because let's be honest, it's just Hendrix playing the guitar - so by default it's going to be enjoyable in that regard. 

The remaining tracks are shorter and more structured, and I do like them. For example, the funky guitar licks in 'Changes' are sublime. However, when compared to the stuff Jimi did on those three albums with the Experience, none of the four remaining Band of Gypsys songs will ever come close. It's clear that this wasn't purely a Hendrix-driven project, so the vibe is still different even if you can unmistakeably hear Jimi's signature touches throughout the album. I like the lengthy jams of the first couple of tracks most, but if unstructured jamming's not your thing, then you probably won't enjoy them. I recommend anyone who enjoyed the Experience listens to Band of Gypsys at least once, because I really feel you could either love it or hate it. I still think it's great. But one of the best live albums of all time? Nah, I don't think so anymore. Always loved that album cover though.

Adam's rating: 8/10

THE BAND

Reviewed:

- Music from Big Pink (1968)

- The Band (1969)

- Stage Fright (1970)

MUSIC FROM BIG PINK          1968          (Capitol)

- Standouts: everything.

Hell, if Roger Waters hails The Band's Music from Big Pink "the most influential record in rock n' roll" - at least behind Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (an album I find to be frankly overrated, but I can't deny it's influence on rock...), then it surely deserves a place in my music collection, right? Well, yes it does, even if I don't really care for Roger Waters' opinion because I don't consider myself to be a 'Floyd fan. No, I actually bought this album not so long ago, because I bought The Band's self-titled album - the follow-up to Music from Big Pink - on vinyl, and I really connected with it. So naturally I had to go back and buy Big Pink, the debut. 

While I'm not 100% sure I'm in agreement with people that consider Music from Big Pink to be one of the most influential rock LP's of all time, I wouldn't argue against anyone that sticks it in a list of 'greatest records ever' and whatnot. Each member of The Band is/was (only 2 of them are still alive, sadly) as talented as one another as well as just as important. Put simply, the musicianship on this album and it's follow-up is unprecedented, especially for the 60's period as a whole. This is a group who were all about the music. The mid-to-late 60's was obviously a turning point in musical history and society in general; things that were once considered taboo, was now becoming accepted. A lot of these essentially hippie principles was present in the popular music of the time, such as the Rolling Stones or Jimi Hendrix, and while The Band were happily playing alongside those kind of acts at Woodstock and wherever else, they were never trying to make any kind of political or social statement with their songs. Their music was just that - music, nothing more, nothing else. The Band were bringing in all kinds of different genres and influences into their songs, and the result is a seamless blend of rock n' roll, Americana, blues, folk and country. No one else sounded like them, and I still can't think of anything directly comparable to them musically either. 

I must admit, although I started with the second album, I did know and love the track 'The Weight' from this record for many years. I honestly think 'The Weight' is one of the best rock tracks ever written. I don't really know what the point of the song is lyrically, but I don't care either way. It's instrumentally amazing, the shared vocals are perfect and it features enough hooks and melodies that make you want to play it over and over again. That's how you write a song! I think 'Long Black Veil', originally an old country song from 1959, but covered by all means of people over the years, is one of the best tracks on the album too. And let's not forget about opener 'Tears of Rage' - originally a song they performed with Bob Dylan not too long before (with lyrics from Dylan) - is unbelievably good. Richard Manuel (RIP) handles vocals on about 2/3 of the album, and from the get-go on 'Tears of Rage', you can tell he was a really special character in rock, especially regarding his singing. There's a kind of unintentional sorrow in his voice that is really hard to describe until you actually hear him for yourself. It's not like he's singing sad songs on this album, you just get a sense of pain when you listen to him, and it really gives me chills - in a good way! 'I Shall Be Released' is absolutely beautiful.

Gotta hand it to the other band members too, though. They were all basically talented across multiple instruments, but Garth Hudson in particular really impresses with his unmistakable organ playing, particularly on a song like the powerful 'Chest Fever'. And while Robbie Robertson isn't what you'd call a 'guitar virtuoso', his guitar playing on this album is full of heart and soul - if you really focus on his contributions, you'll hear a lot going on in the background with his licks. Try focusing primarily on Robertson on 'This Wheel's On Fire'.

Music from Big Pink is certainly an incredibly well-constructed and near-perfect record with some amazing songs, but I still don't quite understand it's importance on rock music as a whole. Maybe I'm too dumb to not hear their influence in other artists who followed, but to me nobody else sounds like The Band. I'm certainly NOT going to call this album overrated though - I don't know anyone personally who's even properly listened to The Band, and I think Music from Big Pink is almost flawless. It just didn't click with me in the same way that it's follow-up did...

Adam's rating: 9.8/10

THE BAND          1969          (Capitol)

- Standouts: This is a masterpiece, so everything.

Music from Big Pink was such a brilliant record - so much so that even members of rock's elite such as Eric Clapton, George Harrison and Roger Waters consider it to be a milestone in rock history. I love the album, but I consider this album to be even better. Part of me wishes I'd picked up The Band's early records a few years back, but I'm not so sure I'd have appreciated them to the same extent as I do now in my late 20's. At the start of the year, I finally replaced my old turntable with one that actually works,  and The Band was one of the first LP's I purchased to christen it - despite only being familiar with 'The Weight'. Heh, seems weird to think that at the start of 2020, 'The Weight' was the only song by The Band I had heard! Yep, clearly I was missing out. I will admit that although I enjoyed this album a fair amount on the first few spins, it wasn't until the COVID lockdown began that I really sank my teeth into it. I gave it repeated listens in the car on Spotify, to the point where I now consider it to be not only one of the greatest albums of the 60's, but one of the greatest albums rock has to offer in general.

Like Music from Big Pink, I haven't heard anything else that really sounds comparable to The Band's second album. The musicianship is some of the best I've ever heard; the songs have been written and rehearsed well enough that they have been performed flawlessly, yet at the same time they still have a slight, live atmosphere surrounding them. The members are uniting together and performing like a well-oiled machine, flawlessly melding their instruments to create a sound that other band's usually can't pull off: when I listen to this album, it doesn't feel like any album has been pushed to the front and prioritised over any other. I honestly can't say that about many other albums. Once again the band members often swap vocal duties per song, and given each members' personality, they always sing the right song depending on the music itself. Example, Levon Helm's Southern flair means he usually handles the more rock n' roll and country kinda material such as 'Jemima Surrender', 'Up On Cripple Creek' and 'Rag Mama Rag' while Richard Manuel's soulful vox are perfect on the smoother numbers such as 'Whispering Pines'.

And of course, the songs themselves continue to mix rock, folk, country, Americana and blues flawlessly, and in the same vein as the debut LP. The tracks are full of perfect instrumentation with usage of electric guitars, organs, mandolins, fiddles, trombones etc., and feature incredible musicianship as well as enough hooks that make the majority of the tracks extremely memorable. I mean, 'Whispering Pines', much like 'I Shall Be Released' from Big Pink, is once again an absolutely beautiful, emotional ballad from Manuel. But there's also some really catchy melodies and hooks to be found on 'Across the Great Divide' and 'Rag Mama Rag' - when I listen to tracks like these, they make me feel good! Even the lyrics are fantastic - 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down' is a roots rock masterpiece about the effect the final years the American Civil War had on poor southerners. 'King Harvest (Has Surely Come)' is about a farmer stuck in poverty. The most underrated track on here, in my opinion, is Manuel's 'Jawbone'. This track was written in an unusual time signature, features an absolutely infectious chorus ("I'm a thief, and I dig it...") and has lots of shifts and transitions in terms of melodies and overall song structure. I really think 'Jawbone' is one of the best tracks on the album and generally doesn't get as much conversation as the rest of the album. But honestly, I think basically every song on this record is spot-on. The only downer that comes to my head right now is that the soulful 'When You Awake' is too short, and fades out too abruptly, but the actual song itself is pretty much perfect. 

There's a handful of albums I can give a 10/10, for different reasons of course. For example, I think Black Sabbath's Master of Reality is a perfect heavy metal album. I think The Stooges' Raw Power is what unrefined, bare-bones rock n' roll with an attitude should sound like. I think Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced is the quintessential 60's rock album. But The Band's self-titled is just a perfect album for a lot of reasons. It melds so many different styles together and still, somehow manages to pull them of with ease. It's probably one of the best examples of a band working together without any egos taking over, where each member really has something to offer in a way that makes them as important as one another. The Band is pure magic.

Adam's rating: 10/10

STAGE FRIGHT          1970          (Captiol)

- Standouts: 'Strawberry Wine', 'Sleeping', 'Time to Kill', 'All La Glory', 'The Shape I'm In', 'The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show', 'Daniel and the Sacred Harp', 'Stage Fright'

Music from Big Pink is nearly a perfect roots rock record for me. And as for the self-titled follow-up, well, that is basically a perfect record within it's genre. I bought those albums more-or-less at the same time, and despite how much I enjoyed them, I didn't immediately rush out to buy a copy of Stage Fright, the third Band album. Couldn't really tell you why, although I did win this, Cahoots and Islands all at the same time from the same eBay seller. I have sat down and listened to this album a handful of times now though, and while it's difficult to really hold it up in the same light as the first couple of records, Stage Fright is still a legit classic rock album from 1970. It must be said however, that the album sounds much less ambitious in comparison to it's predecessors, but by the looks of things, that was also kind of the point. I'm guessing even the album title is some kind of reference to the fact that the first two records boosted their popularity immensely.

Whatever the case, I do like Stage Fright a lot. It's The Band in autopilot, but it's a perfectly acceptable kind of autopilot mode, 'cos they were still writing such quality music during this period. You've got another pretty, Richard Manuel-fronted ballad in 'Sleeping', and you've got more Levon Helm-fronted Americana brilliance in tracks like 'All La Glory'. But the rockers are great too - 'The Shape I'm In' is quality roots rock, with some fantastic organ playing from Garth Hudson, as you'd expect. 'The Shape I'm In' ended up becoming one of the group's best-known tracks, and for good reason. 'Strawberry Wine' is a fine blues-based opening number, with Hudson adding some interesting accordion work throughout. I enjoy the grooves of 'The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show', and 'Daniel and the Sacred Harp' sort sounds like a mixture of 'Rockin' Chair' and 'Up On Cripple Creek', with a sleazier kind of attitude. I suppose the Rick Danko-fronted title track is the second best-known number on here, and again, I think it's a great song.

Stage Fright may be a somewhat unambitious album with generally less memorable moments than either of it's two predecessors, but it's still an excellent record. It just goes to show that even when The Band in 1970 deliberately put less effort into writing songs, they naturally play together so well that the resulting product is still very entertaining at the very least. If you liked the first two, there's absolutely no reason you shouldn't be giving this one a chance.

