•
Rating:
THE REVIEW
Iron Butterfly, a rock band formed in 1965 by the union of singer and keyboardist Doug Ingle, guitarist Danny Weis, bassist and second guitarist Jerry Penrod, drummer Ron Bushy, and percussionist Darryl DeLoach, released their debut album Heavy at the beginning of 1968. From this first work, the band established itself as a psychedelic rock group. They make heavy use of drugs, and it strongly influences their work.
In July of the same year, the group released the most famous album in their history, In a Gadda Da Vida, whose title is a distortion of "In the Garden of Eden" (the band's singer had pronounced this phrase during a concert under the influence of hallucinogens). The album is purely psychedelic, the atmosphere is highly spatial, the sound is acid, and the instruments sound distorted at various points. Guitarist Danny Weis and bassist Jerry Penrod had already left the band and were replaced by Erik Brann and Lee Dorman, respectively.
The album kicks off with a highly psychedelic track, Most Anything You Want. The remaining tracks on side A follow its trail. Flowers and Beads, a love song, with an acid atmosphere, is followed by My Mirage and Termination. The latter was written by the new band members, the guitarist and the bassist (Brann/Dorman). Side A closes with Are You Happy?
Side B consists of a single track, a piece with a high psychedelic charge, a suite, as we can define it, which established the band worldwide. The title track, lasting seventeen minutes, is considered by many to be the first song to have exceeded ten minutes, even though the previous year, Pink Floyd had recorded an instrumental space rock piece called Interstellar Overdrive from the album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, which lasted 9 minutes in the album version, while the original version lasted sixteen minutes. The suite In a Gadda Da Vida opens with a very catchy psychedelic guitar riff, followed by the singer's voice singing the title phrase. A long instrumental part follows, dominated by the drums, the Hammond organ, and sounds with a strong psychedelic charge. At the end, the voice returns along with the initial guitar riff.
An album that represents psychedelia. In a Gadda Da Vida is not an album of psychedelic rock, In a Gadda Da Vida is psychedelic rock. It figures among the best-selling albums in history.
Loading comments slowly
Summary by Bot
Iron Butterfly's 1968 album In A Gadda Da Vida stands as a definitive psychedelic rock masterpiece. Marked by heavy drug influence and spatial, distorted sounds, it features a standout 17-minute title track. Despite lineup changes, the album solidified the band's global reputation and remains a best-seller in music history. It exemplifies psychedelic rock rather than merely belonging to the genre.Tracklist Lyrics Videos
Iron Butterfly
Iron Butterfly is an American psychedelic/acid rock band formed in San Diego, California, in 1966. Best known for the 1968 blockbuster In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, their classic lineup featured Doug Ingle, Ron Bushy, Lee Dorman, and Erik Brann. Their Hammond-driven sound and sprawling drum breaks helped define late-’60s heavy psychedelia.05 Reviews
Other reviews
By silian87
The title track 'In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida' is the true masterpiece, a 17-minute song with one of the first lengthy drum solos ever performed.
Ingle almost seems drunk while singing, and he demonstrates it with his voice’s continuous ups and downs. The effect is divine.
