Gold (2CD) [Original recording remastered]

As you can see from this release's dull artwork and naff title, on the outside, this reissue has all the imagination and aesthetic appeal of a cold hamburger on a Monday morning. It's the kind of compilation you'd probably ignore in the rack of your local music emporium. "Gold" for God's sake!! So why review it - and should you give it the time of day? Because of what's contained on the "inside".

I've had various compilations throughout the years in order to have Steppenwolf tracks in my collection - both British and American issues - and some like 'The Beat Goes On' British 2CD set of the first two albums - are excellent. But they are all rendered redundant by this fantastic 2CD anthology. The difference lies in the STUNNING RE-MASTERED SOUND engineered by ERICK LABSON. This is way better than anything else previously issued and the sheer numbers of tracks also make it seriously great value for money. LABSON is one of those great unsung heroes of CD re-issues. Working on the huge and varied Universal catalogue, he has a monumental 800+ credits to his name for Engineering, Mastering, Restoration and Digital Remastering stretching back to the early Nineties. So he knows his way around a master tape or two. His exceptional tape work is behind the following generic titled series you've probably seen across Amazon's vast store (most are from the Universal catalogue):

"20th Century Masters The Millennium Collection"
"Blues Classics Remastered & Revisited"
"Chess 50th Anniversary Collection"
"The Definitive Collection"
"Gold"
"Rock `N' Roll 50th Anniversary Edition"

His mastering/re-mastering ROCK credits include: The Who's "My Generation Deluxe Edition", Neil Diamond's "Play Me: The Complete Uni Studio Recordings", Joni Mitchell's "The Beginning Of Survival", Wishbone Ash's "Argus" and Three Dog Night's "The Complete Hit Singles" - and as anyone who owns these will know, they are all exceptional in their sound quality - and thorough in their presentation.

Back to "Gold". The set covers the first and better part of Steppenwolf's output from 1968 to 1974. For the uninitiated and prospective buyer, the albums are listed below and then after the discography, what track is from what album:

1. Steppenwolf (1968)
2. Steppenwolf The Second (1969)
3. At Your Birthday Party (1969)
4. Monster (1970)
5. Steppenwolf Live (1970)
6. Steppenwolf 7 ((1970)
7. For Ladies Only (1971)
8. Forgotten Songs & Unsung Heroes (John Kay Solo LP, 1972)
9. My Sportin' Life (John Kay Solo LP, 1973)
10. Slow Flux (1974)

DISC 1
1. Born To Be Wild (Steppenwolf)
2. Sookie Sookie (Steppenwolf)
3. Everybody's Next One (Steppenwolf)
4. Your Wall's Too High (Steppenwolf)
5. Desperation (Steppenwolf)
6. The Pusher (Steppenwolf)
7. The Ostrich (Steppenwolf)
8. Take What You Need (Steppenwolf)
9. Magic Carpet Ride (Steppenwolf The Second)
10. Don't Step On The Grass Sam (Steppenwolf The Second)
11. Tighten Up Your Wug (Steppenwolf The Second)
12. It's Never Too Late (Steppenwolf The Second)
13. Jupiter's Child (At Your Birthday Party)
14. Rock Me (At Your Birthday Party)
15. Monster: Suicide/America Medley (Monster)

DISC 2
1. Move Over (Monster)
2. Power Play (Monster)
3. Hey Lawdy Mama (1970 7" single)
4. Snow Blind Friend (Steppenwolf 7)
5. Who Needs Ya (Steppenwolf 7)
6. Renegade (Steppenwolf 7)
7. Foggy Mental Breakdown (Steppenwolf 7)
8. Hippo Stomp (Steppenwolf 7)
9. Screaming Night Hog (1970 7" single)
10. For Ladies Only (For Ladies Only)
11. Tenderness (For Ladies Only)
12. Ride With Me (For Ladies Only)
13. I'm Movin' On (John Kay solo - Forgotten Songs & Unsung Heroes)
14. My Sportin' Life (John Kay solo - My Sportin' Life)
15. Drift Away (John Kay solo - My Sportin' Life)
16. Straight Shooting Woman (Slow Flux)

Fans will note that 8 out of the 11 tracks on their Dunhill 1968 debut LP are on Disc 1, 4 from the 2nd album too and a hunk off of '7' - all great news. The sound quality is glorious. If you can't play them through Media Player, then go to the iTunes Store and click a 25 second listen to "Sookie Sookie" and "Everybody's Next One" and you'll hear what I mean - just stunning! It would be a fan's dream if Labson could get to do "extended versions" of their 1st two classic albums "Steppenwolf" and "Steppenwolf The Second" - both of which deserve to be given as much status as anything that rocked out of the late sixties. I do wish Steppenwolf weren't forever attached to 'that' song - solely - almost as if it's all they ever did!