Adam's rating: 9/10

SUBLIME

Reviewed:

• 40oz. to Freedom (1992)
• Robbin' the Hood (1994)
• Sublime (1996)
• 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Sublime (2002, compilation)

40oz. TO FREEDOM          1992          (Skunk)

- Standouts: Most of it is pretty good, particularly 'Badfish', 'Smoke Two Joints' and 'Date Rape'.

My older brother was a big fan of Sublime in his mid-teens, but they never really did much for me until I became an adult. I'm not exactly a stoner, even if I do enjoy the occasional, cheeky 'you know what' every once in a while, but I like a lot of stoner music. 40oz. to Freedom might as well be the pothead's bible, as far as music goes. Well, this and maybe something by Cypress Hill - whatever, it's one of the definitive fusions of punk, ska and reggae you'll probably ever hear. And I'm sure I have memories of my brother telling me that the album - their debut - was originally released independently and became a classic rather quickly, sorta like Diamond Head and their Lightning to Nations record, not that Sublime sound anything like Diamond Head.

There's a few numbers on here that make regular playlists for me. I really can't get enough of 'Badfish' sometimes... it's just a cool, chilled-out reggae dopefest, and it's catchy! I really like the cover of Bad Religion's 'We're Only Gonna Die for Our Arrogance' too - Biohazard also covered the track on Urban Discipline the same year. Obviously their version is way harder-hitting than Sublime's, but Sublime's still keeps the tempo rolling fast while adding their own ska, flair to the tune. 'Don't Push' is a good-time, 'New Thrash' has that 'skate punk' sound of bands like Pennywise and NOFX, maybe a touch of early Offspring, and it's fun. 'Date Rape' goes full ska and features trumpets and saxophones, plus punk rock lyrics to boot. In all fairness, you won't find any sketchy material on here. 'KRS-One', which obviously references and samples the infamous rapper, kind of gets on my nerves at times, and I always thought having 22 songs on an album of this nature was going a bit overboard, but lengthy track-listings is just something Sublime did with their records. Like I said before, I'm no stoner, but this album gives me positives vibes. I dig it, and it makes great background music when chilling with mates at a BBQ, or just generally kicking back. It's a classic, though I wouldn't put it up there among punk's best ever albums. That's if you even consider 40oz. to Freedom to be a punk album more-so than it is ska. 

Adam's rating: 8/10

ROBBIN' THE HOOD          1994          (MCA)

- Standouts: 'Greatest Hits', 'Saw Red', 'Work That We Do', 'Cisco Kid', 'All You Need', 'Falling Idols'

I get that people generally regard most of Sublime's recordings to be classic material these days, but Robbin' the Hood I do have some issues with, especially when compared to the debut or it's self-titled followup. The album doesn't really even get going properly until track 4, 'Pool Shark', because the first bunch of 'songs' are essentially just made up of skits and samples. And 'Pool Shark' itself is short as hell too. 'Steppin' Razor' is kinda cool though, even if it does feel more like an instrumental than anything else. I'd also say that 'Greatest Hits' is one of my favourite Sublime tracks ever. The bass lines are killer, and Brad Nowell's vocal lines and melodies are absolutely spot-on and infectious as fuck. Just an excellent track from the 90's. And 'Saw Red', which features Brad duetting with Gwen Stefani ks extremely fun to say the least. Shame it's over in less than a couple of minutes. 'Work That We Do' is one of their better reggae songs, and a lot of the punkier ska tunes like 'All You Need' and 'Falling Idols' are great too, but I overall I just don't find the music on this album to be as listenable as what can be found on 40oz. to Freedom. There's far too much sampling and instrumental stuff which just annoys me after a while. I get that they made druggie music first and foremost (hell, drugs are what finally killed Brad, R.I.P.), but the actual musical performances are lacking in comparison to the debut album. The good songs on here, like 'Greatest Hits', are as good as anything from the previous record, but I've found myself sitting through a bunch of filler and re-recordings of older tracks  in order to really get to the good stuff on Robbin' the Hood. 

Adam's rating: 7/10

SUBLIME          1996          (MCA)

- Standouts: Basically everything.

The final album to come out of the trio before Brad Nowell's demise was this self-titled record. I always thought Robbin' the Hood featured a little too much fucking around instead of actual songs; thankfully, Sublime is, in my opinion, the best thing they ever put out. It takes advantage of most of the musical ideas they had on the past releases and results in songs that are generally just better across the board. It certainly has more radio-friendly tracks on it - it was by far their biggest seller - but for a band like Sublime, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. They came up with a reggae/ska/punk fusion that could be extremely infectious on past tracks like 'Badfish' and 'Greatest Hits', and this is further reinforced on songs like 'Wrong Way' and 'What I Got' from this third and final record. 'What I Got' really is one of my favourite 90's alternative singles of all time. I love it. The same can be said for the excellent 'Santeria' - it's Sublime perfecting what they came up with in the past and using that formula to write songs that insanely memorable and catchy whilst still sounding like true Sublime! Even the ska punk rockers like 'Seed' are better too. 'Garden Grove' has a lot of weird experimentation and sampling on it, kinda similar to the stuff I disliked about Robbin' the Hood, but on this album once again, it's just been pulled off better in nearly every way. And let's not forget about 'Doin' Time', another of their finest tracks of all time, with it's warm and laid-back summer vibes as well as it's dark undertones, a characteristic of Sublime's lyrics.

Any complaints? I guess the album is kinda one-dimensional, and sometimes I'm a miserable bastard that doesn't always want to hear nonsensical stoner music. Obviously the band disbanded shortly after the release of the album due to Nowell's tragic heroin overdose. Heroin sucks. I don't claim to be a die hard Sublime fan by any means, but I liked this album enough to pick it up on vinyl too. I totally recommend any rock fan to check it out, these are just good songs full-stop, and you don't have to be a pothead to really appreciate it either!

Adam's rating: 8.8/10

20th CENTURY MASTERS - THE MILLENNIUM COLLECTION: THE BEST OF SUBLIME          2002          (MCA)

This CD - the aptly titled 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Sublime (fuck me, that's a mouthful!) - is a compilation that for whatever reason only features 10 songs. Not exactly enough to summarise this band then, but at least each of those 10 songs are among their best. It is what it is. The only reason I have this in my collection is because I bought it for like less than £2 a few years back, and it reminded me just how good some of the songs this band wrote actually were, so at least it made me go out and buy their trilogy of studio albums.

LIVING COLOUR

VIVID          1988          (Epic)
- Standouts: 'Cult of Personality', 'I Want to Know', 'Middle Man', 'Desperate People', 'Open Letter (To a Landlord)', 'Funny Vibe'
I'm not sure if funk metal is really a genre or if it was just a movement that took place around the late 80's and early to mid 90's. It's not exactly a sound you hear everyday with new bands. Faith No More kinda ditched the vibes after The Real Thing, Suicidal Tendencies went through a funk metal phase in the 90's, but never returned to it by the new millennium. That doesn't make it an inferior type of music, although it does make a lot of albums that used this kind of style sound quite dated, by default. Living Colour released this debut album, titled Vivid, in 1988, and it reached no. 6 in the US album charts and they even won a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1990 with 'Cult of Personality'. Even though they followed this record up with 2 other well-received studio albums in the 90's, they didn't sell as well as Vivid, and they never really became as big as you'd assume they could have been, given the fact they won a Grammy award for a song of their first album. Shame really, because Vivid is pretty damn good stuff overall. Living Colour were certainly unique, and in a way, they still are. I know the whole 'funk metal' thing was prevalent during the late 80's, but even so, I haven't really heard anyone else that sounds like Living Colour - probably because they aren't especially funk 'metal' - more like funk rock despite the fact they're usually labelled as metal. They definitely had a lot going for them. For a start, they were an entirely African-American band - not unusual in general, but certainly rare for a band in this style. Secondly, Vernon Reid is a kickass guitar player, and severely underrated in his field. Third, vocalist Corey Glover had a role in Platoon, one of my favourite films! He was the dude in the foxhole with Charlie Sheen during the final battle! Fourth, they wore horrific, vibrant clothing of the period - think Will Smith in the earlier seasons of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Fifth, they're still awesome live - I know 'cos I got to seem 'em at Riot Fest 2015, in Chicago. Sixth, they're American yet they actually spell 'colour' CORRECTLY, i.e. by actually spelling it with the 'u'!

'Cult of Personality' is an absolute classic. The riffs kick-ass, the political lyrics are powerful, the hooks are memorable - it's just an awesome song. No wonder CM Punk used it as his entrance theme. It was also included in the GTA: San Andreas soundtrack, on Radio X. Absolute classic, and probably the best funk metal song of all time if you ask me. Calling this whole album 'funk metal' is a bit of a stretch however. Tracks like 'I Want to Know', 'Open Letter (To a Landlord)' and 'Funny Vibe' are excellent, but they're more like hard rock songs with funk playing techniques, from the bass-lines to Reid's staccato, palm-muted chords and leads. 'I Want to Know' even sounds a little poppy, but it sure is catchy. 'Broken Hearts' is maybe the least funk-driven track on here, and is pretty much a pop rock ballad. The album does still have it's heavier moments though. 'Middle Man' is extremely infectious funk metal, and 'Desperate People' - an anti-drug anthem - has some killer riffage going for it. 

