#76 Iron Butterfly: In A Gadda-Da-Vida
This must be one the most stupid hard rock records ever. Now that I listen to it, I remember hearing this before (obviously I know the title song), but never bothered to return to it. Well, here we are. Maybe because it is so Gargantuan that it is somehow ingenious. But not so over-the-top as Blue Cheer. So this is difficult to deal with other than ignore.
Naturally the title song is the thing here. It last over seventeen minutes, equipped with a riff which any hard hittin’ rocker would be proud of. The problem is that there is only a riff and the effect of that is soon used up. So what to do? Add some silent organ musings which take an incredible amount of time and then of course return to the riff. This is how “progressive” rock is done. In other words, imitate the classics. But the riff is memorable and it is why Iron Butterfly is remembered.
The rest of the album is average organ-fuelled hard rock, not too far from Steppenwolf. I like the instrumental track “Iron Butterfly theme”, there is some nice unortohodox guitar soundscapin’. My Mirage is a nice melodic pop song. But hippie-butterfly-chant So-lo is awful. And guess what! It has some rokokoo-style classicist organ solos! I guess in 1968 all the jobless pianists got their golden hour in rock bands. Waagh! Gimme some Booker T or Jimmy Smith and quick!
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