Iron Butterfly - Light Heavy Best of (21 tracks) +Album Reviews

Definitive Collection

JOHN SPOKUS | BALTIMORE, MARYLAND United States | 08/23/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Good package, but does not merit title

Todd M. Pence | Fairfax, VA United States | 08/29/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"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 defines "heavy" music

JOHN SPOKUS | 01/08/1999

(3 out of 5 stars)

"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!"

17-minute version of "Vida" not on "Best Of," but rocks!

PF4Eva | Norman, OK USA | 03/15/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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!!!"

Nostalgia at best

matt tan canada | montreal, quebec, CANADA | 06/08/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"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!"

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