The Steppes - 1987 - Drop Of The Creature Voxx Records
01. A Play On Wordsworth 02. Somebody Waits 03. Holding Up Well 04. Sky Is Falling 05. Make Us Bleed 06. Cut In Two 07. See You Around 08. Lazy Ol' Son 09. Bigger Than Life 10. Black Forest Friday 11. More Than This 12. History Hates No Man
John Fallon - Vocals, Guitars David Fallon - Vocals, Bass Guitar Tim Gilman - Lead Guitar James Bailey - Drums, Percussion
Produced by The Steppes. Engineered by Brett Gurewitz, John Girdler. Executive producer: Greg Shaw. Recorded at Westbeach Studio, Los Angeles, USA.
The Steppes were a 1980's Irish Psychedelic Rock band led by the gifted brothers David and John Fallon (whose memorable track Summers End In San Francisco is featured on the Psychedelic Psauna In 4 Parts compilation, which eventually led me to inquire further more about The Steppes). Drop Of The Creature, The Steppes' second musical endeavour, saw their transformation into a darker sound than their first more more acoustic EP.
One slightly overwhelmed critic had this to say,
Can this be for real? Does this record really have a 1987 datestamp? Can some men wear such ruffled shirtfronts and still walk outside? All these questions are blown away by yet another startling psychedelic-timewarp. The Steppes play the most blissful folk-into-psychedelia music, like the moment when Syd Barrett fronted The Byrds and then Jefferson Airplane, or when Roger McGuinn slung 12 strings over Pink Floyd's first album. The Steppes even manage to crystallise the essence of beat-pop. Brilliant poetic-hurt wimp visions scatter a field of tripped melodies, as inspired as Rain Parade's debut: occasionally The Steppes go all dopey but otherwise, they're excessive, outrageous, ecstatic--better this than Sergeant Pepper any day. No more questions. (Martin Aston)