Their first, self-titled album arrived in January 1968, to considerable success. The band originally started life under the distinctly more feeble name of The Sparrows (Coyote isn’t sounding so bad now, huh?), before rebranding themselves as Steppenwolf in late 1967. Taken from the Hermann Hesse novel (which gains ‘hip points’ right off the bat), and conjuring up images of stalking menace, it is in fact merely the German word for the Prairie Wolf, or Coyote – and Coyote as a band name really wouldn’t have the same ring to it, would it? Still, I digress. It also must be added that Steppenwolf is such an indisputably, downright cool band name that expectations are raised from the off. So, try to stop that riff and the words ‘Get your motor runnin’…’) out of your head, where they have undoubtedly now taken up residence, and let’s take a carpet ride through the years between 19, after which the original band first split up…
Song magic carpet ride full#
No, this isn’t a box full of eight classics, but there is much more excellent material here than you might think. And as is normally the case, that’s a grave disservice, as this bumper eight disc set amply illustrates.
While we aren’t on quite the level of Iron Butterfly with In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida here, Born To Be Wild isn’t going to rub shoulders with any more than maybe Magic Carpet Ride and The Pusher in the public consciousness. With a few of these vintage bands which have had their output collected together in recent times, there can be a tendency for the immediate reaction from the man in the street to be ‘Oh yes, the guys who did…’ (insert obvious hit here). Don’t go in expecting seven discs of Born To Be Wild riffery and ‘heavy metal thunder’, as that is somewhat misleading – but open your ears to some prime turn-of-the-’70s hard rock and this will indeed be a magic carpet ride.
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