With regard to the "Gold" series in general: each title usually consists of 2CDs, each is digitally remastered from the original tapes and each is a comprehensive anthology with many titles properly remastered for the first time anywhere. Some of the labels covered are ABC/Brunswick/Cadet/Checker/Chess/Coral/Duke/Dunhill/MCA/Mercury/Verve/Vogue - and many more besides under the Universal umbrella. They began to appear in 2004 and are on-going into 2007. There are huge numbers of artists in the series right across the musical spectrum - here's some of interest: Aerosmith, The Allman Brothers, Joan Armatrading, Louis Armstrong, Asia, Burt Bacharach & Friends, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Carpenters, Cinderella, Cream, Neil Diamond, Ella Fitzgerald, Connie Francis, Marvin Gaye, Buddy Holly, Etta James, Tom Jones, B.B. King, Kiss, Patti LaBelle, The Mamas & Papas, The Moody Blues, The Neville Brothers, Olivia Newton-John, The Oak Ridge Boys, Parliament, Poco, The Righteous Brothers, Rush, Scorpions, The Statler Brothers, Cat Stevens, Rod Stewart, Sublime, Supremes, Tears For Fears, Traffic and Whitesnake.

On the down side, because of commercial limitations and a crowded marketplace, for some artists here, the "gold" series is probably all we music lovers are going to get in terms of their work presented to us in top sound quality. The naff artwork and unimaginative presentation in general, hasn't and doesn't help. This series seems to have come out and gone away - ignored by a public awash with such titled compilations. Which is a damn shame, because the quality of the material, the huge number of tracks on each - and above all, the simply brilliant sound-quality, means that they're all languishing unloved, unnoticed and unused in digital purgatory somewhere near you.

For a few dollars/handful of pound coins, you can acquire this great Steppenwolf 2CD set - and be like me - start searching second-hand vinyl stores again for good copies of their original LPs - because you've just rediscovered how bloody good they were and still are!

I can't recommended this 2CD retro enough. Buy with the utmost confidence and enjoy!!

I totally agree with the first reviewer. Absolutely fabulous sound. I've owned, prior to this, the RCA compilation "Steppenwolf Classics" and it had an absolutely awful sound, but on this remaster the sound is really present, warm, vigorous, natural with good dynamics and punchy bass - a world of a difference.

I will not, however, try to do any attempt to review the music though, that I find completely unnecessary - this is Steppenwolf - a great rock icon of the 60's (early 70's) and it is rock roll from that time, nothing more - nothing less... If there is anything unusual about this group that still can surprise you today - appart from some of their great classic songs - it is their drummer Jerry Edmonton, whose drum-style really stuck out compared to other drummers at that time: Really tight and groovy with some great drum-fills - like the one in the song Born To Be Wild, which he by the way also wrote (2:07 sec. in the track)- and of course their charismatic leader/singer John Kay who have a great powerful voice.

If you like Steppenwolf, and don't want to buy their whole catalogue, this compilation double-cd, is the best you can buy - here you get GREAT sound and their absolutely best hit songs, which in this case really means the best they did - that is unfortunately not always the fact with "best of ..." compilations.

I bought this for nostalgic reasons having liked Steppenwolf in the early 70's. However many of the tracks (not surprisingly) seem very dated, their protest messages from a bygone area and some tracks are just basically poor. So dont go and pay too muchfor this as you will not get value for money.

There are some real gems though on this album, starting with the Easy Rider classics, "Born to be Wild" and "The Pusher" and the latter still sounds like a great number not having heard it for at least 10 years. Other highlights are "Snow Blind Friend" like The Pusher written by Hoyt Axton and another anti drug song. "Ride With Me" if I recall written by Mars Bonfire (Born to Be Wild) and an underrated rocker. "Magic Carpet Ride" and "Dont Step on the Grass Sam" which has such a great riff, also appear. There are a couple of tracks from John Kay's solo albums with the old Hank Snow classic "Movin On" being the best.

The biggest disappointment for me was the 9 minute "Monster" from the album of the same name which was the first album I bought of Steppenwolf's and I used to love that track but it really does sound dated some 40 years on. Of the rest far too many tracks sound tuneless and uninteresting and are a reminder that years ago groups used to have to find any old material to fill an album, they wouldnt get away with it these days.

So in total you will get 31 tracks on this double CD, but for me there are 11 I can listen to and which remind of why I used to love this band. As I said, make sure you get it for a good price.