Iron+butterfly

The heavy, psychedelic acid rock of Iron Butterfly may seem dated to some today, but the group was one of the first hard rock bands to receive extensive radio airplay, and their best-known song, the 17-minute epic "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," established that more extended compositions were viable entries in the radio marketplace, paving the way for progressive AOR…

Five years after their breakup, Iron Butterfly reunited in 1975 and released Scorching Beauty, an undistinguished album that fell between the group's heavy acid rock and mid-'70s arena rock conventions…

On Ball, Iron Butterfly began to expand its sound, attempting to write more concisely. On Metamorphosis, the group continued its musical explorations, adding a layered production to its sound…

Iron Butterfly's 1968 debut album, Heavy, established the band's trademark sound, relying on plodding, heavy guitar riffs and thundering drums…

Following the huge success of their second record, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Iron Butterfly scored a second straight Top Five album with Ball. While it didn't have any acid rock freak-out to compare with the epic "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," Ball was a more ambitious album, as the group experimented with shorter, more melodic songs…

With its endless, droning minor-key riff and mumbled vocals, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" is arguably the most notorious song of the acid rock era. According to legend, the group was so stoned when they recorded the track that they could neither pronounce the title "In the Garden of Eden" or end the track, so it rambles on for a full 17 minutes, which to some listeners sounds like eternity…

Presented on TWO DVD's is footage from the 2019 edition of Italy's Veruno Prog Festival. Participating bands included Iron Butterfly, Caravan, Arena, Il Balletto di Bronzo, Lazuli, Alan Simon's Excalibur, Acqua Fragile and others.

Formed in Germany in 1969, Nektar was a quartet of Englishmen who met in Germany and, for a little while in the early to mid-'70s, seemed like they might take American rock by storm. It was mostly hype, and by 1975 their big moment had already passed, although they lingered on until the end of the decade…

A typical description of Day Blindness involves references to the theoretically similar but inherently antithetical West Coast bands the Doors and Iron Butterfly, and it does in fact play something like a cross between those two groups, though with none of the musical nuance and aesthetic vision – and none of the existential considerations – of the former and with all the unrelenting bombast and sonic pretension of the latter…