I must stress that the 'funk metal' label confuses me when discussing Vivid. Only 'Cult of Personality', 'Middle Man', 'Desperate People' and 'Which Way to America' really come anywhere near metal. That doesn't mean the whole album is weaker because of this, but it's definitely misrepresentation if somebody groups it with, say, the funkier Suicidal Tendencies records. While the good tracks on here are really, bloody good, Vivid hasn't aged all that well. Like I said at the beginning of this review, in a way, it sounds dated by default. Songs like 'Glamour Boys' and 'What's Your Favourite Color?' ('colour' spelt INCORRECTLY this time for some reason) really do sound like products of the 80's both musically and thanks to the extremely reverby production job; whether or not that's a good thing is up to you. Overall this is an enjoyable album from an extremely talented band that still kill it live to this day. However, 'Cult of Personality' is the best track on here, and it pretty much overshadows everything else - it isn't really a good summation of what this record actually sounds like as a whole - thus, I do find the album to be a bit overrated even if the majority of it is still very good.
Adam's rating: 8/10

NEIL YOUNG

Reviewed:
- Harvest (1972)

- Freedom (1989)
- Ragged Glory (1990)

- Weld (1991, live album)

- Sleeps with Angels (1994)

- Mirror Ball (1995)


HARVEST          1972          (Reprise)

- Standouts: 'Out on the Weekend', 'Harvest', 'A Man Needs a Maid', 'Are You Ready for the Country?', 'Old Man', 'There's a World', 'Alabama'

I've always been aware of who Neil Young is, but it really wasn't until the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown that I really bothered to actively seek out his albums and actually listen to his stuff properly. Of course, he has a lot of stuff, and he's sank his teeth into several different genres over his expansive career - from folk rock and country to hard rock and even grunge. I guess we can agree that the earlier portion of his career was mostly folk/country rock-driven songs and records. I mean, he was in Buffalo Springfield before he went solo after all. 72's Harvest is very much a largely acoustic set of folk/country driven singer-songwriter tracks, and a very good one at that. I will say that I did already know 'Old Man' and 'Heart of Gold' before I added Harvest to my beloved collection, and what a timeless classics they are. 'Old Man' is a very personal song for Neil, as it's about an elderly caretaker for the Broken Arrow Ranch in Northern California, which Young had purchased in 1970. The majority of this record is full of extremely heartfelt songs and at times, rather beautiful melodies (see 'A Man Needs a Maid'). But there's also some really good hooks in most of the tracks - 'Old Man' goes without saying, but the bare-bones 'Heart of Gold' and the catchy country/blues rock of 'Are You Ready for the Country?' are extremely memorable too. 'There's a World' even features strings and kinda sounds like the start of an epic prog rock song. It isn't an epic prog rock song of course, just a very pretty and over-dramatic, 3 minute folk song. I always thought Neil had an almost mediocre voice in terms of his actual singing range, but he sang with such passion that it doesn't matter. This is certainly true when you hear, well, almost any of the tracks on Harvest. It's all about having heart and soul in your performances.

I'm still new to Neil Young. I've listened to many of his albums on Spotify now and bought a handful of CD's/vinyl too, but like I said, I've really only began properly listening to him recently. Harvest is an album that I find hard to fault in terms of what it actually is, and what it's trying to be. I don't think there's any major flaws to be found, yet it I wouldn't say it's one of my favourite's of the one's I've actually heard so far in his discography. Albums like Freedom and Ragged Glory for example, really struck me hard, and clicked with me instantly, whilst this didn't quite have the same effect. That said, I'm still giving Harvest a 9 because it really excels at what it sets out to achieve.

Adam's rating: 9/10

FREEDOM          1989          (Reprise)
Standouts: Basically everything; I mean, 'Someday' and 'Too Far Gone' have their issues, sure, but they're still good.
I'll admit it took me a while to discover Neil Young. I knew who he was ever since I was a kid (my dad and my uncle always liked him after all), and I knew a handful of his songs, but I didn't actively seek out any of his records until quite recently, probably because I assumed that most of the stuff he recorded sounded like the folk rock of a song like 'Heart of Gold', and folky stuff never hit the spot for me until I entered adulthood. But anyway, I eventually ended up with Freedom, 'cos I've liked 'Rockin' in the Free World' for as long as I can remember. This album was something of a comeback for Neil; most of his 80's works weren't particularly well received, but this album revitalised his career and actually made him relevant again - and for good reason. He gained a lot of new and younger rock fans around this time thanks to tours with Sonic Youth and Social Distortion, and it's no secret that Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder credit Young as a major influence. In short, Neil's a musical legend.

But anyway, the album begins with 'Rockin' in the Free World', and ends with 'Rockin' in the Free World'! The live acoustic version starts the album, and it's a powerful singer-songwriter, folky, heartland number. The concluding version of the song is an electric, hard rocking rendition. I love both versions, but I guess I'm a little biased towards the hard rock version; I think Neil gets his point across a little better on it, but either way, they're both iconic in their own right. 'Crime in the City (Sixty to Zero Pt. 1)' is a very lengthy acoustic number complete with 5 verses about the decay of an American city. I'll be honest - this track blew me away. It's one of the first songs in ages that really feels genuine - sure, the lyrics aren't structured in a conventional, flowing way, but Neil sings them with genuine heart and soul. It really gives me the feels, and that's saying something - if you can achieve that through your music, then you truly are an artist. I actually think 'Crime in the City' is one of the most underrated songs of all time. This masterpiece is followed up by 'Don't Cry', which is very much a plugged-in affair driven by a killer bass-line. It's on this song that Neil goes all-out on guitar towards the end of the song with an extremely distorted and heavy, almost-improv garage rock guitar part that is pure grunge. I don't want to call it a guitar solo, because it isn't melodic at all, but damn does it hit you hard. And he uses this same technique on other tracks on the album too.

'Hangin' On a Limb' is really quite a pretty song, with Linda Ronstadt providing backing vocals for the folky acoustic playing. True, Neil's never had a great singing voice per say (especially when compared to Ronstadt), but he performs with so much charisma and heart that it doesn't matter. There's another longer track with 'Eldorado', which has a kind of a fitting Mexican-tinge to it in terms of percussion. Eventually it builds up to another one of those hard-hitting, distorted guitar parts, and again, it works perfectly. 'The Ways of Love' again features Linda Ronstadt backing up Neil's vocals, and the track is still folky, but a bit more 'folk rock' this time 'round. The ballad 'Someday' gives me Bruce Springsteen vibes, mostly because of the piano lines and the sax solo reminiscent of Clarence Clemons. I like this track but I don't think Neil quite has the pipes for it to be honest. It's still a decent track, but only just. 'On Broadway' however, is awesome. Neil plugs his guitar back in, and the track has that sloppy, heavy grunge about it once again. 'Wrecking Ball' is another ballad, driven by pianos. This one is probably a little stronger than 'Someday' mainly because it fits Neil's vocal style a bit better, and the fact he doesn't sound like he's trying to steal Bruce's E-Street Band. 'No More' is built around a memorable and catchy hook/melody, and is typical Neil Young. Lyrically it's about drug addiction, which makes sense. The final track (well, apart from 'Rockin' in the Free World') is 'Too Far Gone' - which is fine and perfectly listenable - it even has a slight country edge to it - but it's kinda short compared to the rest of the album.

The last thing worth mentioning is the production. I don't know what the general consensus is regarding this record's overall sound, but to me it's absolutely spot-on. I have the album on vinyl, and I'm listening to it right now on Spotify and it sounds fucking amazing. You can hear every instrument clearly. The acoustic 'Rockin' in the Free World' is live of course, but the whole album sounds like it's being performed live to me, and it really just makes the whole listening experience that much more 'real'. There's something about the fact Neil does sometimes sing out of key that really has a huge impact on me.

Freedom had the potential to be an almost perfect record. Almost. 'Someday' and 'Too Far Gone' are good tracks, but they are noticeably weaker than the rest of the songs. However, this is one of only a handful of albums that actually feel some kind of strong connection to when I listen to it. I realise this probably sounds corny as fuck, but seriously, this is rock in it's purest form.
Adam's rating: 9.4/10

RAGGED GLORY          1990          (Warner Bros.)
- Standouts: Everything.
Neil Young teams up with the Crazy Horse band once again, ditches any of his acoustic traits and the result is Ragged Glory, a record which is very much raw and dirty garage rock from start to finish - garage rock done properly. Many of the tracks here are long; 'Love to Burn' and 'Love and Only Love' are both over 10 minutes long, 'Over and Over' lasts almost 8 and a half minutes while opener 'Country Home' is just over 7 minutes. A lot of the tracks on this album will take multiple listens to digest properly - there isn't a huge amount to differentiate them musically. 'Farmer John' (originally a Don and Dewey song from the late 50's) is sleazy as hell, and 'White Line' sort of has this country rhythm going for it, but for the most part it really sounds as if a lot of these tracks were written quickly and in a way that so that the band would have an excuse to just jam through them. This probably sounds like a negative on the surface of things, but it's really not. It totally gives the album a 'live' and direct feel - almost as if you're listening to a concert. The songs are mostly lengthy as I said, but that's the whole point - this is a band jamming through good, simple, mostly in-your-face, rough rock tunes. The music is dirty, distorted, Neil sings out of tune at times, the riffs are massive and overall the record is just awesome. The style of the album makes it hard to pinpoint standouts, but if I had too, I'd say 'Farmer John' is one of my favourites because it's actually sort of catchy despite how slow and sleazy it is. 'Love to Burn' rules too and has a really grungy feel to it. I love the main vocal hook in 'Country Home' as well, and 'Fuckin' Up' has the best hook of them all - "why do I keep FUCKIN' up?!" - but really I enjoy this album from start to finish. I get lost in it, because it really does feel like you're there with the band. It doesn't feel rehearsed, and that's part of what gives it it's strengths if ya know what I mean. I'm not surprised Neil played such a big role in influencing the 90's grunge scene.

Ragged Glory is generally considered one of Neil's better albums in his discography, and I totally agree with this, HOWEVER, that doesn't mean everyone will enjoy it. A lot of his material is very acoustic and singer-songwriterish - this is not. It's not an album I can listen to all the time. It's just Neil and a band rockin' out. For that reason, I don't think the album's for everybody. In terms of what it actually sets out to do however, it is one of the best albums in it's style for sure.
Adam's rating: 9.3/10

WELD          1991         (Warner Bros.)

Wow. Just wow. Neil in the early 90's was a rock n' roll monster. I understand why the really old-school fans would consider albums such as After the Gold Rush and Harvest Moon etc. to be his finest works, but for me, 90's Neil reigns supreme. Weld is two discs of sloppy, live, raw, feedback-drenched Young-Crazy Horse brilliance; pure electric fuckin' rock n' roll! Awesome guitar tones throughout! It's easy to see why he made such an impact on the grunge scene with records like this one. 'Crime in the City' from Freedom is one of my favourites - Weld's version (much like the whole album) is very much a plugged-in affair and it transforms an excellent singer-songwriter acoustic number into a loud and loose, rockin' political statement! The stretched-out, sloppy, distorted Bob Dylan cover of 'Blowin' in the Wind' sounds out of place on paper, but it gets the crowd singing along and fits into the set just fine. Of course, the massively influential 'Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)' from Rust Never Sleeps is also a highlight. A 'lotta Ragged Glory tracks on here too, which is understandable given that they'd just made that record at the time. Good thing, because songs like 'Fuckin' Up' and 'Love to Burn' are staples of Neil's career in the 90's, and totally appropriate for the grungy state of rock music was in at the time. Predictably, 'Rockin' in the Free World' - which has been lengthened to more than eight minutes here - is another one of my favourite tracks this live album has to offer.

