''Steppenwolf Live'' is primarily a collection of recordings from a single concert early in 1970 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium by Steppenwolf staged in support of their 1969 album ''

Monster A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...

''. Released in April 1970 by

Dunhill Records Dunhill Records was started in 1964 by Lou Adler, Jay Lasker, Pierre Cossette and Bobby Roberts as Dunhill Productions to release the music of Johnny Rivers on Imperial Records. It became a record label the following year and was distributed b ...

, it contains Steppenwolf's well-known hits: "Born to Be Wild", "Magic Carpet Ride" and "The Pusher", as well as most of the songs from ''Monster'', including three previous top 40 hits, as well as the top 40 hit "Hey Lawdy Mama" from this album. Steppenwolf USA chart history Billboard.com. Retrieved January 18, 2013.

Background

The song "Hey Lawdy Mama" was recorded in the studio, but edited in a manner to segue directly into "Magic Carpet Ride", thus retaining the album's "live" feel. On original LP copies of ''Steppenwolf Live'', "Hey Lawdy Mama" and "Magic Carpet Ride" are banded together as a single track, with a total running time of 7:13. A differently edited version of "Hey Lawdy Mama", incorporating a fade-out instead of the segue, was released as a single. The songs "Twisted" and "Corrina, Corrina" are also studio versions which were EQ'd and given some

delay effect Delay is an audio signal processing technique that records an input signal to a storage medium and then plays it back after a period of time. When the delayed playback is electronic mixer, mixed with the live audio, it creates an echo-like effec ...

s to match the actual live recordings and overdubbed with audience sounds at the beginning and ending of the songs. The studio cuts were added by the record company (Dunhill) against the band's wishes to give the album enough tracks to qualify as a double album. "Hey Lawdy Mama" was covered by the Minutemen on

Project Mersh ''Project: Mersh'' is the final extended play, or EP release from the American punk rock trio Minutemen. It is their penultimate release, before D. Boon's death later that year in an auto accident. Background The cover art is a painting by D. ...

Track listing

;Side one #"Sookie, Sookie" (

Don Covay Donald James Randolph (March 24, 1936 – January 31, 2015), better known by the stage name Don Covay, was an American R&B, rock and roll, and soul singer-songwriter most active from the 1950s to the 1970s. His most successful recordings incl ...

Steve Cropper Steven Lee Cropper (born October 21, 1941), sometimes known as "The Colonel", is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, which backed artists such as Ot ...

) – 3:09 #"Don't Step on the Grass, Sam" ( John Kay) – 6:01 #"Tighten Up Your Wig" (Kay) – 4:23 (the music is practically identical to

Messin' with the Kid "Messin' with the Kid" is a rhythm and blues-influenced blues song originally recorded by Junior Wells in 1960. Chief Records owner/songwriter/producer Mel London is credited as the songwriter. Considered a blues standard, it is Junior Wells's b ...

, recorded by

Junior Wells Junior Wells (born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr., December 9, 1934January 15, 1998) was an American singer, harmonica player, and recording artist. He is best known for his signature song "Messin' with the Kid" and his 1965 album ''Hoodoo Man Blues'' ...

) ;Side two #"Monster" (Kay,

Jerry Edmonton Gerald Michael Edmonton (born Gerald McCrohan, October 24, 1946 – November 28, 1993) was a Canadian-American musician who was the drummer, and secondary lead vocalist for the rock band Steppenwolf. Early life and career Edmonton was born in O ...

Larry Byrom Steppenwolf was an American-Canadian rock band that was prominent from 1968 to 1972. The group was formed in late 1967 in Los Angeles by lead singer John Kay, keyboardist Goldy McJohn, and drummer Jerry Edmonton, all formerly of the Canadian b ...

Nick St. Nicholas Nick St. Nicholas (born Klaus Karl Kassbaum on September 28, 1943) is a German bandleader, bass guitarist, singer and songwriter; best known for his partnership in Steppenwolf. Early life He was born in Plön, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany ...

) – 9:56 #"Draft Resister" (Kay,

Goldy McJohn John Raymond Goadsby (May 2, 1945 – August 1, 2017), known as Goldy McJohn, was a Canadian keyboard player best known as the original keyboardist for rock group Steppenwolf. Originally a classically trained pianist, he was a pioneer in the ...

, Byrom) – 3:46 #"Power Play" (Kay) – 5:41 ;Side three #" Corina, Corina" (

Mitchell Parish Mitchell Parish (born Michael Hyman Pashelinsky; July 10, 1900 – March 31, 1993) was an American lyricist, notably as a writer of songs for stage and screen. Biography Parish was born to a Jewish family in Lithuania, Russian Empire in July 190 ...

J. Mayo Williams Jay Mayo "Ink" Williams (September 25, 1894 – January 2, 1980) was a pioneering African-American producer of recorded blues music. Some historians have claimed that Ink Williams earned his nickname by his ability to get the signatures of t ...

, B. Chatman) – 4:09 (Studio recording) #"Twisted" (Kay) – 5:02 (Studio recording) #"From Here to There Eventually" (Kay, McJohn, Edmonton) – 6:40 ;Side four #"Hey Lawdy Mama" (Kay, Byrom, Edmonton) – 2:59 (Studio recording) #" Magic Carpet Ride" (Kay,

Rushton Moreve Rushton Moreve (born John Rushton Morey; November 6, 1948 – July 1, 1981) was an American bass guitarist best known for his work with the rock band Steppenwolf from 1967–68 and again in 1978. According to singer John Kay, he was an in ...

) – 4:06 #"

The Pusher "The Pusher" is a rock song written by Hoyt Axton, made popular by the 1969 movie ''Easy Rider'' which used Steppenwolf's version to accompany the opening scenes showing drug trafficking. The lyrics of the song distinguish between a ''dealer' ...

" (

Hoyt Axton Hoyt Wayne Axton (March 25, 1938 – October 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He became prominent in the early 1960s, establishing himself on the West Coast as a folk singer with an earthy style and powerful voic ...

) – 6:02 #"

Born to Be Wild "Born to Be Wild" is a song written by Mars Bonfire and first performed by the band Steppenwolf. The song is often invoked in both popular and counter culture to denote a biker appearance or attitude. It is most notably featured in the 1969 fi ...

" (

Mars Bonfire Dennis Edmonton (born Dennis Eugene McCrohan; 21 April 1943), also known by the stage name Mars Bonfire, is a Canadian rock musician and songwriter, best known for writing the hit song "Born to Be Wild" for Steppenwolf. Career Born Dennis Euge ...

) – 5:43

Personnel

Steppenwolf

* John Kay –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

– guitar *

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

–

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, backing vocals *

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Technical

* Gabriel Mekler – producer * Ray Thompson –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

* Tom Gundelfinger –

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

, design

Charts

References

Albums produced by Gabriel Mekler 1970 live albums Steppenwolf (band) live albums MCA Records live albums ABC Records live albums Dunhill Records live albums {{1970s-rock-album-stub