Sealed LP: Steppenwolf: Hour of the Wolf

$

25

Steppenwolf: Hour of the Wolf

FACTORY SEALED LP

• Caroline (Are You Ready for the Outlaw World)
• AnniAnnie Over
• Two for the Love of One
• Just for Tonight
• Hard Rock Road
• Someone Told a Lie
• Another's Lifetime
• Mr. Penny Pincher

• Steppenwolf: Producer, Main Performer
• Ed Bannon: Engineer
• Lorrie Sullivan: Design, Photography
• John Kay: Guitar, Vocals
• George Biondo: Bass, Vocals
• Andrew Chapin: Keyboards
• Bobby Cochran: Guitar
• Jerry Edmonton: Drums, Art Direction
• Roy Halee: Mixing
• Tom Scott: Horn

• The second of four albums the reconstituted Steppenwolf cut for Epic, Hour of the Wolf has a very cool fog-enshrouded wolf howling on the cover, the band's name in blood red, and an interesting amalgam of contemporary sounds. Tom Scott's horns are featured on the Mars Bonfire tune "Caroline (Are You Ready for the Outlaw World)" and "Hard Rock Road," a composition byBonfire's brother, drummer Jerry Edmonton. Alan O'Day's "Annie, Annie Over" fits the Steppenwolf sound, though it comes from the unlikeliest of places -- O'Day was known more for Helen Reddy's "Angie Baby" than the sublime "Heavy Church" that Three Dog Night covered. "Heavy Church," with its heavy organ sound, would have been the track this group could have taken up the charts. A major oversight! The rhythm section of George Biondo and Jerry Edmonton come up with a dyed-in-the-wool authentic Steppenwolf number in "Two for the Love of One." The problem is that it's all been heard before, and the band is not progressing to where it should be on this 1975 release. With close to 20 minutes per side, it is a generous helping of John Kay music (recorded mostly at Kay's own facility), with guitarist Bobby Cochran teaming up with Edmonton on the semi-ballad "Just for Tonight." The material is all adequate, but where Kay was crafting an interesting direction on his Forgotten Songs & Unsung Heroes solo disc, abandoning those elements for the somewhat tried and true is this album's dilemma. When Kay does touch upon that venture slightly, as on the slide guitar and slick chorus vocals of "Another's Lifetime," it is most satisfying. Scott played saxophone on multiple Carole King albums around the time Hour of the Wolf was released, adding to her hit output; it's interesting that, two years after his recording on "Hard Rock Road" with Steppenwolf, King would go Top 30 with "Hard Rock Cafe" from her Simple Things album, which included Scott's saxophone. Had Steppenwolf paid attention to the charts and crafted 45s as the band had in the '60s, the four-album ride with Epic might have been more beneficial to the fans who loved those immortal 45s. "Mr. Penny Pincher," the last song on the album, seems to prove that just showing up is not enough in such a tough industry.

• Led by John Kay (born Joachim Krauledat, April 12, 1944), Steppenwolf's blazing biker anthem "Born to Be Wild" roared out of speakers everywhere in the fiery summer of 1968, John Kay's threatening rasp sounding a mesmerizing call to arms to the counterculture movement rapidly sprouting up nationwide. German immigrant Kay got his professional start in a bluesy Toronto band called Sparrow, recording for Columbia in 1966. After Sparrow disbanded, Kay relocated to the West Coast and formed Steppenwolf, named after the Herman Hesse novel. "Born to Be Wild," their third single on ABC-Dunhill, was immortalized on the soundtrack of Dennis Hopper's underground film classic Easy Rider. The song's reference to "heavy metal thunder" finally gave an assignable name to an emerging genre. Steppenwolf's second monster hit that year, the psychedelic "Magic Carpet Ride," and the follow-ups "Rock Me," "Move Over," and "Hey Lawdy Mama" further established the band's credibility on the hard rock circuit. By the early '70s, Steppenwolf ran out of steam and disbanded. Kay continued to record solo, as other members put together ersatz versions of the band for touring purposes. During the mid-'80s Kay re-formed his own version of Steppenwolf, grinding out his hits (and some new songs) at oldies shows. Nevertheless, they'll be remembered for generations to come for creating one of the ultimate gas'n'go rock anthems of all time.

FINE PRINT

• All pictures are of the exact item being sold.
• This record came from a record store called "Phantasmagoria" which was located in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Phantasmagoria went out of business in 1978. I purchased most of their leftover inventory some years later when I owned a new & used record store in Catasauqua called "Music Madness". Music Madness is still listed in the phone book if you want to try to contact me.
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• All uninsured and underinsured shipments are the responsibility of the buyer.
• I have started to add a $1.00 "handling fee" which is to help defray the cost of a new mailing box. This is approximately what I pay for them from BagsUnlimited. If you opt to have your record(s) shipped by Priority Mail, I will refund the dollar since the box from the Post Office is free. If you don't chose Priority Mail and you feel that the dollar is unfair, let me know so I can refund it. Upon refunding your dollar, I will package your album(s) in an "almost new" mailer which was used to send a record to me (yes, I'm a collector too).
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