Not much else to say really. Giving Weld a 10/10 seems a little too kind, but it's really not that far off being perfect as a live album either. You could even argue that some versions of the Ragged Glory tracks here are the definitive ones, depending on just how raw you like things of course. You know, if somebody came up to me and asked me for some pure, bare-bones, real ROCK recommendations, I'd probably tell them to check this out, along with albums like the Stooges' Raw Power, MC5's Kick Out the Jams and Montrose's debut...

Adam's rating: 9.7/10

SLEEPS WITH ANGELS          1994          (Reprise)

- Standouts: 'My Heart', 'Driveby', 'Sleeps with Angels', 'Change Your Mind', 'Blue Eden', 'Safeway Cart', 'Trans Am', 'Piece of Crap'

Another album with Crazy Horse, and another that's generally considered one of Neil's best with said band. Unlike Ragged Glory, Sleeps with Angels is a bit more diverse and not entirely garage rock-focussed. Neil has always been full of surprises after all. 'My Heart' is a brief, pretty little opener driven by pianos. 'Prime of Life' is a droning rock song with a touch of flute to accompany the band (the only Neil Young song to feature any flute playing, apparently). 'Driveby' is a very slow and kind of sombre track. Nice background music though. In fact, the generally darker nature and tone of this record makes sense. Kurt Cobain had killed himself not long prior to the release of this album, and he'd even quoted Neil Young's 'My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)' ("It's better to burn out than to fade away") in his suicide note. The act directly affected Neil, and he wrote the resulting title track from this album, 'Sleeps with Angels', in response. The title track itself is an appropriately grungy, feedback-drenched number. Come to think of it, Kurt's death may explain the mood for this entire record.

To me, 'Western Hero' sounds like a typical, solid, folky Neil number. Could have fit on many of his albums quite easily if I say so myself. 'Change Your Mind' is a bloody long, fourteen minute-plus, brooding epic. Probably my favourite of all these tracks, actually. I also like the plodding, almost bluesy and droning jams of 'Blue Eden'. 'Safeway Cart' is extremely moody and foreboding, with Neil's vocals only being marginally louder than a whispering tone. Things don't get much more upbeat with 'Trans Am' either, another sombre number. Things do pick up on the stupidly-titled 'Piece of Crap' though, which is an up-tempo, sleazy rocker that has more in common with the songs from Ragged Glory! Love it! The album's finishing piece, 'A Dream That Can Last' is a ballady kind of closer - I quite like it, but it isn't a standout for me either.

I must admit, as much as I like this album - and I really do - it isn't one I pull out all that often. I've seen some people stick this right at the top of the Young/Crazy Horse output, but I still like Ragged Glory best in that category. Every track on Sleeps with Angels is very good, but I just don't ever listen to any of them individually. I suppose that's due to the darker tone of the album, but either way, it's difficult to really pick faults with any of them. It's the kind of record that I have to be sat at home, and listen to in full to properly enjoy. Not that that's a bad thing though - if you've got things to be doing at home, this is a perfect album to play in the background. 

Adam's rating: 8.8/10

MIRROR BALL          1995           (Epic)

- Standouts: 'Song X', 'Act of Love', 'I'm the Ocean', 'Big Green Country', 'Downtown', 'Peace and Love', 'Throw Your Hatred Down', 'Scenery'

Even though Mirror Ball actually consists of Neil playing and performing songs with Pearl Jam as his backing band (don't expect much singing from Eddie Vedder, except on 'Peace and Love' and some backing vocals here and there), musically it sounds extremely similar to Ragged Glory with Crazy Horse. And this is a good thing, a) because Neil's made many great albums with Crazy Horse, and Ragged Glory in particular is incredible anyway, b) because it really showcases Neil's songwriting trademark when he goes down the harder, garage rock/grungy kinda sound and c) because I'm not really much of a Pearl Jam fan anyway - I have Vs. and Ten in my collection, and while I do like Vs., neither of these records really made me want to go out and buy more of Pearl Jam's stuff. Mirror Ball, to me sounds like Pearl Jam were following orders from Neil for the most part.

The overall performances are a little tighter than the deliberate sloppiness of some of the Crazy Horse material, but as I said, you'd have to be some kind of super fan to figure out that this album was recorded with Pearl Jam if someone just played it to you with zero context. And the songs are bloody good! 'Song X' kinda took a few listens for me to really enjoy, but I do love it now. It sort of has a traditional, almost nautical kind of vibe in the vocal melodies that you have to hear for yourself to see what I mean. 'Act of Love' is very 90's alternative rock/grunge, but this is good again, because Neil is really suited to that style. I think the lengthy 'I'm the Ocean', with it's repetitive song structure is extremely powerful stuff. It's the kind of song that is deserving of a repetitive structure because it's just so damn infectious. 'Downtown' is quite upbeat, and lyrically it's pretty stupid, but it definitely has a very improvised, live kind of feel to it, and this is something Neil is very good at pulling off. It's fun!

'Throw Your Hatred Down' is faster too, and is really great. It takes the Ragged Glory formula, improves on the musicianship and adds a touch of alternative rock to the mix, and the result is one of the best tracks on the album. The album ends on a short and brief ballad, 'Fallen Angel', but this is really just a little outro to the long and drawn-out 'Scenery', which again has a very personal and 'live' feel to it. Like they just came up with it on the spot, in the recording studio. Really I think every track on here is at solid at the very least. Most are great to downright excellent - especially 'I'm the Ocean' and 'Scenery'.

Another great album then. Even if you aren't into Pearl Jam, the way these songs are performed makes it feel like another album with Crazy Horse. While I still think Ragged Glory is a stronger album, the slightly more 'cleaned up' sound on Mirror Ball may actually appeal to some listeners even more. Either way, I highly recommend it.

Adam's rating: 9/10

STURGILL SIMPSON

Reviewed:
- A Sailors Guide to Earth (2016)
- Sound & Fury (2019)


A SAILOR'S GUIDE TO EARTH          2016         (Atlantic)
- Standouts: 'Breakers Roar', 'Keep It Between the Lines', 'Sea Stories', 'In Bloom', 'Brace for Impact (Live a Little), 'Call to Arms'
This album won the Grammy for Best Country Album in 2017 - we all know that Grammy awards mean jackshit in reality, but I was listening to a lot of Hank 3 and Johnny Cash last year and decided to check out some recent, recommended country artists. Obviously Sturgill Simpson came up a lot and A Sailor's Guide to Earth was the album that seemed to get the most light. When I listened to it for the first time I was surprised the album was even nominated for that award - not because of the quality of the music - but because it isn't really a fully-blown country album in my mind. Well, actually, I'm NOT surprised it won the Grammy's country award because this is the same organisation that thinks Jethro Tull are a heavy metal band. Nonetheless, A Sailor's Guide to Earth wasn't really what I was expecting.

Sturgill's 2 albums prior to this one are a lot more country in the traditional sense, though I didn't know that at the time seeing as I heard them afterwards, but A Sailor's Guide to Earth uses country as a foundation, and mixes genres such as rock and soul into the formula. Tracks like 'Welcome to Earth (Pollywog)' and 'Keep It Between the Lines' have a definite soul, even Motown-influenced sound, taking full advantage of saxophones and trombones. 'Brace for Impact (Live a Little)' is pretty much a straight-up rock song, and a very solid one. The upbeat 'Call to Arms' is more country-rock than anything else, but it also has a kind of bluesy, rockabilly touch as well. I dunno, but 'Breakers Roar' actually sounds quite folky to me as well. There are a couple more outlaw country-esque numbers on here, sure; one of the highlights is the cover of Nirvana's 'In Bloom' - which has been unplugged for the most part and starts off very moody before escalating to use of brass instruments. 'Sea Stories' and 'Oh Sarah' fit more comfortably in the realm of country too. Simpson's voice is very country too, on all the tracks here.

This isn't an especially long album, lasting around 39 minutes in total, but every song is solid, my favourites being 'Keep It Between the Lines', 'Sea Stories', the Nirvana cover, 'Brace for Impact (Live a Little)' and 'Call to Arms'. It's just a very well written, performed and produced record that mixes country, rock and soul together quite seamlessly. It doesn't sound like Sturgill was necessarily trying to be country on here, even if that's where his roots lie. The music is varied enough for fans of other genres to be able to enjoy it. It's the kind of album I'll listen to when cleaning my house.
Adam's rating: 8.3/10


SOUND & FURY          2019          (Elektra)
- Standouts: 'Sing Along', 'Make Art Not Friends', 'Best Clockmaker on Mars', 'Last Man Standing', 'Fastest Horse in Town'
I bought a new turntable in February this year. I had a very old one for a long time, but it's been in storage for years and the stylus is broken. This year I finally decided "I'm going to start collecting vinyl LP's, instead of just buying the odd one here and there on occasion" and I felt like buying something relatively new. Sturgill Simpson's Sound & Fury just stood out for me, not only because I bought A Sailor's Guide to Earth last year and was impressed with it overall, but also because the artwork is kickass, and album covers are a big part of the pleasure of owning vinyl records for me. 

Having listened to this thing a handful of times at this point, it's clear that Sturgill's not afraid to experiment. Any of his country music heritage has been almost completely abandoned here and what we have is a fully-blown rock album with some retro, boogie and synth influences thrown in for good measure. The tracks don't fade out, they simply cut out and shift into the next regardless of how they sound. 'Remember to Breathe' for example, has a very stretched-out, 'big' sounding scope but is immediately followed up by the boogie rock of 'Sing Along'. 'All Said and Done' is a mellow, spacey psychedelic jam that then cuts into 'Last Man Standing', which is an uptempo hard rock n' roll song that almost reminds me of Status Quo! As you can tell, the album is full of surprises and held my interest from start to finish. The best song on here is probably 'Make Art Not Friends', which is an extremely powerful ballad that actually uses 80's style synths to it's strengths. There's some other really cool psychedelic rock moments on here too, with 'Best Clockmaker on Mars' and the distorted 'Fastest Horse in Town'. Simpson himself has adjust his voice a little more to suit the music on the record, although I can still hear a slight country twang in his voice, but this isn't a bad thing.

