Junk Box Jury

“Faster Than The Speed Of Life” taken from the album ‘The Second’ (Stateside SL 5003) January 1969

The impetus of a top 5 single and album has already established the new Steppenwolf set as a hot chart item. The group retains its heavy blues influence, but the boys have now taken to recording their own songs (with two exceptions) and they display a new maturity.

Sides that should soon be seeing airplay include “None Of Your Doing,” “Don’t Step On The Grass, Sam,” “28” and the country flavoured “Lost And Found By Trial And Error.” Heavy sales in store. (Cash Box, 28/09/68)

Steppenwolf The Second (ABC Dunhill DS 50037) 9/68 The group have gone from ‘underground’ to commercial in a few short months. They’re still a good group. It’s just that they sound too slick on this disc. The record should do well with this discotheque sound they have acquired — Go, 27/9/68

Musically, The Second is an extension and refinement of ideas present in the earlier effort. But it also exposes a few weaknesses. Steppenwolf plays with a remarkable sense of musical economy combined with admirable taste. Virtually everything in their arrangements fits, and fits together.

Each instrument complements the others; the music doesn’t strain against itself, but moves ever forward. And this is mostly dense, hard-driving music, largely based upon shifting tempos and the interaction of several rhythmic levels . . . There is, however, a certain lack of variety in Kay’s singing and in his songs . . . There are a few extended instrumental solos on the record, none particularly striking. Rather, Steppenwolf’s forte is in the ensemble work, functioning as a group’ — Rolling Stone, 23/11/68

Steppenwolf | The Second | Stateside)

The group is admirably tight, has an unfailing ear for the best bass and rhythm pattern for a song, and, in John Kay, has a marvellously gravel-voiced lead singer. Their material isn’t always up to the level of their talents; but then, whose is? — Jazz & Pop, December 1968

There’s very little worth saying about this. I’ve forgotten The First, and I’ll forget this. Not because it’s poor music — they do what they do well enough, better than most, probably — it’s just that they don’t do anything that’s not been done, particularly by the younger Rolling Stones.

Steppenwolf’s a mongrel band, skipping styles quite nimbly, from Chicago blues to sour Creamy blues-with-strings. The singer sounds like a passionate man, and the boys in the band never exceed themselves. They don’t make the mistakes that others make; they resist the vulgarity of, say, Iron Butterfly, but that’s only success by omission.

Steppenwolf The Second won’t make you wince, and that’s a welcome change, but it’s nothing special —Eye, January 1969

Not a let-down, as so many follow-ups are inclined to be; if it’s at all possible, the band has grown even tighter since the first album, and the production, once again, has shrewdly been kept to the barest essentials. Only on ‘Spiritual Fantasy’ do they venture into the addition of a string quartet, which is a tasteful and delicate backdrop for John Kay’s wandering classical guitar.

Steppenwolf doesn’t let us down in the swing department, either. What a marvelous percussive feel they have! Once again that thick textural sound of organ and guitar is back haunting us, drawing us into the band’s rhythmical magic . . . The climax is several songs tied together as an excursion through the blues, beginning with country slide-style guitar and tripping into the city with drums and Berry / Diddley R&B.

Steppenwolf | The Second | Stateside)

A very exciting album, proving that Steppenwolf has staying power’ —Hit Parader, April 1969

Seven months on from their biker bar-band debut, Steppenwolf tried to move with the times on their underrated second LP. The highlights are the terrific ‘Don’t Step On The Grass, Sam’, on which the band intertwine keyboards and sinewy guitar work (along with some modish anti-establishment lyrics), and the feverishly catchy ‘Magic Carpet Ride’, one of the best pop-rock hits of the era and certainly as evocative as, say, ‘White Rabbit’.

Other highlights are the psych-pop of ’28’, frantic rocker ‘Faster Than The Speed Of Life’ and the raucous R&B of ‘Tighten Up Your Wig’. The last four songs are welded together in a suite, to facilitate jamming. Highly recommended. (GH)

Steppenwolf were most certainly a product of their time. They might have sounded heavy in 1968, but the bluesy flourishes, barrelhouse piano, poppy backing vocals and sophomoric quasi-political sentiments (i.e. ‘Don’t Step On The Grass, Sam’) soften their best blows. The songs here, all self-penned, do cover a range of styles pretty well, from blues-rock to upbeat hard rock and even sappy fantasy-inspired balladry. They aren’t especially original, generally mining hip rock trends or repeating themselves, but good songs do emerge.

‘Faster Than The Speed of Life’ retains a tad of the ‘Born To Be Wild’ magic, ’28’ has a driving beat and strangely disturbing lyrics, ‘Lost And Found By Trial And Error’ has some surprising melodic and instrumental twists, and, of course, ‘Magic Carpet Ride’ has that bizarre freakout middle section that matches the similar part of ‘Whole Lotta Love’ for the oddest two minutes of music to routinely blast from radios in 1969.

They also get points for an album full of short songs that don’t wear out their welcome. A four-song medley at the end adds a bit of spunk. You’ve heard all of this before, but the songs are entertaining enough in these clothes to make this a fun album, and their best. History has not shown them to be a top-tier hard rock band (and on most songs they’re really not very ‘hard rock’ at all), but this is a more consistent listen than a lot of hard rock and blues-rock albums of its era. (AM)

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cost of record: £6
from: British Heart Foundation