Steppenwolf

Steppenwolf: “Magic Carpet Ride: The Dunhill/ABC Years 1967-1971” (8Cd Esoteric Recordings, 2021)

This story begins in Oshawa, Ontario, home to the Canadian division of the General Motors Company. It was here that, in 1964, bassist Nick St. Nicholas joined a local beat outfit known as Jack London and The Sparrows, with whom he would soon achieve modest success thanks to the single "If You Don't Want My Love".

In September '65 the group decided to change its name to "The Sparrows" and, after relocating to Toronto and recruiting singer/guitarist John Kay and keyboardist Goldy McJohn, chose to abandon any trace of British beat in favor of a distinctly American strain of blues-rock.

In '66 the band, now known simply as "Sparrow", decided to try its luck in the United States. After landing regular gigs at clubs in New York, it caught the attention of Columbia, who signed the group. The single "Tomorrow's Ship", however, failed to achieve the hoped-for success, and the band decided to relocate to California, first to Los Angeles, then to San Francisco. There it embraced the counterculture aesthetic of the Haight-Ashbury district and soon found itself swept up in the psychedelic rock movement. John Kay recalls that "back then we were always stoned, and so was our audience; if we felt like doing long guitar solos, we did them without anyone getting annoyed."

In the early months of '67 Sparrow shared stages with acts such as Doors and Steve Miller Band, but in June guitarist Dennis Edmonton (who would later adopt the stage name Mars Bonfire and leave an indelible mark on rock history as the songwriter behind "Born To Be Wild", among others) left the group and was replaced by the young and talented Michael Monarch. Not long after, however, disheartened by the lack of a record deal that could guarantee them financial stability, the members unanimously decided to disband. The story took an unexpected turn when John Kay discovered that a neighbor of his, Gabriel Mekler, was a producer for Abc/Dunhill Records. After listening to some Sparrow recordings, Mekler asked Kay to re-form the band and, drawing inspiration from the title of Hermann Hesse's celebrated novel "Steppenwolf" (1927), suggested the name under which they would carve out a prominent place in rock history: Steppenwolf.

John Kay (vocals, guitar and harmonica), Goldy McJohn (organ, piano), Jerry Edmonton (drums), Michael Monarch (lead guitar) and Rushton Moreve (bass) gathered at Kay's apartment to write new material and, under Mekler's guidance, headed to Los Angeles' Union Western studios to record their debut. After ten days in the studio, however, they had managed to lay down only four tracks, and the sound engineer was blamed for the setback. Disappointed, they gathered up the fragments of the new songs and took them to American Recording Studios, where, together with engineers Bill Cooper and Richie Podolor, who would accompany them throughout their entire run with Abc Dunhill, they brought "Steppenwolf" (1968) to life. The album contained at least two landmark songs: "Born To Be Wild", which reached number two on the US charts, and the raw, vivid rendition of "The Pusher", a song written years earlier by Hoyt Axton, which would go on to feature in the iconic soundtrack of the road movie "Easy Rider" (1969).

Although Gabriel Mekler is credited as the album's producer, Cooper claims that his contribution was essentially limited to securing the band a record deal, and that he was only marginally involved in the writing of some songs: it was in fact Podolor and Cooper himself who captured the band's raw, aggressive sound and emphasized the studio's natural reverb, which shaped the atmosphere of some of the most iconic tracks in their catalog.

In October '68 Steppenwolf released the solid "The Second", which featured the hit "Magic Carpet Ride", followed in March '69 by "At Your Birthday Party". The album, which moved decisively away from rock/blues in favor of a rawer, edgier sound, marked Monarch's departure from the lineup and his replacement by Nick Saint Nicholas, an old acquaintance from the Sparrow days. In July '69 "Early Steppenwolf" was released, collecting live recordings of performances given by the band - which at the time had not yet settled on its definitive name - in May '67 at the Matrix in San Francisco; particularly notable is the twenty-plus-minute version of "The Pusher", featuring a lysergic Mars Bonfire on guitar.

Meanwhile, after appearing at the Miami Pop Festival in December '68 and the Newport '69 Pop Festival in June '69, Steppenwolf turned down the organizers' invitation to play at the Woodstock festival. "Monster" (November '69) is a concept album in which Kay voices his social conscience, openly speaking out against US involvement in the Vietnam War. "Steppenwolf Live" and "Steppenwolf 7", both released in 1970, marked the end of the band's large-scale success.

The lackluster "For Ladies Only" (November '71) was the last album released with Abc Dunhill, before the official breakup came in February '72. From then on the Steppenwolf project was shelved until '74, when it was first revived. The band's lineup changed over the years, and it gradually lost the originality and grit that had made it an essential touchstone for hard-rock fans.

In late November 2021 Esoteric Recordings, an imprint of the increasingly active Cherry Red Records, released "Magic Carpet Ride - The Dunhill/Abc Years 1967-1971", an anthology box set collecting Steppenwolf's entire output for Abc Dunhill across eight compact discs. Available on Amazon at the irresistible price of €51.90, the box is a limited edition featuring a fresh and much-needed remaster, taken from the original tapes, of all the tracks contained in the eight official albums, 26 bonus tracks drawn from rare singles and mono mixes, a lavish 52-page booklet containing a valuable retrospective on the band by Malcolm Dome, a true pioneer of rock and metal music journalism who recently passed away, and, finally, a small and rather pointless poster.

Given the price and the quality of the contents, this purchase is recommended for anyone wishing to learn more about how late-Sixties rock evolved into something entirely new, one that would go on to profoundly shape the direction of popular music in the years to come.

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06/05/2026