LIGHT & HEAVY: BEST OF

Iron Butterfly: Doug Ingle (vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, organ); Erik Brann, Mike Pinera (vocals, guitar); Darryl De Loach (vocals, tambourine, percussion); Danny Weis, Larry "El Rhino" Reinhardt (guitar); Jerry Penrod, Lee Dorman (bass); Ron Bushy (drums). Additional personnel: Richard Podolor (12-string guitar, sitar); Bill Cooper (12-string guitar). Producers incude: Brian Stone, Jim Hilton, Tom Dowd, Arif Mardin, Richard Podolor. Compilation producers: Fred Patterson, Bill Inglot. Includes liner notes by David Perry. Personnel: Doug Ingle (vocals, guitar, piano, organ); Erik Braunn, Mike Pinera (vocals, guitar); Darryl DeLoach (vocals, tambourine, percussion); Jerry Penrod, Lee Dorman (vocals); Danny Weis, Larry Reinhardt (guitar); Richard Podolor (12-string guitar, sitar); Bill Cooper (12-string guitar); Ron Bushy (drums). Psychedelic '60s hard rockers Iron Butterfly are nicely represented on this 21-track best-of, which gives full range to the band's dark, surging sound. Though not the most inventive or even the most ferocious of the acid-rock monsters, Iron Butterfly entered the history books with their 17-minute rock epic "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," which subsequently became their best-known tune. The song is included here, of course, but in its edited "single version," and not in its full glory. That's not a major omission, however, as it leaves more room for listeners to sample Iron Butterfly's other work, much of which will be unknown to all but die-hard fans. The group dabbled in melodic pop, but they are infamous for their sludgy tempos and heavily distorted guitar attack, an aesthetic that would be resurrected some 25 years later in the grunge and stoner rock of the 1990s. In this way, LIGHT AND HEAVY should appeal to the up-and-coming headbanger as much as the nostalgia-seeking hippie.