Iron Butterfly - Heavy

Like everyone born after, let's say 1975, the first song I knew from Iron Butterfly was In-A-Godda-Da-Vida. Unlike most people, my song knowledge goes beyond that song. It even extends past the album of the same name. I won't claim to be the biggest fan, but I will claim to own two Iron Butterfly albums, because aside from one Best of... package I once found, these are the only two CDs I've come across in my journeys.

I've personally owned two different versions of the aforementioned album. One was the standard CD release. The other was a special addition that only included alternate versions of the famous track that I purchased years later.

When I stumbled across the Best of... package I was just starting my CD collection and hadn't even bought the standard copy of In-A-Godda-Da-Vida yet. My dad, which introduced me to Iron Butterfly, didn't even realize that they had more than one album, since Detroit didn't play a lot of California Acid Rock in the 70's. So, when I asked him about if it would be worth picking up he wasn't sure.

Years later while in college, and long after replacing my orignal In-A-Godda-Da-Vida with the special edition version, I stumbled across Heavy. I was working part time, my only real expense was food and schooling, so I was more risky about buying music I had never heard. We didn't have youtube or napster (which I was against anyway) yet, so there was no way to preview the music.

I get home, throw the CD in the player, sit back and enjoy. I have enjoyed this CD ever since. It's my favourite of the two CDs I own from Iron Butterfly. This album was also the band's first.

It opens with Possession which is a heavy and haunting song about a man's possessive nature towards a woman he really seems not to care about. It's like The Beatles meet Type O Negative. In fact I often wonder how much Peter Steele and Josh Silver listened to Iron Butterfly.

Now I should mention that this album does have a differnt feel than the other mentioned because half the band changed from the first album to the second. Doug Ingle (vocals, organ) and Ron Bushy (drums) were the only members that stayed on. Musically this may have been for the best, since this allowed the band to get heavier in later years.

Unconscious Power, is the second song on the album. It's a fantastic number, that's really upbeat and has a fast boogey to it. I would say that the bass line gives it almost a Surf Rock feel.

The next song is a cover of Allen Toussaint's get Out of My Life Woman. After researching the name I discover it's the same guy that wrote Working In Coalmine, to which I love Devo's version. This song I don't care for as much. It's a little too slow and draggy on this album, and it slows things down in a way I don't like. The album picks back up with Gentle As It May Seem, and because of the heavy blues feel on the last song, this one seems very natural in it's placement afterward. This song's a bit Bluesy, a little Pop, and very cinamatic in a certain way.

Side one of the vinyl finished with You Can't Win. This would have been a fantastic conclusion to the first side. Musically it's more like the first two songs, but with a slower beat like Possession.

I also feel I should mention that the last two songs were written by two of the members that left the band after this album, Darryl DeLoach (tambourine, vocals) and Danny Weis (guitar). Jerry Penrod (bass guitar, vocals) also left after this album but had no writing contributions.

So-Lo opens up the second side of the vinyl. From this point on DeLoach writes all the lyrics and Ingle the music. Based on that, I must say that Ingel was definately the better music writer. Iron Butterfly's lyrics have always been a bit sketchy. The next song on the album should have opened the second side. Look For The Sun, the only song on the second side to feature Weis as a music writer as well. It is once again back to being haunting as all hell. For a bunch of hippies they sure got freaky.

Fields Of Sun is just as heavy as every other song on this album. I have no clue how the hell Ingle was able to constantly achieve such a beautifuly creepy sound with his vocals and organs, especially on songs that should be more sunshine sounding lyrically.

The second to last song on the album is Stampede Ideas. It's a fast paced, pleasantly happy sounding number. A little more Hippy typical, but not as loose and free.

I normally only like songs that contain the band's name because of camp value. However, the last song, Iron Butterfly Theme is a work of fucking genius. It sounds like a Mecha Mothra attacking a city. I mean a really big iron butterfly totally trashing the city of San Diego. Douglas Ingle is just absolutely brilliant when he is writing heavy instrumental based songs, and this one doesn't contain a single word.

As I said at the beginning this is my favourite Iron Butterfly album so far. There are three more I have yet to hear. However, based on just the two I have mentioned in this article, I have to say that the band members that stayed, except for Penrod, were the ones that needed to stay. Penrod's bass I think would have added to future albums. I don't really care for DeLoach's vocals, at least not as much as I like Ingle's. As for Ron Bushy, he was the only member of the band to play on every album, and his drums were one of the best parts of the band.

8/10 - content

7/10 - production

9/10 - personal bias