I enjoyed Sound & Fury the first time I heard it, although it isn't directly comparable to his previous albums. I'd say A Sailor's Guide to Earth is probably a better-crafted record on the whole. I do think some of the tracks here go a little overboard with the synths at times, but for the most part they work and give the album more identity. I wouldn't complain if Simpson himself went down another entirely new stylistic path for his next LP - I reckon he could pull of a hard rock album quite well if 'Last Man Standing' is anything to go by. Oh, there was also Netflix anime created to go with the music to this album, but I haven't watched it as I'm really not a fan of anime in any way, shape or form. Just thought it was worth mentioning.
Adam's rating: 8/10

STEPPENWOLF

PAGE UPDATED IN 2025

Reviewed:
- Steppenwolf (1968)
- The Second (1968)
- At Your Birthday Party (1969)

- Early Steppenwolf (1969, live album)

- Monster (1969)

- Steppenwolf Live (1970, live album)

- Steppenwolf 7 (1970)

- For Ladies Only (1971)

- Slow Flux (1974)

- Hour of the Wolf (1975)

- Skullduggery (1976)

- John Kay & Steppenwolf: Rise & Shine (1990)
- John Kay & Steppenwolf: Live in London (2006, live album)


STEPPENWOLF         1968          (MCA Records)
- Standouts: 'Sookie, Sookie', 'Everybody's Next One', 'Hoochie Coochie Man', 'Born to Be Wild', 'Desperation', 'The Pusher', 'The Ostrich', 'A Girl I Knew'
I guess 9 out of 10 people were introduced to Steppenwolf through 'Born to Be Wild', which is a pretty iconic and important song in rock history - and the film Easy Rider brought it to an even wider audience. I heard it way back in my early high school years when I was really discovering rock music. The cool kids were listening to Franz Ferdinand and Kasabian, who were new bands and topping the charts back then (heh, remember when rock bands used to top the charts...what the hell happened?), but I wasn't a cool kid. 'Ace of Spades', 'Number of the Beast', 'Back in Black', 'Paranoid', 'Panama' etc., were my jams as a 13 year old kid at that time, and 'Born to Be Wild' of course. The track was recorded in 1968, and still kicks ass to this day. Some cite it as one of the first heavy metal songs ever, and for '68 it is bloody heavy in all fairness. It's the ultimate biker anthem, and it has that supercharged heavy blues sound in it's riffs. Hell, it even has the lyric "heavy metal thunder" in there - the first known recorded use of the term 'heavy metal', even if John Kay is actually singing about bikes and not music.

Ironically, as much as I loved that track all those years ago, I didn't actually buy the album - the band's debut - until I was a fully-grown man. If you've heard 'Born to Be Wild' and you haven't heard anything else by Steppenwolf, it may surprise you to find out that the rest of the album doesn't really sound much like 'Born to Be Wild'. What you have is a dirty, bluesy acid rock album that isn't quite as driving or hard-hitting as the aforementioned song. This didn't come as a surprise to me because I already knew other Steppenwolf songs like 'Magic Carpet Ride' and 'The Pusher' prior, but if I'd heard this album as a 13 year old, fuckin' A it would've surprised me. And I probably wouldn't have liked it as much either.

That said, this is still a damn good psychedelic rock album. The thing that separates it from the seriously LSD-influenced psychedelia of bands like The Doors, Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead is that it is slightly harder-edged, and John Kay definitely had quite a harsh, raspy voice. The guitars are heavily distorted (for a 60's album at least), and the riffs are prominent on harder rocking tracks like 'Everybody's Next One', 'Berry Rides Again', 'Sookie Sookie' and 'The Ostrich'. Some of this album is just pure sleaze too, though. The drug-fuelled 'The Pusher' is one of the sleaziest songs I've ever heard. 'Your Wall's Too High' and 'Hoochie Coochie Man' (actually a Willy Dixon cover) follow in similar fashion. Really about 50% of the album is hard rocking psychedelia and 40% is just sleazy acid rock. The remaining 10 or so percent is 'Desperation' and 'A Girl I Knew' - a couple of tracks that are kind of sleazy acid... ballads? Great stuff, either way.

I guess I really just wanted to emphasise that 'Born to Be Wild' doesn't really represent Steppenwolf as a band or the Steppenwolf album. If you're purely a metalhead and don't listen to much else, you probably won't enjoy this record because even if it is kinda heavy for the 60's, only 'Born to Be Wild' can be labelled proto-metal. That said, I think the album as a whole is still awesome. None of these tracks are sketchy - basically everything on here is a classic, particularly 'The Pusher', 'Sookie Sookie', 'Desperation' and 'Born to Be Wild'. All brilliant tracks.

Adam's rating: 8.8/10

THE SECOND          1968          (MCA Records)
- Standouts: 'Faster Than the Speed of Life', 'Tighten Up Your Wig', 'None of Your Doing', 'Spiritual Fantasy', 'Don't Step on the Grass, Sam', 'Magic Carpet Ride', '28'
Following on just months after the self-titled debut, Steppenwolf return with their second album, erm, The Second!! I first started this page in 2020 and at that time I actually gave this one a higher score than the debut. Hearing it again for the first time in a while (it's now 2025 as I type this), I'm not so sure I can agree with my old review. I listened to both albums back-to-back just the other day and I was definitely jammin' harder to the first record. In fact, I was gonna update my original review of the debut, but I actually still agree with my 8.8 rating and think the review itself manages to hold up to my current standard of quality (well, only just). Same can't be said for my old review of The Second.

If you can't already tell, I don't think this is a 9/10 album anymore. But hey, I still reckon it's pretty darn great! And it's certainly a respectable follow-up to that first record. It's also responsible for spawning one of the band's biggest hits, 'Magic Carpet Ride'. This is almost a perfect song in my books. The hooks are tremendous, from the simple 3-chord guitar riff, John Kay's vocal arrangements and the typically-'60s backing organ tones. It's just a fantastically-written rock tune. What stops it being perfect for me is the lengthy acid rock jam in the middle of the song. It must take up roughly 50% of the song's playtime! There is a single version of the song which lasts just under 3 minutes, and cuts a lot of the psychedelic jam down, and as a result is better for it structurally. The problem with this version however, is the fact John recorded his vocals differently on it - and they just don't sound right to me!! So really, what I'd like is the music to the single version of 'Magic Carpet Ride' with the vocals of the album version!! Whatever, it's a fantastic song either way - just not absolutely perfect!

It kicks off with the Jerry Edmonton-fronted uptempo rocker 'Faster Than the Speed of Life'. Primitive by today's standard, sure, but heavy for 1968! Edmonton is underrated as a vocalist too; John Kay sings the majority of Steppenwolf material, but Jerry's higher vocal octave is a nice contrast to John's gravelly pipes. 'Tighten Up Your Wig' is a stupidly entertaining blues ditty while 'None of Your Doing' is something of a rock ballad. It has organ-driven softer passages as well as a big, powerful chorus. A fine track indeed. Meanwhile, 'Spiritual Fantasy' is a strings-based baroque pop ballad with a touch of the bands trademark '60s psychedelia... sort of reminds me of Between the Buttons-era Rolling Stones? Is that a realistic comparison?! Either way, I like it!

My second favourite track behind 'Magic Carpet Ride' would have to be 'Don't Step on the Grass, Sam'. It almost feels like a sequel to 'The Pusher' with it's incredibly sleazy acid rock vibe, and I'd honestly say I like it as much too. The lyrics are nonsensical to me and the song is total stoner worship, but is only better for it!! To counter this number is the more focused and catchy pop rocker '28', again fronted by Edmonton. 'Disappointment Number (Unknown)' returns to a sleazy blues sound.

The album dips a little in quality with the last 4 tracks - 'Lost and Found by Trial and Error', 'Hodge, Podge, Strained Through a Leslie' (whatever the fuck that means) and 'Resurrection' are effectively 1 lengthy song split into 3 separate parts. While the whole package certainly isn't terrible, the song's groove simply isn't enjoyable enough to warrant lasting this long. I really dig John's vocals, but the instrumental section ('Hodge, Podge...') is completely unnecessary in my books. Ahh well. The final track, 'Reflections' is a 43 second throwaway outro. I have nothing else to say about it!

An 8.5 is definitely a more realistic score for this album. Most of the songs are of the same quality as the debut and follow a similar formula, but the last 8 or so minutes brings things down a notch. Otherwise this is another great album that serves a fine companion to it's predecessor.

Adam's rating: 8.5/10

Original review:

How do you follow-up a solid debut album? You write more songs in similar fashion and simply call  it 'The Second'! Actually, I'd say this album improves on the debut, even if the improvements are only subtle. The band still takes advantage of that heavy, sleazy psychedelic rock sound they cemented on the debut, but the hooks in this follow-up are just better overall; the album is just more memorable. While none of the tracks here are as powerful as 'Born to Be Wild' the album in it's entirety is superior, in my opinion. You've got the rockers on here like 'Faster Than the Speed of Life' and '28'. You've got the warmer, balladish numbers like 'None Of Your Doing' and 'Spiritual Fantasy', the sleazy, heavy jams of 'Don't Step On the Grass, Sam' and 'Disappointment Number (Unknown)'. There's a bit of blues on here too - 'Tighten Up Your Wig' and 'Lost and Found By Trial and Error' sort of give me a John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers kind of vibe. And then you've got the hit, 'Magic Carpet Ride' - which, while not quite the powerhouse 'Born to Be Wild' was, is still one of their best and coolest songs, period. It's catchy as hell! I love the psychedelic jam in the middle, I just don't like how the songs goes back into the main hook for the last 20 seconds and fades out - it just seems so sudden and deserves to go on longer!

The album loses steam a little towards the end, but this whole record is strong from start to finish. I like it more than the debut - I think 'Magic Carpet Ride' has the potential to be a perfect song with some structural changes and 'Don't Step On the Grass, Sam' is one of my favourite sleazy acid rock songs ever. The Second is an underrated work for sure, a hell of a 60's rock LP.
Adam's rating: 9/10


AT YOUR BIRTHDAY PARTY           1969          (ABC Dunhill)
- Standouts: 'Don't Cry', 'Chicken Wolf', 'Lovely Meter', 'Jupiter Child', 'Rock Me'

If the band weren't taking copious amounts of class A drugs at this point, then I question what the hell was going through their heads when they recorded this third album! Don't get me wrong, when were they ever not an acid rock band? They always were! But like I said in my old review below, At Your Birthday Party can be a pretty weird album when it wants to be. Even the hard rocking opener 'Don't Cry' has this bizarre spoken word part in it! Still a cool song though. The mish-mash of blues and funk on 'Chicken Wolf' is insanely catchy, and a definite highlight for me. Again, kinda weird, but in a good way! Acoustic ballad 'Lovely Meter' has that psychedelic poppy, baroque feel about it - much like 'Spiritual Fantasy' from the last album. It's really good, again! And choosing Jerry Edmonton's to front it was definitely the right choice. His smoother vocals are definitely more suited to this sort of thing over John's smoker's voice!

