Forever remembered for their 1968 psychedelic anthem, “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” in the years following, Iron Butterfly never quite made the same impact again. Even so, several of the original members—Erik Braunn (guitar) and Ron Bushy (drums) carried the Iron Butterfly spirit on with a pair of mid ‘70s albums, released on MCA, that went unnoticed for the most part at that time. Leave it to England’s BGO record label to reissue these two mid '70s classics and reveal just how good they were. 1974’s Scorching Beauty mixed classic Butterfly with new sounds brought about by the entry of Phil Kramer (bass, vocals). Interestingly, one of the Scorching Beauty tracks, “Pearly Gates” was co-written by Ron Bushy and Yes founder Jon Anderson. Continuing on in the same spirit, Bushy and Braunn reconvened Iron Butterfly for a second album, entitled Sun And Steel, released by MCA in October 1975. Even without a massive hit like “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” to bring it acclaim, there’s plenty of interesting tracks on Sun And Steel to make it of interest for long time IB fans. Most written by Erik Braunn, the mellotron-soaked psychedelic Sun And Steel tracks holds up quite well and will impress fans from the ‘60s who might have wrongly viewed Iron Butterfly as a one hit wonder. Despite guitarist Braunn’s death in 2003, Iron Butterfly continue on in 2008, still headed up by founding drummer Ron Bushy. BGO have done a remarkable job, reintroducing these two Iron Butterfly classics, packing their 2009, 18 track remaster as a 2 albums on 1 CD reissue. The package features a CD slipcase and a ten page booklet filled with fascinating liner notes that brings the Iron Butterfly story into the now while recalling the heyday of those great psychedelic ‘60s. www.BGO-Records.com

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