Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Iron Buttery - Scorching Beauty

My dad introduced me to Iron Butterfly, and of course the album he used as my introduction was In-A-Godda-Da-Vida, which is a great album. It has so many warm fuzzy memories for me. Then I later found Heavy on my own. An album which I find so much more enjoyable and heavier, which is funny since is was the bands first album. So, when I picked up Scorching Beauty I should have known that even more of the heavy would have been stripped out.

Scorching Beauty isn't a bad album, but it does suffer from a few problems. The first is that the only actual original member of the band at this point is drummer Ron Bushy, and none of his drumming sounds as inspired as it had on the band's first two albums. After that is the fact that keyboardist Doug Ingles isn't on this album and you can't help but notice the difference that makes. Finally, there is also the fact that this album sounds like it could have been recorded by any Hippy West Coast band, instead of one of the heaviest bands to ever come out of the U.S. Seriously, if Heavy and In-A-Godda-Da-Vida had been released in the 1990's it would have made anything Metallica released sound like kids music. That's not the case with this album, though.

This album sounds more like Jefferson Airplane if they had started in the seventies instead of the sixties, and didn't have any female vocals. Promissing to some I'm sure, but not inspired at all. Well, that might not be totally fair. There is real thought behind some of the tracks, and if I'm wrong I'm mistaking cheap gimmickery for musical thought, planning and production.

The album opens with 1975 Overture which sounds like the bunny rabbits and unicorns are marching off to war against raccoons and pandas. Their weapons will be rainbows and non-allergenic flowers. Really this song sets a bad tone for the album, and really sounds like it should be at the end of the album instead.

Up next is Hard Miseree sounds like it could be right out of the Grandfunk Railroad catalog. The bass rumbles, the drums drive, and the guitar lays down some sharp chorded riffs. My only complaint about this track is how far forward the vocals are in the mix. Everything else sounds slightly compressed, including the keyboards, which have a pretty cool solo that should have been exploited better.

High on a Mountain Top is a complete waste of album space. This track features a vocal change up for the worst. I have no clue what they were thinking with this song, but it wasn't about releasing quality material. I mean this one is seriously a steaming pile, that can only be best described as a left over from Ringo Star's worst album post Beatles. Also, please keep in mind Ringo had nothing to do with this song.

Am I Down is the first song that reminds me of the Iron Butterfly that I know, but mellower and more relaxed than you would have found on the album from the previous decade. It's like listening to Are You Happy or Possession, but with slide guitar and a slightly Pop-ish vocal presentation. Still a decent enough tune all the same.

By the time the first half of the album has completed I'm kind of doing a big WTF!? Am I Down is the only song so far I'm really digging on, and the rest of the album doesn't sound anything like Iron Butterfly. It's almost a giant slap to the face to the fans. It makes me very happy I became a fan at a later time.

People of the World kicks off the second half of the album. At this point it's like a full flight on wild ride that's a mix between Jefferson Airplane and Nazareth. I'm not talking about the good Rock stuff either. It's more like the cheap album filler stuff, that's meant for an easy radio grab.

By the time I reach Searchin' Circles I'm shaking my head and wondering what the fuck is up with the heavy tremelo on the vocals. They have a great effect on this specific song, but because of the over use I'm a bit annoyed. My only complaint with this song is that the organ is a little too funeral like. Not in a cool gloom way either. More in the really quiet and boring let's not disturb anyone sort of way.

Pearly Gates reminds me of Jethro Tull, and good Tull at that. This song actually may be the one song on this album that I find impressive. This is the direction I see this band going in after In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. Once again the vocals are way too far forward in the mix, but other than that it's a good solid tune.

I don't mind Lonely Hearts. It's a decent enough song, but most definitely out of time. It reminds me of 1950's Rock (think Jerry Lee Lewis), mixed with a late sixties Garage Rock sound, and some intense rocking out found in seventies Prog.

The album ends with Before You Go. Which doesn't do much for me. It's like one of those really slow and drawn out Eagles tunes, if it was produced to sort of sound like The Beatles. Musically the song does get really good around the mid section and turns into a great jam. This instrumental section may be one of the best parts of this album.

It's easy to see why this album ended up being a commercial flop. It never should have been released under the Iron Butterfly name. From my point of view it isn't a Butterfly album, and it's pretty much a few guys sponging off the name. In fact the perfect way to describe this album would be expensive demo. I think what hurt this album the most was production, and song selection. I will have to find the other album that was released the same year as this one and find out if that is where all the good music went.

5/10 - content

4/10 - production

7/10 - personal bias

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