Customer Reviews

Light & Heavy: Best of

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This collection covers everything essential from the first four Iron Butterfly LPs. Although purists may bemoan the (perhaps necessary) inclusion of the single version of "Inna-Gadda-Da-Vida" instead of the 17-minute album version, this album includes just about every worthy track from that period. (Actually, the entire Iron Butterfly studio output from this period, including the seventeen-minute "Vida", could all fit on 2 CDs). I personally would have picked "Slower Than Guns" over "Easy Rider" from Metamorphosis, but hey. Rhino's packaging and track information is up to their usual standard. However, Rhino's neglect and refusal to ackowledge the two mid-seventies albums Scorching Beauty and Sun And Steel (the latter far and away the best album the band ever did) means that the collection cannot truly earn "The Best Of" moniker and must be docked points for incompleteness.

Iron Butterfly in their classic era was not the greatest band in the heavy psych genre, but more than listenable nonetheless. Doug Ingle's cheesey organ was a cool garagey touch, much like Manzarek in The Doors; however I find myself more interested in Butterfly these days than Morrison's drunken nonsense. Butterfly always featured some cool bass playing (my instrument)as well. Here you get a good overview of the albums that matter (ie.while Ingle was still in the band)and the single version of "In A Gadda Da Vida". This collection is about the best way to experience them because some of the original albums are a little spotty.

i couldn't give it 5 as i am not an iron butterfly purist.
however, i must say i did enjoy this album. when the music first came out i hated it becasue i thought in a gada da vida was the most boring of all the music of that era... a listen to moby grape will tell you why. however, i was judging it as a musician at that time. today, some millions of years thereafter, lol, as a listener, i quite like it. you hear strong, if not obvious, influences
of doors and love. not so surprising since they were practically neighbours to the composer of IB.
a couple of songs were quite beatle-ish :track 8 reminds me of got to get your into my life, good day sunshine ; track 3 with a bit of daytripper. ingle, the main composer is not of the calibre of a keith emerson; pat moraz or even vangelis; least of all a rick wakeman,
but giving him credit, he is melodic and definitely not as self-indulgent. he comes from the doors and jefferson airplane school, which is not bad for that era. a nice album considering the price of this cd. goodness you couldn't get any worse;
if you have to spend the money on something that is from today's
top charts, i would suggest you better spend your hard-earned money on this cd instead. not something for rap or drum machine zombies though. sorry! this guys learned to play their instruments, not great like return to forever, mahavishnu orchestra or weather report, but much better than 99% of today's "musicians";
a good album for someone trying to learn to play a musical instrument, for sure. buy it!

Iron Butterfly helped to define heavy music in the late sixties. Starting with the Iron Butterfly Theme, with its pondering organ, guitars soaring, then slashing, the sounds can sometimes be grating. But, isn't that what you want? The first half of the CD is wonderful, full of the Iron Butterfly sounds that you remember. Frankly, I very much prefer the long version of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. The single version is just missing too much for me. Including the original 17 minute song would have taken up too much space on the CD. However, they could have deleted the second half of the playlist and made an improvement. The "Butterfly" nature seemed to predominate in their later songs, making them pretty much forgetable. Enjoy the first half of the CD and play it loud!

I give this album 5 stars, but I absolutely cannot believe the Iron Butterfly put out a best of collection and left out the song "Are You Happy." Most people consider that the 2nd best song they ever did. However you still get a great array of songs to take a nice musical trip on. I especially liked "In the Time of Our Lives" and hearing some of their later material for the first time. Check this album out if you remember them & want to relive it or if your a newcomer and want to get a taste of psychedelica. Then Look for the 18+ minute live version of In a Gadda da Vida. That is truley a masterpiece.

It doesn't matter that the originl, 17-minute "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" is not included on this CD, but at least they have the single version (with THE BEST PARTS cut out!!>:( !!) Iron Butterfly nonetheless rocks our world with the heaviest of metal.
I reccomend this CD to all classic rock and Iron Butterfly fans! Peace out! Long live Doug Ingle, Erik Brann, Lee Dorman, Ron Bushy, Mike Pinera, "Rhino," and all other suriviving members of Iron Butterfly!!!

OK, so I'm showing my age, but these guys were innovative and cutting edge for their time. Doug Ingle and his organ with Leslie speakers was the driving force behind one of the greatest psychedelic bands of the '60's. Very good overview of their several albums. They were heavy, new, and in a class by themselves.

The name "Iron Butterfly" immediately invokes thoughts of strength and agility. This is what you'll find in this collection of songs, gleaned mostly from the band's albums "Metamorphosis," "Heavy," and "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida."

Iron Butterfly's music was written mostly during the "flower power" era of the late 1960's (when America was deep into the space race and our boys were fighting in Vietnam) which is reflected in many of the songs here. A few may have been "suggested" by an LSD- and/or alcohol-induced session as well, which was the case with several bands during this time. Whether or not this is true, the fact remains that the music presented here is a good representation of the times, a theme which Iron Butterfly exploited. Sadly, the band would be quickly forgotten soon after its breakup in 1971, yet rediscovered in the late 1970's when they once again began to tour, much to the delight of "Butterfly" fans everywhere.

The CD opens with the "Iron Butterfly Theme," an instrumental that sets the stage for what is to come. Hint: if you listen closely at the end of the track, you will hear the phrase "I Love You" played by Doug Ingle on the organ in Morse Code.

It is true that only the three-minute radio-edit version of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" is included in this CD. If the producers had decided to add the long version, either the set would have been made into a double-CD (which was not the trend at the time) or many of the songs now on the CD would have been sacrificed. Instead, a "mini" retrospective of Iron Butterfly's other works are to be found here, including the non-album single, "I Can't Help But Deceive You, Little Girl."

For the new fan just discovering and exploring Iron Butterfly, "Light and Heavy: The Best of Iron Butterfly" provides a good cross-section of the band's work and is a good first CD, especially for listeners who enjoy psychadelic heavy-metal, and is a fair retrospective for those who have been fans of the "Butterfly" for years.

The peak of the crown is In a gadda da vida, but there is still more : Easy rider is a hard to kill rock work and for many of my fellow friends the masterpiece of Iron . .
Real fright is a punch theme and in this order My mirage , it must be love , Belda-beast and Stone Believer .
The presence of Rhino was the supreme difference . And beware he was the artificer of Captain Beyond four years later .
Iron was a terrific band with one of the darkest voices in the rock ever : Doug Ingle . There were six successful works made for this band in their brief career , but this anthology is fundamental apart of course of Iron Butterfly live from San Diego 1972 , one of the most interesting live experiences in the rock music ever performed.

This CD would be worth it if only for In the Time Of Our Lives & Iron Butterfly Theme, two of the most evil sounding songs I've ever heard (next to Dutch Nepal by Amon Duul 2). The fact that they could go from that sound to bubble gum & soul all on one side of a vinyl disk was a testiment to their versitility. This album avoids most of their weaker material and is a fine overview. Can't wait to see them in a couple of weeks (Oct 30 2005) at the Chet Helms Tribute in SF.