Category: Iron Butterfly

Iron Butterfly – Sun And Steel (1975)

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Sun and Steel is the sixth and final studio album, released by Iron Butterfly in 1975. It explores a wider variety of styles than any other Iron Butterfly album, yet always remains within the contemporary conventions of hard rock.
Tracks from this album are usually left out of Iron Butterfly compilations/greatest hit collections.

This last album from Iron Butterfly is actually better than what could have been expected. Ron Bushy (the only surviving founding member) and Erik Braun (an IB veteran) are the only ones from the heydays of the band to be featured on this album; while Phil Kramer already played on their weak Scorching Beauty released a year prior to this Sun & Steal.
The title and opening song is particularly well crafted: excellent vocals, fine melody with some superb instrumentation. Sun & Steal is one of their true prog track in all their career. A highlight!

This album as a whole though is more of a hard-rocking affair; something typical for the date of release. Some strong and powerful tracks (Lightnin) combined with some syrupy rock ballads like hard-rocking bands were keen to write (Beyond The Milky Way, Watch The World Going By).

A certain New York Dolls flavour is also noticeable during the rock’n’roll Free or Get It Out. But there will still be a heavy rock one for the nostalgic old fans (Scion).

The influence of the new keyboard player (Bill De Martinez) is clearly marked on the very good I’m Right, I’m Wrong: after a symphonic opening, he will develop a fine atmospheric play to get along with this traditional rock number. It is the second highlight from this enjoyable album.

The closing number is another fine song from this offering. A very performing rock ballad which holds a great guitar furry in the middle part. It is bizarrely called Scorching Beauty (title of their previous album).

 

Side one
  1. Sun and Steel – 4:01
  2. Lightnin’ – 3:02
  3. Beyond the Milky Way – 3:38
  4. Free – 2:41
  5. Scion – 5:02
Side two
  1. Get It Out – 2:53
  2. I’m Right, I’m Wrong – 5:27
  3. Watch the World Going By – 2:59
  4. Scorching Beauty – 6:42

 

Iron Butterfly

Additional personnel

  • David Richard Campbell – orchestration on “Beyond the Milky Way” and “I’m Right, I’m Wrong”
  • Jerome Jumonville – horns on “Beyond the Milky Way” and “Free”
  • Alex Quigley – Marimba on “Free”
  • Julia Tillman, Maxine Willard, and June Deniece Williams – backing vocals on “Free”

Companies, etc.

Credits

Singles

  • “Beyond the Milky Way” b/w “Get It Out”
  • “I’m Right, I’m Wrong” (3:50 edit) b/w “Scion” (3:40 edit)

Notes
Release Date: 1976
Recording Location: The Record Plant, Los Angeles, CA
Genre: Rock
Styles: Psychedelic
Duration: 36:25

Label – MCA Records

Iron Butterfly – Metamorphosis (1970)

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Metamorphosis is the fourth studio album by Iron Butterfly, released on August 13, 1970. It reached number 16 on the US charts. Mike Pinera and Larry “El Rhino” Reinhardt became members of Iron Butterfly in the early part of 1970.

The album was recorded at American Recording studio and produced by Richard Podolor, engineered by Bill Cooper. The single “Easy Rider” reached number 66 on the Billboard chart, making it the band’s biggest hit aside from “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida“. The album is noted for having one of the earliest uses of the talk box on a rock album, which Pinera used on “Butterfly Bleu.”

After two solid years of fame and fortune, Iron Butterfly were rapidly losing ground in the rock and roll sweepstakes. The band had been unable to sustain the massive success of their 1968 sophomore offering, the legendary In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, despite releasing the rock solid Ball in 1969.

In 1970, Iron Butterfly issued a stop-gap live album that, of course, featured another lengthy rendition of “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” a move which hinted at a lack of direction. Countless bands had followed Cream and Jimi Hendrix down the hard and heavy path, with Iron Butterfly among the first to venture there. For whatever reason, however, they were unable to capitalise on the preferred heaviness of the era.

Just a few months following the release of Live, however, Iron Butterfly burst forth with a new LP titled ‘Metamorphosis’ on Aug. 13, 1970. In keeping with the title, this project found Iron Butterfly trying to re-invent themselves. Perhaps more to the point, the band was concentrating on fine tuning their own strengths.

Metamorphosis begins with a short atmospheric piece, “Free Flight,” which is really just a lead in to the driving “New Day” – not only a perfect album opener, but a mission statement of sorts for the band at this juncture. “Shady Lady” is a fairly lame, somewhat funky number that’s best left forgotten at this point. A quick rebound comes in the form of “Best Years Of Our Lives,” with its kick ass guitar and keyboard workouts.

“Slower Than Guns,” a beautiful acoustic-based ballad focusing ecological perils, is very much of its time and place – yet listening to it decades years later, Iron Butterfly’s theme still rings true, both lyrically and musically. Ditto for “Soldier on the Town.” Meanwhile, “Stone Believer” is a heavy groover that, like much of Iron Butterfly catalog, deserved a better fate than being a forgotten album track.

Iron Butterfly wraps up things with another lengthy workout in the form of “Butterfly Bleu,” a song that gets into all sorts of dynamics along its nearly 15 minute path before turning into gimmicks and nonsense. Eventually, the track rebounds from these meanderings, but by then it’s too late.

 

Track listing

  1. Free Flight – 0:40
  2. New Day – 3:08
  3. Shady Lady – 3:50
  4. Best Years of Our Life – 3:55
  5. Slower Than Guns – 3:37
  6. Stone Believer – 5:20
  7. Soldier in Our Town – 3:10
  8. Easy Rider (Let the Wind Pay the Way) – 3:06
  9. Butterfly Bleu – 14:03

All tracks are written by Ron Bushy, Lee Dorman, and Doug Ingle, except where noted

 

Iron Butterfly

Additional personnel

Notes
Released: August 13, 1970
Recorded: May–July 1970 Studio American Recording Company, Studio City, Los Angeles
Genre: Hard rock, Psychedelic
Length: 40:50

Label – Atco Records