'Round and Down' is a very unorthodox tune - it seems to blend honky tonk country with acid rock, and vocally even has a comedic touch about it. It's fun! Probably even more fun when on drugs! 'It's Never Too Late' is far more conventional by comparison. A decent rock ballad - not one of their best, but definitely solid. I also think 'Jupiter Child' is prime Steppenwolf. It's one of the rockiest cuts on the album and sounds like classic 'Wolf if you ask me. Weaker than 'Jupiter Child' is 'She'll Be Better', but I still like this one overall. It's a bit of a plodding ballad overall, but nice enough if I'm in the right mood. Better than that is tip-top rocker, erm, 'Rock Me'! Well, it certainly rocks me! The riff and structure reminds me a little of 'Magic Carpet Ride', sure, but that's such a good song anyway that any comparisons to it can only be a good thing - especially coming from the same band! Probably the best track on the album. As for 'God Fearing Man', it's kind of a smooth rock number. Good, but not great. Take it for what it is.

There's some iffy moments to be found here and there, sadly. 'Sleeping Dreaming' is a completely pointless piece of 1 minute nonsense. It serves no meaningful purpose on this album, other than to provide some sort of outro to side 1 (if you own the vinyl LP of the album anyway). 'Cat Killer' is a pointlessly short ragtime-style instrumental. The actual playing on it is good, just unfitting on this album. As for 'Mango Juice' however, this one's also an instrumental, only it's straight-up bad unlike 'Cat Killer'. Just a bunch of random percussion and notes that leads into the album's closer, 'Happy Birthday'. And to be honest, this is a disappointing way to end the record. I like John's vocals, but the strange gospel backing vox don't mesh well with the Steppenwolf sound to my ears. Meh.

A good album all in all. Slightly better than I thought it was when I reviewed it back in 2020, because I think there's a small handful of genuine classics here (i.e. 'Jupiter Child', 'Rock Me' and possibly 'Lovely Meter'). There's also a decent number of legitimately good tracks too, but undeniable filler like 'Mango Juice' and 'Sleeping Dreaming' don't do it any favours, and overall the album just isn't as consistent as either of the first 2. I still like the album enough to easily recommend it, but calling it essential is a stretch. I have this one on CD and vinyl. My CD copy comes bundled with their 1970 album, Steppenwolf 7.

Adam's rating: 7.4/10

Original review:
Things have gotten a little weirder at this point. They were always kinda psychedelic, but they knew how to rock hard too as well as write good hooks. At Your Birthday Party has more experimentation going on this time, and it shows from the get-go with 'Don't Cry' - a song that sort of feels like a slightly more twisted and drugged-up version of 'Faster Than the Speed of Life' from The Second. I'll bet LSD played no part in the writing of this track! The main blues structure of 'Chicken Wolf' is catchy but to say this track wasn't influenced by drugs is certainly a lie. The acoustic-driven 'Lovely Meter' manages to be both sweet and trippy at the same time. 'Round and Down' almost has an country quality to it, albeit a psychedelic country vibe. 'It's Never Too Late' is the first track on here that isn't particularly trippy and is more-or-less a straight-up rock ballad. The same can be said for the hard rockin' goodness of 'Jupiter's Child' and 'Rock Me'. I think 'She'll Be Better' is quite a nice and laid back ballad too. 'God Fearing Man' is a solid blues track. I can't say I'm much of a fan of the album's conclusion, 'Happy Birthday'; it's a ballad that John Kay apparently must've felt female gospel backing vocals were necessary - they really don't work well together with his harsher rock voice. The music's not bad, and John himself sounds fine, but those gospel vox just don't work. There's also a stupid instrumental called 'Mango Juice' to sit through before 'Happy Birthday'.

This is not a consistent record. Most of the songs are solid, some as good as any of the tracks from the first couple of albums, but the flow is all over the place. It's quite clear that the band were taking a lot more drugs at this point, if that doesn't explain the fact At Your Birthday Party doesn't know what kind of record it wants to be, then I don't know what could have been going through the band members' heads. That said, I really don't think the album is 'bad'. Weird for sure, and it's certainly not as good as the first 2, but the only track that is genuinely lacklustre is 'Mango Juice'. I give it a 7/10 - it's worth checking out if you liked the previous efforts.
Adam's rating: 7.2/10


EARLY STEPPENWOLF          1969          (ABC Dunhill)

Despite what the title suggests, this CD is actually a live album of surprisingly well-recorded songs from 1967 when the band went by the name 'The Sparrow', before they changed it to Steppenwolf. They were effectively a straight-up rough blues band at that point. Of course, blues has always played a big part in Steppenwolf's music, but they also embraced hard rock, psychedelia and other styles too later on down the line. For what it's worth however, I actually like this disc a fair bit. 2 of these songs are covers - 'Howlin for My Darlin'' and 'I'm Going Upstairs' are songs originally by Willie Dixon/Howlin' Wolf and John Lee Hooker. Basically every white guy blues-based band was covering songs by Dixon, Wolf, Muddy Waters etc., but for good reason. The originals, 'Power Play' and 'Corrina, Corrina' blend nicely with the covers. That's how bluesy they are! In addition to those tracks, there's also early versions of 'Tighten Up Your Wig' and 'The Pusher'. These would obviously appear on the first 2 Steppenwolf albums, and while 'Tighten Up Your Wig' remains fairly similar here overall (if played at a faster tempo with more blues focus), 'The Pusher' has been stretched out to over 21 minutes long! It takes an age to get going however, and feels massively improvised. Still kinda cool though!

Not essential listening by any means, but fans will definitely get a kick out of this. As I said, most of this disc is just straight-up blues - not one of my favourite genres by any means, but at the same time a style that's rarely ever nasty to my ears. It's good! It also came bundled with my copy of 1971's For Ladies Only. A few of my Steppenwolf discs are presented this way (At Your Birthday Party and Steppenwolf 7, Early Steppenwolf and For Ladies Only, Skullduggery and Reborn to Be Wild). I tend to avoid these kind of 2-in-1 album packages as I like having all the individual jewel cases, but since Steppenwolf aren't one of my absolute favourite bands and it ended up being far cheaper to get hold of their full discography this way, I can live with it.

Adam's rating: 7/10

MONSTER          1969          (MCA Records)

- Standouts: 'Monster/Suicide/America', 'Powerplay', 'Move Over', 'What Would You Do (If I Did That to You)', 'From Here to There Eventually'

This album was panned by critics back in the day (according to Wikipedia at least), but I'm not entirely sure why. Sounds like Steppenwolf to me, plain and simple. It kicks off with a lengthy 9 minute song, which has been split into 3 parts - 'Monster/Suicide/America'. Unlike the whole 'Lost and Found'/'Hodge, Podge'/'Resurrection' malarkey from The Second album, they handle it far better this time. Putting 'Monster', 'Suicide' and 'America' into 1 track was a better idea for starters. It helps that each segment of this track is really cool too of course. I particularly like the 'Suicide' bit; it's very riffy and certainly worthy of the proto-metal label. Heavy for 1969 indeed! But really the whole thing is enjoyable from start to finish, and the whole song flows together very organically. It's like they threw in all their signature moves into one song. Prime Steppenwolf for sure... it's tracks like this that made me a fan of this band in the first place.

That opening epic-length number is undoubtedly the star of Monster then, so what about the rest of the songs then? Well, 'Draft Resistor' is a blues-tinged psychedelic cut that is typical of this band. But it's a good'un! Nothing too special, but decent at least. 'Powerplay' is still kinda bluesy in structure too, but has a bit more melody overall and makes me feel good... the kind of song I can just stick on in the background at a social gathering or when I'm cleaning the house etc.. Good stuff! 'Move Over' has a cool groove and again, is the kind of rock I can just chill out to. On the other hand, 'Fag' is an incredibly sloppy and druggy instrumental, so if techy bands like Dream Theater are your jams then you probably aren't gonna dig this (or Steppenwolf in general for that matter)! Not a groundbreaking instrumental by any stretch of the imagination, but it does slot in between the rest of the songs rather nicely. The last couple of songs are also kinda nice as well. 'What Would You Do (If I Did That to You)' is one of the more energetic and catchy numbers here, with vocals from Jerry Edmonton as well as some nice usage of female backing vocals. Melodic album closer 'From Here to There Eventually' also makes use of female backing vox and yeah... I like it!

This one's a few notches stronger than At Your Birthday Party in my opinion. The songs feel slightly more refined here and a bit less weird and experimental than what was on the predecessor. It's also a shorter record than any of the first 3 at just over half an hour, as opposed to the usual 40 minute length (give or take), but I like pretty much every track here so I'm cool with it. If anything, it just makes the album more streamlined.

My main criticism with this album is the fact that the only real absolute classic track here is the lengthy opener. The rest of the album is simply just good to very good, but not great. But hey, consistency is a good thing and despite Monster lyrically being the most political Steppenwolf album (supposedly), the music itself gives me positive vibes and never leaves me feeling cold by the end of it's playtime. No, it makes me feel happy and for that reason alone it deserves a respectable rating! It's maybe the most generic Steppenwolf album of the '60s, but in this case that's no bad thing! If you didn't enjoy any of the previous albums, you're not gonna enjoy this one either. But if '60s stoner music does tick your boxes, then check this one out!

Adam's rating: 7.8/10

STEPPENWOLF LIVE          1970          (MCA Records)

A live album (if you hadn't already guessed from the title) of songs which, according to Wikipedia were recorded live in Santa Monica in 1970. The booklet of my CD copy simply states "Recorded live at various concerts during 1970", so it's difficult to pinpoint exactly where each and every song here was recorded! And then there's the fact 'Corina, Corina', 'Twisted' and 'Hey Lawdy Mama' were really recorded in the studio but made to sound as if they were placed in concert, to fit in with the rest of the tracks! All that matters though, is the quality of the music - and they certainly deliver the goods here. This is a highly enjoyable platter and a nice way to summarise the band's earlier, prime years.

All the major hits - 'Born to Be Wild', 'The Pusher' and 'Magic Carpet Ride' are all here as you'd expect (in fact, they're all played one after the other at the very end of the album) , and all of them sound awesome live. Especially 'The Pusher' - I mean, I can only imagine how much drug usage was going around at a Steppenwolf gig in 1970, and this is like the anthem to accommodate it! The added studio songs are nice too - 'Twisted' is a bouncy yet sleazy blues number that is Steppenwolf in every sense of the word. It reminds me a bit of their rendition of 'Forty Days and Forty Nights' from the following Steppenwolf 7 album, but I'm getting ahead of myself. 'Corina, Corina' is a bit more mellow but a nice way to keep the music varied and fresh (and it was also a song written during their days as The Sparrow). And then 'Hey, Lawdy Mama' is another tip-top rocker very much in the same vein as any of the rockers you'd find on any of their first 4 studio albums! So it's very good then. Other highlights for me are the first 4 tracks -'Sookie, Sookie', 'Don't Step on the Grass, Sam', 'Tighten Up Your Wig' and the lengthy 'Monster'... along with the obvious hits at the end of the album, the studio versions of these 4 tracks are equally fantastic songs that are among my all-time favourite Steppenwolf cuts. So hearing them in live perspective is always gonna be a plus for me. Generally speaking, the songs are played relatively similar to their studio counterparts, but with enough energy to differentiate them too. In studio or live, this is just a great set of songs. 

