At Your Birthday Party

At Your Birthday Party
Studio album by Steppenwolf
Released	March 1969
Recorded	December 1968 - February 1969
Genre	Hard rock, psychedelic rock, blues rock
Length	41:26
Label	ABC Dunhill
Producer	Gabriel Mekler
Steppenwolf chronology
The Second (1968) At Your Birthday Party (1969) Early Steppenwolf (1969)

Professional ratings
Review scores
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Allmusic

At Your Birthday Party is the third studio album by Steppenwolf, released in 1969 (see 1969 in music) on the label ABC Dunhill Records. It was the first Steppenwolf album to feature bass player Nick St. Nicholas. Although it was less critically acclaimed than their successful first two albums, Steppenwolf and The Second, it contains a few well-known hits, such as "It's Never Too Late" and "Jupiter's Child", as well as the colossal "Rock Me," which had been featured in the 1968 film Candy. Although the band would be very successful in the early 1970s, 'At Your Birthday Party' was to be their last top ten album and features their last top ten single. The album showcases Steppenwolf at their peak, coming out of, but not yet completely abandoning, the psychedelia of Steppenwolf the Second and stepping into the distinctive hard rock of their later releases, but with less weight here than later, meaning it slides faster and more furiously.

Cover art

The album's cover was designed by art director Gary Burden. The original LP was a gatefold with a punched-out front cover; the punchout revealed a photo of the band which comprised the inner sleeve's recto. This photo of the band was shot by Henry Diltz, and it shows the band sitting in the remnants of amplifiers and equipment in a charred house in a that had belonged to Canned Heat. (A 1969 fire ripped through Canned Heat's house and rehearsal studio on Lookout Mountain Ave in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, California). The surrounding black and white image of the gate-fold sleeve was made by importing images of cartoon-mouse heads onto the bodies of soldiers within an image of a U.S. Civil War trenched battlefield. The black and white portion of the album art was a collage made by Rick Griffin, who was supposed to paint a final version of what became the album art, but Dunhill Records declined to pay for the painting and so used Griffin's black and white prototype. The resultant gritty image may have been an institutional accident, bit it suits the album's dark, rock'n'soul sound.

Track listing

1. "Don't Cry" (Gabriel Mekler) – 3:11
2. "Chicken Wolf" (John Kay, Michael Monarch) – 2:58
3. "Lovely Meter" (Gabriel Mekler) – 3:10
4. "Round And Down" (Michael Monarch) – 3:19
5. "It's Never Too Late" (John Kay, Nick St. Nicholas) – 4:07
6. "Sleeping Dreaming" (Nick St.Nicholas) – 1:07
7. "Jupiter's Child" (Jerry Edmonton, John Kay, Michael Monarch) – 3:28
8. "She'll Be Better" (Jerry Edmonton, Gabriel Mekler) – 5:32
9. "Cat Killer" (John Goadsby) – 1:37
10. "Rock Me" (Dave Grusin, John Kay) – 3:45
11. "God Fearing Man" (Michael Monarch) – 3:55
12. "Mango Juice" (Jerry Edmonton, John Goadsby, Michael Monarch) – 3:01
13. "Happy Birthday" (Gabriel Mekler) – 2:16

Personnel

• John Kay - Lead Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica
• Michael Monarch - Lead Guitar
• Goldy McJohn - Organ, Piano
• Nick St. Nicholas - Bass
• Jerry Edmonton - Drums, Vocals

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1969	Pop Albums	7

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1969	"It's Never Too Late"	Pop Singles	51
1969	"Rock Me"	Pop Singles	10