Artist: Iron Butterfly
Album: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Year: 1968
So here's an album that is pretty much known for one thing and one thing only...its legendary title track. The rest of the songs are pleasant enough: the opener "Most Anything You Want" manages to rip off The Doors' "Light My Fire," while "Flowers and Beads" follows the prevailing sunshine-pop template with its sighing harmonies.
While the other tunes are pleasant enough, they're no preparation for the 17-minute title track, one of the all-time tripped-out stoner jams of all time. I can't hear the song without thinking of the ending of the movie Manhunter, the original Hannibal Lecter film, where "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" figured prominently in the climactic scene.
The legend goes that the band was too blitzed out of their skulls to pronounce the song's actual desired title "In the Garden of Eden," so that explains the tune's oddball name. It's one of the campiest songs of the 1960's, showing off the absolute excesses of psychedelia, but also one of the most instantly identifiable. It's a ridiculous song, but insanely likable. I dig it.
I gotta say, I really like what I hear from Iron Butterfly here. The singer has a nice deep resonant voice, and all the songs here are good even though the title track is the only one that's super memorable.
Rating: Worth a listen
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