''Steppenwolf 7'' is the fifth studio album by Canadian-American rock band Steppenwolf. The album was released in November 1970, by

Dunhill Records Dunhill Records was started in 1964 by Lou Adler, Jay Lasker, Pierre Cossette and Bobby Roberts as Dunhill Productions to release the music of Johnny Rivers on Imperial Records. It became a record label the following year and was distribute ...

. It is the first Steppenwolf album with new bass player George Biondo. The album’s numerical title reflects the fact that it was the band’s seventh album release for ABC/Dunhill records (including the four preceding studio LP’s, as well as two live albums). While the album featured Steppenwolf's trademark rock and roll sounds, none of the songs were able to make the top 40. The album featured a cover of

Hoyt Axton Hoyt Wayne Axton (March 25, 1938 – October 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He became prominent in the early 1960s, establishing himself on the West Coast as a folk singer with an earthy style and powerful voic ...

's "Snowblind Friend", their second cover of one of his antidrug songs (the first being "

The Pusher "The Pusher" is a rock song written by Hoyt Axton in 1963, made popular by the 1969 movie '' Easy Rider'' which used Steppenwolf's version to accompany the opening scenes showing drug trafficking. The lyrics of the song distinguish between ...

"). Along with "Who Needs Ya", it was one of two singles from the album which made the charts, but fell short of the top 40. Steppenwolf USA chart history Billboard.com. Retrieved January 18, 2013. The album track "Renegade" is autobiographical for lead vocalist John Kay, recounting his flight with his mother from the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet occupation zone in Germany ( or , ; ) was an area of Germany that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a communist area, established as a result of the Potsdam Agreement on 2 August 1945. On 7 October 1949 the German Democratic Republ ...

to the West in 1948. The intro to "Earschplittenloudenboomer" is spoken by Kay partially in German.

Critical reception

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

stated: "Laying back hasn't been good for them, and neither has getting heavy. Their way lies somewhere in between--which come to think of it is also how it is for the rest of us."

Track listing

Personnel

Steppenwolf

* John Kay –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

Larry Byrom Larry Clifton Byrom (born December 27, 1948 in Huntsville, Alabama) is an American guitarist. Byrom performed in a band called the Precious Few in the 1960s, then joined T.I.M.E.; in 1970, he joined Steppenwolf. He left Steppenwolf in 1972 and ...

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

Goldy McJohn John Raymond Goadsby (May 2, 1945 – August 1, 2017), known as Goldy McJohn, was a Canadian keyboard player best known as the original keyboardist for rock group Steppenwolf. Originally a classically trained pianist, he was a pioneer in the ...

–

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

* George Biondo –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Fat Jack" and co-lead vocals on "Foggy Mental Breakdown" and "Who Needs Ya'" *

Jerry Edmonton Gerald Michael Edmonton (born Gerald McCrohan, October 24, 1946 – November 28, 1993) was a Canadian musician who was the drummer and secondary lead vocalist for the rock band Steppenwolf. Early life and career Edmonton was born in Oshawa, ...

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Technical

Richard Podolor Richard Allen Podolor (January 7, 1936 – March 9, 2022) was an American record producer, songwriter and musician. His career started as a session musician in the 1950s, and he was best known as the producer of Three Dog Night. Life and career ...

– producer,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

* Bill Cooper – engineer * Tom Gundelfinger –

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

Gary Burden Gary Burden (May 23, 1933 – March 7, 2018) was an American artist specializing in the field of album covers. He is considered one of the pioneers of the concept of album cover art. Early life Gary Burden was born on May 23, 1933, in Cleveland, ...

–

art direction Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to super ...

, liner design,

artwork A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...

Charts

Singles

References

{{Authority control 1970 albums Steppenwolf (band) albums Albums produced by Richard Podolor Dunhill Records albums