Customer Reviews

For Ladies Only

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

30 years ago, I bought this record......I was 16.....I just bought the CD and it is more magnificent than ever. The words came flooding back to my memory, the music is so sexy, it's for every 46 year old lady to enjoy and reminice about those days.I can really appreciate the blues-influence in the songs. I love it!!!!

If you can find the album version, buy it at any cost. The "Dickmobile" on the inside cover has got to be the greatest piece of rock art ever placed in an album. The music here isn't typical Steppenwolf because the theme of this is; women. This is a vastly under-rated effort. John Kay proved here that he can do other things besides heavy metal biker songs, although some numbers fall right into that slot like "Ride with Me" "Jaded Strumpet" is another personal favorite with a fresh sound to it. As usual, John Kay's biting political commentaries hit like a sledgehammer and there is outright humor too in "Tenderness". This is one of Steppenwolf's best albums.

I bought the original LP of this over 25 years ago (still have it!) and I've always thought this was the album that was the most consistently satisfying from start-to-finish, track-to-track than any other 'Wolf album. Consequently, I also think it's the most under-rated album in their catalog. "For Ladies Only" goes beyond the raucousness of the Born to Be Wild/Magic Carpet Ride/biker period and delivers a more mature-sounding, tighter band with more interesting things to say than "Sookie Sookie". The songwriting is what really shines on this concept album dedicated to the better half of the world and the tracks flow well back-to-back as a good concept album should. But, it still manages to rock out as well as any of their prior, bluesier albums. This was Steppenwolf's last great album with the original group line-up. Best tracks include the title cut, "Sparkle Eyes", "I'm Asking", "Ride With Me", "Tenderness" and the instrumental, "Black Pit". If you like Steppenwolf and you've only got one of their greatest hits collections, you need to get this, as well as Steppenwolf 7.

This is probably regarded as one of Steppenwolf's low points in most critics opinion. I'm happy to say I don't share this view! For me this album is my favorite Steppenwolf release. Just listen to the slightly jazzy mid-section on the opening title track! Not forgetting the follow up "I'm Asking". Typical John Kay & friends with rocking organ and drums. Instrumentals? Yes, there's "Black Pit", a very nicely played instrumental. This album has it all: rockers, instrumentals and ballads. A real treat for the money! Sadly , the drummer, Jerry Edmonton (Mars Bonfire's brother) died in a car crash 1993. He was amongst the best!

I was looking for a balanced sound on this excellent opus, the best Steppenwolf album to my sense. It was very difficult to find a CD in the nineties and only a japanese edition was available for a time but the sound wasn't quite good. The reissue on the english label BGO that appeared on a double CD along with "Early Steppenwolf"is a nice deal, but here, too, the sound isn't excellent. So I decided to look for a vinyl that I recently found (on Amazon.com of course!), and I was truely amazed how great is the sound even if the vinyl is a used one. It sounds great for this opus: there is something not uncommon that analogic transfer looses much of the original sound and it's particularly true for this album (same for the Quicksilver Messenger Service first albums and many others in fact). So I recommend vinyl to the very fans of "For ladies only". The whole Steppenwolf machinery plays wonderfully atuned on these songs and you find one of the most impressive almost mystical instrumental in rock music: "Black Pit". I am hearing this music without being tired of it since the band created it in the early seventies. "For ladies only" remains among one of the ten best albums in rock music!

This one's worth getting for a number of songs which never appear on the compilations. The title track is nearly 10 minutes long here, and includes one of the finest and most affecting piano solos ever done in rock. The instrumental "Black Pit" is at once smoothly cool and a bit oddly haunting at the end. "Sparkle Eyes" is a sad recollection of encountering an old girlfriend who's been damaged by many hardships. Sensitive portrayals like this run counter to the macho image carried by Steppenwolf. The other songs may not be great, but they are quite OK and are well played/produced with a minimum of gimmickry. As on "Seven", bassist George Biondo sings lead on a couple of tracks, his voice sounding a bit oddly like Rod Stewart. (Judging from the high prices this out-of-print album seems to command, it's probably a better plan to get the more affordable remastered two-fer Early Steppenwolf/for Ladies Only .)

the last steppenwolf lp didn't get a lot of success , too musical , too far away from previous albums. It has resisted very well to the injuries of the time , all songs are very lyrics , musicals , & in fact prepare the magnificient John Kay solo album "forgotten songs & unsong heroes " (will it be ever available as a CD ? )

Easily their best and most consistent effort...previous albums were hit and miss, some good, some bad, some mediocre. But this album is what I pick out when sifting thru my Steppenwolf cds. Not a bad cut on it, even if the theme was unexpected by Steppenwolf fans.

I hope it's alright for me to listen to this album, since I'm a guy, and I know the band members wanted only women to hear it.

Alright enough of that dumb little joke. This is just a great album. The piano playing is unusually brilliant (hey, I never knew the band liked to jam away on that instrument, but apparently they do like it, and are capable of doing so on this album quite tastefully).

The songwriting is once again quite solid and brings back memories of the early 70's for everyone who grew up in that time period (I didn't, but I sure wish I had!)

Is the album worth the current outrageous price that people are selling it for? Nah, not yet. Better wait until someone comes along and remasters it, which means putting another version of more or less the same album on the market but for a more affordable price.

This is one of those albums that comes as an unexpected surprise to listeners, especially when it's a tough band like Steppenwolf covering such issues as...well..(look at the title!) It is perfect musically, although it is a bit uncomfortable, especially when you try to compare this to "Born to be Wild" type material. Goldy McJohn's piano solo in the title track saves the day.