- Included among the Record Descriptions of Favorite Albums (Part 1).
- The Steppes is an Irish neo-psychedelic rock band that was mainly based in Los Angeles has Celtic touches in their music and actually sounds Irish.
The Steppes – Atomic Cossack (1992): Most of the bands that Greg Shaw has worked with over the years have released one or two albums on Bomp! Records or one of his other record labels. The Steppes is an exception; Bomp! – or specifically, Voxx Records – stuck with them and oversaw the release of six albums by the Steppes, with Atomic Cossack being the band’s seventh album and also their last record to come out on Voxx. I acquired all of those albums except for Stewdio. When reissued as a CD on Delerium Records in 1999, I noticed that Atomic Cossack shows a recording artist of John Fallon, the vocalist and guitarist for the Steppes. As it turned out, Atomic Cossack is a solo album by John Fallon; the release on Voxx Records had erroneously given the band name as the recording artist. However, the music sounds like my other Steppes albums.
One thing that impresses me about the Steppes is that this Irish neo-psychedelic rock band that was mainly based in Los Angeles has Celtic touches in their music and actually sounds Irish. The Steppes are sometimes incorrectly categorized in the psychedelic revival movement called Paisley Underground, evidently because they occasionally performed with some of those bands. Particular favorites of mine on Atomic Cossack are “Headin’ Down”, “Drama Queen”, “I Can’t Trust You”, “In this World”, and “Leave it All Behind”; but really, the album sounds great from end to end.