Chances are that you would have heard this track before but you just don't know it by name. Surprising because the LP from which the track comes from was in fact the first LP to be ever certified a "Platinum LP" and has sales of over 25 million to date.
Iron Butterfly were a San Diego based band formed in 1966 releasing a debut LP, "Heavy" in early 1968 and then this their second LP "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" in July 1968.
The song i want to talk about is the title track which the LP was named after. Clocking in at 17 minutes and 5 seconds long the song is famed for its droning bass and guitar riff and one of the first extended drum solos in recorded rock music. Very different to the jazz drum solo's which pre-date rock music this drum solo is more tribal and very psychedelic. Also another important component is an extended polyphonic organ solo which ties the guitar and drum sections together.
There are actually very few vocals (only at the beginning and near the end of the record) but even these have a story to play. Most common of the stories is that the track was called "In The Garden Of Eden" but singer Doug Ingle was drunk at the time of rehearsing the song and slurred the words which drummer Ron Bushy wrote down phonetically. The next day the band decided they preferred "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" better and stuck with it.
Probably the most important aspect of this song and album is that it is seen (along with various other bands) as the point that psychedelic music evolved into to the "Heavy Metal" sound that began in the late 60's and early 70's
I'm not going to upload a full mp3 of the track due to the length of the track but i found it on YouTube (split in 2 half's) so here are the links for you to have a listen. If you're a film buff you will recognise the song from a very famous mid 80's film. Let me know if you can get it.
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida Part 1
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida Part 2
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