Light and Heavy: The Best of Iron Butterfly

Light and Heavy: The Best of Iron Butterfly

Track Listings

1. Iron Butterfly Theme

2. Possession

3. Unconscious Power

4. You Can't Win [*]

5. So-Lo [*]

6. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida [Single Version]

7. Most Anything You Want

8. Flowers and Beads

9. My Mirage [*]

10. Termination

11. In the Time of Our Lives

12. Soul Experience

13. Real Fright [*]

14. In the Crowds

15. It Must Be Love

16. Belda-Beast [*]

17. I Can't Help But Deceive You, Little Girl

18. New Day [*]

19. Stone Believer

20. Soldier in Our Town [*]

See all 21 tracks on this disc

Tracks:

Iron Butterfly Theme
Possession
Unconscious Power
You Can't Win
So-Lo
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Most Anything You Want
Flowers and Beads
My Mirage
Termination
In The Time Of Our Lives
Soul Experience
Real Fright
In The Crowds
It Must Be Love
Belda-Beast
I Can't Help But Deceive You Little Girl
New Day
Stone Believer
Soldier In Our Town
Easy Rider (Let The Wind Pay The Way)

Customer Reviews:

Essential Iron Butterfly.......2006-05-19

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.

IB.......2005-10-13

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.

Impressive account of one original band !.......2004-12-16

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.

It's Iron Not Led And Butterfly Not Rooster........2004-06-30

Hey, it has seven more tracks than the cassette version so quit complaining. Yeah, they could have included the entire InAGaddaDaVida trilogy, but why bother? Besides, if they did that, there wouldn't have been room for the extra tracks which are at least as interesting and inarguably more listenable. The selection is unimpeachable, the sound quality is great and the nostalgia factor is noticeable only if you miss InAGaddaEtc. Otherwise it's a blast: Ingle's Dracula impression on 'Possession' from the HEAVY LP is not to be missed, and the collection just keeps getting better from there. BALL seems to be the favored LP as it gets more tracks than any other but that's okay as it was their best album. 'Soul Experience' and 'In The Time Of Our Lives' are just awesome, and 'In The Crowds' is almost as great. The inclusion of the non-LP single 'I Can't Help But Deceive You, Little Girl' is certainly a nice bonus, but even better would have been the inclusion of its B-side 'To Be Alone' and 'Silly Sally', the non-LP flip to 'Stone Believer' to make it even more inclusive. And now: the rising and indignant chorus of "Yeah, but INAGADDADAVIDA, dude. . .!"

nostalgia at best.......2004-06-08

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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