Band:	Iron Butterfly
Album:	In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Style:	Psychedelic rock
Release date:	July 25, 1968
A review by:	Malcolm

01. Most Anything You Want
02. Flowers And Beads
03. My Mirage
04. Termination
05. Are You Happy
06. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
07. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida [live] [1995 Deluxe Edition bonus]
08. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida [single version] [1995 Deluxe Edition bonus]

Classic Rock/Hard Rock.

Year: 1968

"Iron Butterfly" is one of the precursors to today's Hard Rock/Metal, they released their debut, "Heavy", in January 1968 and it sold gold immediately. And the single "Unconscious Power" became, surprisingly, a big hit.
After the release of the debut, all the members except the Keyboard player and singer Doug Ingle and the drummer Ron Bushy leaved the band. They were replaced and in June 1968 did the successor "In-a-Gadda-da-Vida" (a misspell of "In the Garden of Eden") got released.
It became a giant success. And even today it's respected as one of the biggest Hard Rock albums of all time.
It became famous because of the title track, and 17 minutes long epic masterpiece.
Mangling organ, advance guitar riff, 3 min long drum solo, yes this song got it all.
Everything that's not usual in 1968. Even Doug's false song fits in.
And we Hard Rockers around the world having this album, or song, to thank for much of the music we listen to today.
Unfortunately did "In-a-Gadda-da-Vida" not only bring success to "Iron Butterfly" it also became the bands death, because they couldn't follow up the success they had with this album.
And in USA this album sold so good that they had to come up with something better than a gold album, the platina was invented.

If you look and listen to the music through your eyes and ears then this is rater simple and not a bit special, but look and listen through is with eyes and ears from 1968, when "The Beatles" ruled the music world, than this is something very special.
It's one of the heaviest albums you could get back then.
Together with "Cream", "Yardbirds (Later "Led Zeppelin"), "Vanilla Fudge", "Grand Funk Railroad" & "Blue Cheer" did "Iron Butterfly" rule the whole Hard Rock scene (that wasn't invented yet) and started the Hard Rock history that still today develop.
Some band, in our time, has interpreted "In-a-Gadda-da-Vida", "Slayer" in 1987 and "Crownbar" in 2000.

The lyric is a really simple, but oh so function history, the 17minute long title track lyric endure just the following text:


In-a-gadda-da-vida, honey,
don't you know that I love you?
In-a-gadda-da-vida, baby,
don't you know that I'll always be true?

Oh, won't you come with me
and take my hand?

Oh, won't you come with me
and walk this land?

Please take my hand!


And some solos and repeats of lyric parts.
The production is really good, but that because of the re-mastering when it was but in CD.

We have these hardrock legendes to thank because the created this masterpiece and helped the Hard Rock to establish it self.


Killing Songs: Well, it's a pretty solid album, but the title track, "In-a-Gadda-da-Vida", is the best one, it's the gigant.