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stoutfellowAlbum Title: All-Time Greatest Hits, Steppenwolf
Why I Bought It: C'mon now, what self-respecting late-Boomer collector of music wouldn't insist on having "Born to Be Wild"?
What I Like (Boogie): "Born to Be Wild", of course. "Fire all of your guns at once and / Explode into space! / Bo-orn to be wi-i-ild". Honorable Mention: "Magic Carpet Ride".
What I Like (Nice Try): "For Ladies Only". Hard-driving, complex music, with at least an effort at embracing feminism. (That the album of that title... didn't really achieve that goal is, I think, a side issue.)
What I'm Ambivalent About (Preaching to the Choir): "Monster, Suicide, America". It's a good, solid protest song (and in some respects even more so today), but I can't see it doing more than charging up people who already agree with it.
What I'm Ambivalent About (Nuance): "Don't Step on the Grass, Sam", "The Pusher", "Snowblind Friend", taken together. A pro-grass screed, a bitter denunciation of dealers in hard drugs, and a plaintive lament over an OD victim... When a rock band takes a saner, more nuanced stance on a public policy issue than any major figure in public life, something's seriously wrong.
Overall: For the most part, the songs on this album are a little too harsh for my taste. Still, pieces like "Jupiter's Child" and "Rock Me" are good for rocking out, if nothing else.
Why I Bought It: C'mon now, what self-respecting late-Boomer collector of music wouldn't insist on having "Born to Be Wild"?
What I Like (Boogie): "Born to Be Wild", of course. "Fire all of your guns at once and / Explode into space! / Bo-orn to be wi-i-ild". Honorable Mention: "Magic Carpet Ride".
What I Like (Nice Try): "For Ladies Only". Hard-driving, complex music, with at least an effort at embracing feminism. (That the album of that title... didn't really achieve that goal is, I think, a side issue.)
What I'm Ambivalent About (Preaching to the Choir): "Monster, Suicide, America". It's a good, solid protest song (and in some respects even more so today), but I can't see it doing more than charging up people who already agree with it.
What I'm Ambivalent About (Nuance): "Don't Step on the Grass, Sam", "The Pusher", "Snowblind Friend", taken together. A pro-grass screed, a bitter denunciation of dealers in hard drugs, and a plaintive lament over an OD victim... When a rock band takes a saner, more nuanced stance on a public policy issue than any major figure in public life, something's seriously wrong.
Overall: For the most part, the songs on this album are a little too harsh for my taste. Still, pieces like "Jupiter's Child" and "Rock Me" are good for rocking out, if nothing else.
