Steppenwolf Live

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. Released in April 1970 by Dunhill Records, 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.[3]

Steppenwolf Live
Live album by
Steppenwolf
ReleasedApril 1970
RecordedJanuary 22, 1970
VenueSanta Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, California
Genre
Length67:37
LabelABC Dunhill
MCA
ProducerGabriel Mekler
Steppenwolf chronology
Monster
(1969)		 Steppenwolf Live
(1970)		 Steppenwolf 7
(1970)
Singles from Steppenwolf Live
  1. "Hey Lawdy Mama"
    Released: April, 1970
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Allmusic [2]

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.[2] 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 effects to match the actual live recordings and overdubbed with audience sounds at the beginning and ending of the songs.[2]

The Bag by Kustom is one of the earliest talk boxes. These devices route the guitar signal from the driver of a speaker through a plastic tube held in the player's mouth. The sound of that is picked up from a stage microphone. John Kay was one of the first professional musicians to use a talk box having done so in 1969 studio recordings.

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.

Track listing
Side one
  1. "Sookie, Sookie" (Don Covay, Steve Cropper) – 3:09
  2. "Don't Step on the Grass, Sam" (John Kay) – 6:01
  3. "Tighten Up Your Wig" (Kay) – 4:23 (the music is practically identical to Messin' with the Kid, recorded by Junior Wells)
Side two
  1. "Monster" (Kay, Jerry Edmonton, Larry Byrom, Nick St. Nicholas) – 9:56
  2. "Draft Resister" (Kay, Goldy McJohn, Byrom) – 3:46
  3. "Power Play" (Kay) – 5:41
Side three
  1. "Corina, Corina" (Mitchell Parish, J. Mayo Williams, B. Chatman) – 4:09 (Studio recording)
  2. "Twisted" (Kay) – 5:02 (Studio recording)
  3. "From Here to There Eventually" (Kay, McJohn, Edmonton) – 6:40
Side four
  1. "Hey Lawdy Mama" (Kay, Byrom, Edmonton) – 2:59 (Studio recording)
  2. "Magic Carpet Ride" (Kay, Rushton Moreve) – 4:06
  3. "The Pusher" (Hoyt Axton) – 6:02
  4. "Born to Be Wild" (Mars Bonfire) – 5:43

Personnel

Steppenwolf

Technical

Charts
Chart (1971) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[4] 16

References
  1. "Allmusic Review - Steppenwolf Live - James Chrispell". Retrieved September 3, 2017.
  2. "Allmusic Review - Steppenwolf Live - Bruce Eder". Retrieved September 3, 2017.
  3. Steppenwolf USA chart history, Billboard.com. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  4. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 293. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
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