IRON BUTTERFLY/IN-A-GADDA-DA-VIDA 587116 (-69) UK MONO

The most influential progressive album of the decade. It sold over 20 million copies and stayed on the Billboard charts for over a year. And all has to do with the title track - clocking in at over seventeen minutes, carried by an alluring organ riff and having a non-sense title, it was something totally new to the world of commercial music (they may have been inspired by Zappa, but many were at this time, and he wasn't AM material anyway). It's hard to name all bands influenced, but clearly early Deep Purple and even Led Zeppelin owe a lot to this. (I don't care about all the other myths about how Zeppelin got their name - a million selling forerunner on the other side of the Atlantic whos name is a combination of a heavy metal and something light works for me. There are no such coincidences in that business.) This UK mono sounds like a fold down of the US stereo tapes, or maybe a radio mix. Totally OK, but less dynamic than the original. For this I recommend the US first press stereo. First UK with label as shown here and laminated cover. (YMÖ*) (ÄTHP*) (GÄPPY*)