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. Like any Iron Butterfly album, the quality of the material is wildly inconsistent, yet cut for cut, Ball is a more consistent album than their two previous records, ...   [ read more ]

CD $15.18

This album stands as something of a minor landmark, musically -- as far back as the late '70s, its presence in used record bins attracted a great deal of attention from historically minded collectors, as a genuine live recording of its era, and of a hard rock, heavy metal band, at that. Not too many concert recordings were attempted in hard rock in those days, and even a lot of what was issued in the way of live albums -- John Lennon's Live Peace in Toronto and the Rolling Stones' {^Get Yer Ya-Ya'...   [ read more ]

CD $8.51

Although the compilation is quite generous, featuring 21 tracks on CD, Light and Heavy:The Best of Iron Butterfly isn't all that entertaining, due to Iron Butterfly's difficulties with producing compelling material. All of the group's highlights from 1968-1970 are included, although the career-making, 17-minute "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" is presented in its three-minute single edit. Since that is the only Iron Butterfly song most listeners know, the lack of the full-length version could potentially s...   [ read more ]

CD $7.58