Live at 25 (Silver Anniversary/Live Recording)

While Steppenwolf can take some credit for spawning the heavy metal genre (the term came from the "heavy metal thunder" phrase in "Born to Be Wild"), they remained, at heart, a hard rocking bar band, and this reissue of their 1995 double-disc live set bears witness to that. Now billed as John Kay & Steppenwolf, the band's lineup for the late '90s included original vocalist Kay, Michael Wilk on bass and keyboards, lead guitarist Rocket Ritchotte, and Ron Hurst on drums. Live At 25: Silver Anniversary is a well-paced run-through of their classic hits, which are stretched out a bit, but remain close to their original structure, and Kay's throaty vocals are almost as good as they were in the late '60s. While it undoubtedly would have been fun to see a show on this tour, John Kay's occasional bombastic tendencies, which began to emerge way band back in 1969 on Monster, make this set feel, at times, like a Broadway production of a big, bad, rock band concert. Other than that, it rocks. ~ Steve Leggett|