I can't put this alongside my absolute favourite live albums of all time. It's certainly not Made in Japan, Strangers in the Night, Live After Death or Unleashed in the East - that just wouldn't be a fair comparison. But Steppenwolf Live is easily strong enough to qualify as a classic live rock album from the '70s in my world. If you're only looking to pick up Steppenwolf's essentials, then this is certainly among them. I have it on CD, but vinyl copies seem to sell cheaper.

Adam's rating: 8.4/10

STEPPENWOLF 7          1970          (ABC Dunhill)

- Standouts: 'Ball Crusher', 'Forty Days and Forty Nights', 'Fat Jack', 'Renegade', 'Foggy Mental Breakdown', 'Snowblind Friend', 'Who Needs Ya'

This album is dubbed 'Steppenwolf 7' because it's Steppenwolf's fifth album. Well, alright, including the two live releases they had out at the time, it's technically their seventh record, but I tend to stick live albums in their own category within a discography. I can only assume most other people do the same thing. Yeah, let's just assume that. Anyway, from what I can tell, this album was the start of a decline for Steppenwolf in terms of sales. It didn't perform as well in the charts as previous records, and I guess that's down to the whole nature of acid rock being in decline. Steppenwolf 7 was released in November of 1970, and we already had three Led Zeppelin albums at this point, as well as Black Sabbath's self-titled debut and Paranoid, plus Deep Purple's In Rock. 

The nature of rock was getting harder and slightly less blues-based at this point, but thankfully I still like 7 for what it is. A lot, actually. As far as Steppenwolf albums go, it does pretty much what you'd want it to do. Well, it does for me at least. It kicks off with 'Ball Crusher', which is a heavy, almost funky kind of rocker that is both catchy and kinda groovy too. It's pretty awesome actually, and with a title like 'Ball Crusher', how can it not be good?! 'Forty Days and Forty Nights' is a sleazy twelve-bar blues rock piece that is unmistakeably Steppenwolf in, well, sleazy twelve-bar blues rock mode I guess! Erm, it's actually a Muddy Waters song originally, but we'll gloss over that! Great stuff either way. I also like 'Fat Jack' a lot; this track is a much more conventional blues rocker with less of the druggy-tinged vibes of the previous two songs. This band were always good at both - they could bring you heavy psychedelic jams (e.g. 'The Pusher'), but they could also rock you in the more straightforward sense (e.g. 'Born to Be Wild').

'Renegade' is another solid cut. This track has some nice acoustic work, as well as it's fair share of cool plugged-in lead guitar work. The band go off in a jam during the middle of the song, while the vocal parts continue the trend of the catchy psychedelic rock they do so well. And ya know what? 'Foggy Mental Breakdown' is also a very strong number. A bluesier tune with less of the psychedelic touches, and it's catchy, full of decent guitar work and vocal arrangements, and even a nice harmonica solo that gives me Bob Dylan/Neil Young vibes. There's even a tuneful ballad to be had in 'Snowblind Friend', which is then followed up with 'Who Needs Ya', which is an enjoyable, straightforward hard rock romp that keeps the pacing of the album interesting. Sadly, the album takes a slight downturn with 'Earschplittenloudenboomer' (jeez, typing that out wasn't fun), which is kind of a pointless instrumental that features horns... not terrible, just silly and a bit out-of-place next to the rest of the songs. Thankfully, the album's closer 'Hippo Stomp' is a decent enough, easy-listening blues rock cut. Maybe not quite as strong as the other tracks - save for that weird instrumental that is - but it does the job.

From my own experiences, most people only seem to talk about the band's '60s output and forget about Steppenwolf's '70s output and beyond. Shame really, because Steppenwolf 7 is a highly underrated gem from 1970, and in my opinion a stronger effort than either At Your Birthday Party or Monster. It's not gonna completely blow you away any time soon, but it does almost everything I want a Steppenwolf album to do - and it does it very well, largely. The production is also noticeably better than what you heard with any of their '60s records, and in general I just think this disc is well worth your time if you liked other stuff such as the debut and The Second. Thumbs-up.

Adam's rating: 8.3/10

FOR LADIES ONLY          1971          (ABC Dunhill)

- Standouts: 'For Ladies Only', 'Shackles and Chains', 'The Night Time's For You', 'Jaded Strumpet', 'Sparkle Eyes', 'Ride With Me'

Supposedly a concept album about feminism, yet the inner gatefold photo features the band on the Hollywood Walk of Fame stood in front of a giant knob-shaped car. Not entirely sure what message they were trying to convey here! Naturally, some critics accused them of sexism with For Ladies Only, although from what I can gather a lot of the songs are actually pro-feminist?! Maybe they were trolling everyone. Can we just talk about the music now?! 

Well, the opening title track is a 9 minute proggy number, similar to 'Monster/Suicide/America' from the Monster album. It's one of those songs that, despite it's long length, seems to fly by for me. It's really good! The chorus hook is very sing-songy and the entire song just flows along naturally. Definitely classic Steppenwolf in every sense of the word. 'I'm Asking' is a solid pop rocker with lots of sheen, 'Shackles and Chains' is a nice and bluesy, sleazy bar kinda tune and 'Tenderness' is a decent enough ballad with some pretty melodies. 'The Night Time's For You' is a hard rockin' slice of the 'Wolf while 'Jaded Strumpet' is as equally muscular, but with a hint of funk-like groove. That's 6 good-to-great tracks in a row.

The album doesn't dip by the time 'Sparkle Eyes' comes 'round either. This is another enjoyable poppy rock ditty. 'Ride With Me' was released as a single, and despite the guitar chord sequence sounding dangerously similar to 'The Pusher', this one is still a standout for me. It's just Steppenwolf sounding like Steppenwolf, doing what Steppenwolf does!! Maybe the only obvious oddity on this record is the almost jazz-inspired instrumental 'Black Pit'. It's a bit of strange addition to the tracklisting, but given some of the weird shit we heard on At Your Birthday Party, maybe it's not so weird after all. 'In Hopes of a Garden' is far too short, but a pleasant enough chilled-out cut while it lasts.

I'll stick this one on par with Steppenwolf 7. It's another really strong record overall, but I can't decide which one I like more. I think the songs are maybe a little more varied musically here, and the band switch up vocalists more regularly throughout too. Either way, this was the last great Steppenwolf album in my honest opinion. There's more to come (including some good ones), but I think For Ladies Only is the last one I really label as a classic. Like it's predecessor, I think it's fair to say this album's underrated as well.

Adam's rating: 8.3/10

SLOW FLUX          1974          (Columbia)

- Standouts: 'Gang War Blues', 'Children of Night', 'Jeraboah', 'Morning Blue', 'Fishin' in the Dark'

After a brief breakup in 1972 and an equally brief John Kay solo career, Steppenwolf reunited in 1974 and put out this record, Slow Flux. Interestingly OG rock n' roll artist Eddie Cochran's nephew, Bobby Cochran was in the band for their '70s reunion era as a guitarist.

Anyhow, this album starts off really well - 'Gang War Blues' is top-quality Steppenwolf, a rough n' raw blues rocker with Kay sounding like he's just eaten a pack of dry Jacob's crackers, like he should. 'Children of Night' too, is cool as hell. It takes a stab at Richard Nixon lyrically while musically it's full of nice bluesy guitar chops as well as melody. Very good! 'Justice Don't Be Slow' admittedly isn't as strong as the first couple of tracks, but I still enjoy it's mellower tempo and atmosphere, and it even has a slight hint of psychedelia about it. So it does hearken back to the '60s in some ways for sure. 'Get Into the Wind' is a more energetic boogie rocker, and again, I like it. I don't have much to say about it, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy it! Same can be said for the thumpin' mid-tempo jams of 'Jeraboah'. It's just good '70s hard rock, and the lengthy outro is cool too.

The added horns on 'Straight Shootin' Woman' rub me the wrong way ever-so-slightly, but I do enjoy the foot-tappin' rhythm as well as the guitar playing on this song, so I'll still say it's a decent track. Just not necessarily a standout for me. 'Morning Blue' even has a hint of country about it, and it's a nice and floaty kind of ballad overall. It might even be one of my favourites from this disc. Meanwhile, 'A Fool's Fantasy' has an almost disco-like aura going for it (!!)... I think it's a combination of the bassline and the keyboards that brings me to this conclusion. But I like the vocal hooks and the guitar solo is smokin', so I can dig it! The sleazy blues number 'Fishin' in the Dark' is a strong conclusion to what is another underrated record.

I don't really have a long list of points to rant about here, but I will say that 'Smokey Factory Blues' is a filler track that I almost immediately forget how it goes once it's over. It sounds like Steppenwolf, yes,  but it has no real standout qualities. And sadly, like a lot of their albums, there's no absolute anthems to be found here. 'Magic Carpet Ride' and 'Born to Be Wild' are songs that I will always rock out to and never tire of (yep, even 'Born to Be Wild'... some songs are overplayed and so is this one, yet I still haven't tired of it all these years later!!), but Slow Flux doesn't have any tracks like this. It has plenty of songs I really like, but none that I love. So giving this an 8/10 would just be too generous, frankly. But of course, consistency like this also has it's positives - the album is good from start to finish, and even if 'Smokey Factory Blues' is forgettable, it's certainly not horrible. 

Spoiler alert - out of the 3 reunion albums they made in the '70s, this one's the best in my humble opinion. Maybe it's a little unambitious and generic musically, but it sounds the way I'd want a Steppenwolf album to sound - yes, it's not as trippy hippie-sounding as some of the '60s works, but it still retains all the key ingredients I like about this band in the first place. I won't say it's one of their best records in general, but if I had to pick a 'wild card' album in their discography (i.e. an album well worth checking out that isn't one of their obvious classics), then Slow Flux is probably it. Hmm... maybe not actually. Steppenwolf 7 is the better choice in that regard! Whatever! Slow Flux is certainly a good'un whichever way you look at it!

