Iron Butterfly

Iron Butterfly - Light And Heavy: The Best Of Iron Butterfly - 1993 - Rhino

Psychedelic '60s hard rockers Iron Butterfly are nicely represented on this 21-track best-of, which gives full range to the band's dark, surging sound. Though not the most inventive or even the most ferocious of the acid-rock monsters, Iron Butterfly entered the history books with their 17-minute rock epic "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," which subsequently became their best-known tune. The song is included here, of course, but in its edited "single version," and not in its full glory. That's not a major omission, however, as it leaves more room for listeners to sample Iron Butterfly's other work, much of which will be unknown to all but die-hard fans. The group dabbled in melodic pop, but they are infamous for their sludgy tempos and heavily distorted guitar attack, an aesthetic that would be resurrected some 25 years later in the grunge and stoner rock of the 1990s. In this way, LIGHT AND HEAVY should appeal to the up-and-coming headbanger as much as the nostalgia-seeking hippie. © 1996 - 2007 CD Universe;

TRACKS & COMPOSERS

1. Iron Butterfly Theme (4:34) - Ingle
2. Possession (2:43) - Ingle
3. Unconscious Power (2:29) - Bushy, Ingle, Weis
4. You Can't Win (2:39) - DeLoach, Weis
5. So-Lo (4:02) - DeLoach, Ingle
6. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida [Single Version] (2:53) - Ingle
7. Most Anything You Want (3:43) - Ingle
8. Flowers and Beads (3:07) - Ingle
9. My Mirage (4:52) - Ingle
10. Termination (2:50) - Brann, Dorman
11. In the Time of Our Lives (4:49) - Bushy, Ingle
12. Soul Experience (2:51) - Brann, Bushy, Dorman, Ingle
13. Real Fright (2:42) - Brann, Bushy, Ingle
14. In the Crowds (2:10) - Dorman, Ingle
15. It Must Be Love (4:23) - Ingle
16. Belda-Beast (5:47) - Brann
17. I Can't Help But Deceive You, Little Girl (3:31) - Ingle
18. New Day (3:15) - Bushy, Dorman, Ingle, Reinhardt
19. Stone Believer (4:23) - Bushy, Dorman, Ingle, Reinhardt
20. Soldier in Our Town (3:18) - Bushy, Dorman, Edmonson, Ingle, Reinhardt
21. Easy Rider (Let the Wind Pay the Way) (3:07) - Bushy, Dorman, Edmonson, Ingle, Reinhardt

Line-up/Musicians

Lee Dorman - bass
Doug Ingle - vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, organ
Ron Bushy - drums
Erik Brann
Mike Pinera - vocals, guitar
Danny Weis
Jerry Penrod
Larry "El Rhino" Reinhardt - guitar
Darryl DeLoach - vocals, tambourine, percussion
With

Bill Cooper - 12-string guitar
Richard Podolor - 12-string guitar, sitar

BIO (Wikipedia)

Iron Butterfly is a U.S. hard rock and psychedelic band, best known for their 1968 hit "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida". They are sometimes called "the first heavy metal band" as a result of this song and others like it. Their heyday was the late 1960s, but the band has been reincarnated several times with various members. The band was formed in 1966 in San Diego and released their debut album, Heavy, in 1968, after signing a deal with ATCO, an Atlantic Records subsidiary. The original members were Doug Ingle, Ron Bushy, Jerry "The Bear" Penrod, Darryl DeLoach and Danny Weis. All but Ingle and Bushy left the band after recording the first album in late 1967; the remaining musicians, faced with the possibility of the record not being released, quickly found replacements in bassist Lee Dorman and guitarist Erik Brann and resumed touring. Weis and Penrod almost immediately went on to form the supergroup Rhinoceros. The 17-minute "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", the title track of their second album, became a Top Thirty hit in the US. (Doug Ingle is reported to have said the title was an alcohol-slurred version of "In the Garden of Eden", although this is probably apocryphal; see the song's page.) The members when In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida was recorded were Doug Ingle (keyboards and vocals), Lee Dorman (bass guitar), Ron Bushy (drums) and Erik Brann, also Braunn (guitar). The next album, Ball, topped the charts but more lineup changes followed. In 1970 with Erik Brann gone, Iron Butterfly released their fourth album, Metamorphosis with two new members, guitarist / vocalist / songwriter Mike Pinera (whose Blues Image had opened for the Butterfly's Vida tour and who later led Ramatam and played with Alice Cooper) and guitarist Larry "Rhino" Reinhardt. The album only managed to get into the top twenty. The band broke up in 1971. Dorman and Reinhardt later became members of the supergroup Captain Beyond. The band was booked to play at Woodstock, but got stuck at an airport. When their manager called the promoters of the concert, they explained the incredible situation they had been dealt and asked for patience. However, the manager demanded that the Butterfly be flown in by helicopter whereupon they would "immediately" take the stage. After their set they would be paid and flown back to the airport. The manager was told that this would be taken into consideration and he would be called back. In truth, his outrageous demands were never given a second thought. The band re-formed in 1974 with Ron Bushy and Eric Brann joined by bassist Philip Taylor Kramer and Howard Reitzes. (Kramer later made news with his 1995 disappearance and the discovery of his bones and minivan at the bottom of Decker Canyon in 1999). The albums released during this lineup: Scorching Beauty in 1975 with Reitzes and Sun and Steel early 1976 with DeMartines. A very brief semi-reunion in 1978, enlisting Jimi Henderson on vocals and former Van der Graaf Generator / The Koobas / Juicy Lucy bassist Keith Ian Ellis, imploded during a tour of Germany, when Ellis was found dead in a motel room. The famous line-up of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida got together for the Atlantic Recording Corporation's 40th anniversary concert and celebration, appearing on stage along with the surviving members of Led Zeppelin, and with Aretha Franklin among many other acts of the company's roster in 1987. On October 3, 2002, original guitarist/vocalist Darryl DeLoach died of liver cancer at the age of 56. On July 31, 2003 Erik Brann died of cardiac failure at the age of 52. He had released a new CD album just a few weeks before. As of 2004, the group is once again re-formed, and is touring with early members Ron Bushy and Lee Dorman. Iron Butterfly is now working on a new album that should be released in mid-late 2007.