One thing that's just occurred to me is the fact I've barely - if at all - talked about production on any of these CDs. Erm, I guess Steppenwolf's discography is difficult to pick holes in this sense! Slow Flux is no different. It sounds like a '70s rock album sonically, and I love that organic sound of the decade.

Adam's rating: 7.6/10

HOUR OF THE WOLF          1975          (Columbia)

- Standouts: 'Two for the Love of One', 'Just for Tonight', 'Someone Told a Lie'

Hour of the Wolf was the second album the band would release after reuniting in 1974. Although I do like a lot of the material they put out in the '70s, I'm a little on the fence with this album's opening track, 'Caroline (Are You Ready for the Outlaw World?)'. The guitars sound like Steppenwolf, sure, but the horn sections are questionable. I'm reminded more of Springsteen than Steppenwolf at times! Catchy and upbeat and not really a bad tune either, just not what I was expecting on first listen. I could throw the ol' "It's a bad Steppenwolf song, but a good song in general" label on it, but I think I'm guilty of doing this too often. If it's a good song in general, then surely it's still a good Steppenwolf song, right?! It doesn't have to sound like all their other stuff to be good! Before I start a long and boring ramble about this subject, the next track, 'Annie, Annie Over' is kind of a sleazy jazz cut. I like the keyboards on it, but again, it's not atypical of Steppenwolf. But I still sorta like it all the same! It's listenable, just not representative of what this band are generally known for doing. 'Two for the Love of One' however, certainly is much more in tune with the classic Steppenwolf sound. A dirty bar rocker, no more, no less. Not very psychedelic, but the '60s were well and truly over at this point anyway.

'Just for Tonight' is a strong ballad. It appears to have female backing vocals on it, which work really well for some of the vocal passages. Despite sounding like Steppenwolf, there's a definite country rock vibe to this one, but it only works in the song's favour. You're getting another fun rocker in 'Hard Rock Road' (if the title didn't give this away) - the added horns are a bit of a turn off if I'm in the wrong mood, but this track is decent enough for the most part. 'Someone Told a Lie' too, is upbeat if a bit more muscular - so I like it. The acoustic-led ballad 'Another's Lifetime' is pleasant enough, but could've maybe served better as a John Kay solo number. Decent, but not especially memorable. The last track, 'Mr. Penny Pincher' has all these '70s keyboard synths on it, which I'm generally okay with because at least this tune still has some power behind it. I guess I'd call it a ballad, but it's certainly a rock ballad because it's far more vast and dramatic in sound compared to the acoustic ballad 'Another's Lifetime'.

This album very nearly qualifies as genuinely 'good' in my books, but some of the little touches of experimentation throughout the songs make it just a 'pretty good' CD instead. While the experimentation in question is okay overall, it's not always what I really want out of a Steppenwolf record. It sits within the 6/10 realm for me... no flat-out 'bad' tracks to speak of, everything is listenable and I do somewhat like it for the most part - but no classics to found here, and certainly not a go-to Steppenwolf album either. One for fans and completists like myself. 

Adam's rating: 6.3/10

SKULLDUGGERY         1976          (Arcadia)

- Standouts: 'Skullduggery', '(I'm a) Road Runner', 'Rock n' Roll Song'

1976's Skullduggery was the final Steppenwolf studio album they put out - well, under the name Steppenwolf anyway. Later albums would be released under the 'John Kay & Steppenwolf' moniker, and to be honest, by the time Skullduggery dropped in 1976 the band had already suffered multiple breakups and reunions. The album never charted and they never even toured to promote it either. Despite the obvious issues and declining success the band enduring around this time, amazingly all this crap didn't seem to directly affect the quality of the music on this CD. I wasn't expecting much from this one considering it was released during their wilderness years, but I think it's actually rather good overall! The songs have plenty of energy going for them, and the music is surprisingly tight for the most part. Not really psychedelic by this point (the '60s had long since passed), but the tracks definitely sound like the product of Steppenwolf alright. Both the opening title track and '(I'm a) Road Runner' are fun, upbeat rockers while 'Rock n' Roll Song' is a strong '70s rock ballad. It doesn't exactly rock or roll like the title suggests, but it's a nice enough ballad for sure! The tracks 'Train of Thought', 'Life Is a Gamble' and 'Sleep' too, are easy listening classic rock cuts I can just put on in the background and chillout to. They don't blow me away or anything like that, they're just decently-penned and performed numbers that I don't ever feel the urge to skip, so I must like 'em!

The worst song here in my opinion, is probably 'Pass It On'. It's not really a bad tune under it's own steam, but it has an oddly soulful feel about it that clashes with the rest of the album. Decent enough by itself, but definitely a bit of an oddball generally speaking. I could say the same for 'Lip Service', which is a strangely funk-based instrumental, but I actually kinda like that one. And like a lot of their post-'60s releases, the songs in general, while certainly good, don't qualify as classics. The production and musicianship (particularly the keyboard/organ playing from Wayne Cook) is solid from start to finish, and I never get tired of John Kay's gravelly vocals. Like I said, there's nothing on here I feel like skipping, but equally there aren't any real 'bangers to speak of either. 

I ain't got much else to say about this disc. It's Steppenwolf in the mid-'70s, so even though it's not quite the same beast as their earliest works, it clings on to most of their key ingredients whilst moving on with the times. Really, it's exactly how I expected it to sound. Another good, if inessential album. Stronger than Hour of the Wolf, because the music is a bit more Steppenwolf-y overall. 

My CD copy also comes with the compilation Reborn to Be Wild, which was released in 1976. I was originally going to include this as a seperate review but all it is, is a 10-track collection of songs from Slow Flux, Hour of the Wolf and Skullduggery. That's literally all I can say about it!!

Adam's rating: 7/10

JOHN KAY & STEPPENWOLF - RISE & SHINE          1990          (IRS)

- Standouts: 'Let's Do It All', 'Time Out', 'Rise and Shine', 'The Daily Blues'

I'm not exactly going out of my way to pick up all the post-Steppenwolf breakup releases, i.e. when John Kay rebranded them in 1980 as 'John Kay & Steppenwolf'. I've got all the major Steppenwolf releases in my collection, but I think these spinoff ones are something I'm gonna accumulate over time. 1990's Rise & Shine was the final album John Kay would release under this moniker, and I managed to bag my copy in an eBay auction for just £2.99 - I'll take that!

Musically this album has something of an AOR sheen about it. The songs are much more focused and structured than any of the drug-fuelled acid blues of early Steppenwolf, and the old-school organ has been replaced with a shiny new keyboard sound. In some ways, this album's aged worse than some of their older records - but the good news is I like listening to a bit of AOR/melodic rock from time to time, and I quite enjoyed this CD. The first handful of tracks, 'Let's Do It All', 'Time Out', 'Do or Die' and the title track are mostly fun little tunes. The guitars are still full of blues rock-like bite and chops as you'd expect from Steppenwolf, but the poppy keyboards give the songs that typical '80s arena rock texture you get from other bands such as FM, Night Ranger and whoever else. Like I said, it's a very distinctive sound that hasn't aged all that well, but if this kind of thing is your jams then you're probably gonna dig this one.

'The Wall' celebrates the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and I guess is a personal statement from John himself, originally being born in Germany. It's not really a ballad like I assumed it would be, just a lengthier AOR number inline with everything else on this album. 'The Daily Blues' and 'Keep Rockin'' are incredibly upbeat pop rockers while 'Rock n' Roll War' is a 7 minute slice of melodic rock with some tuneful guitar soloing. I don't really have a lot to say about any of these songs to be honest, but they're consistent throughout. Same can be said for the last 2 tracks, 'Sign On the Line' and 'We Like It, We Love It'. The latter is kinda cheesy lyrically, but not necessarily in a bad way.

Go into this disc expecting vintage Steppenwolf and you're gonna be disappointed. But I can get behind it - I treat Steppenwolf and John Kay & Steppenwolf as 2 different entities. I get that John was always the leading figure of both bands, but I can understand why he was trying to stay relevant by making an album like this one in 1990. And as I said, I think it's a decent effort for what it sets out to do. The songs can be a bit samey overall, but they're solid from start to finish. It's just a good record overall. Not great by any stretch of the imagination, but worth checking out if you like that '80s/early '90s arena rock sound mixed with John's trademark gravelly vocals. I think when a classic rock band does this sort of thing, I'm more accepting of it than when a metal band attempts the same route. Steppenwolf always had a poppy rock number or 2 on pretty all their albums prior... but when a heavy metal band like Saxon went down the same rabbit hole with 1988's Destiny, it just leaves a sourer taste in my mouth!

Adam's rating: 7/10

JOHN KAY & STEPPENWOLF - LIVE IN LONDON          2006         (Rainman)
This CD popped up on eBay when I was trying to find a vinyl copy of Steppenwolf's The Second - it was only £3.99 with free postage, so I gave it a shot. At first I was a bit confused by the album cover - it reads 'John Kay & Steppenwolf', instead of just 'Steppenwolf', but after a bit of research I found out that the band had split up after 1976's Skullduggery and were having legal disputes over the name until about 1980. From 1976-1980, there was a supposedly 'unprofessional' revival act dubbed 'New Steppenwolf' that featured former members Goldy McJohn and Nick St.Nicholas. John Kay was not part of this particular band and eventually ended up suing them. In 1980 Kay formed an official Steppenwolf lineup and went under the name 'John Kay & Steppenwolf' right up until 2018.

The CD was recorded in 1980 at the Lyceum Ballroom in London, and while you do get performances of Steppenwolf classics like 'Born to Be Wild', 'Magic Carpet Ride', 'The Pusher' and 'Sookie Sookie', a lot of the setlist here consists of the new songs Kay wrote around this period. Which is fair enough really, since the band performing was brand new at the time, even if they were technically the 'official' incarnation of Steppenwolf. Some of the songs would eventually end up on the Wolftracks album in 1982. Tracks like 'Give Me the News' and 'Ain't Nothing Like It Used to Be' kind of sound like classic Steppenwolf with some funk thrown in, and it sounds a little odd at first when thrown in among the oldies, but they're still good songs. In terms of the actual performance, it's solid and entertaining for the most part. Kay still has that raspy, rough charm, and the band play turbo-charged versions of 'Born to Be Wild' and 'Magic Carpet Ride'. The mixing and production is very good for a live album, the bass sounding very good in particular. It's a fun live album overall, although I suppose I could've done with a few more 60's numbers in the setlist. Still, I'm glad I picked this one up.

Edit: I picked this disc up and reviewed it way before I got hold of Rise & Shine, reviewed above. So if you're wondering why I gave an explanation here about the differences between Steppenwolf and John Kay & Steppenwolf, that's why.
Adam's rating: 7.5/10