Iron Butterfly, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (Atco, 1968)

We used to joke that although millions of people owned Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" LP, no one had ever heard the other side of the record.

The marathon track on Side Two propelled the Butterfly's second album to No. 4 on the charts as it briefly became the top-selling item in Atlantic Records' catalog. By the mid-'70s, you couldn't visit a record store without finding several copies in the used bin. I remember picking one up for 50 cents and listening to the title song through a pair of headphones. Cool, man!

Surely, at some point I must have flipped the record over and listened to Side One. Or I must've let the whole thing play through on the CD.

But as I listened recently to the five songs on the first side of the original LP, none of them sounded the slightest bit familiar. And if I hear a tune once, it usually sticks in my mind for decades!

We'll dispense with discussing the title song. Suffice it to say, if you need a soundtrack from the late '60s, you have to include "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida."

About the others, it was an interesting experience to hear them for the first time. They songs have much more polished arrangements than the album's magnum opus, which apparently was recorded live in the studio. And they certainly capture the mood around 1968: a song called "Flowers and Beads" could have existed only at that particular time.

The compositions have traces of the heavy elements that characterize "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" the song, but also veer in a poppier direction with some decent harmony vocals peppered through; at times ("My Mirage"), they're good enough to sound somewhat like Moby Grape.

Singer-organist-primary composer Doug Ingle sounds as if he'd been listening to the Doors, as his vocals sometimes resemble Jim Morrison's (although not nearly as much as Burton Cummings' out-and-out imitations with the Guess Who), and on the opening "Most Anything You Want," he plays some runs straight from "Light My Fire."

On "Are You Happy," the organ sounds a bit like what Keith Emerson was doing at the time, and the main riff is not at all unlike the middle part of the Mothers of Invention's "Call Any Vegetable." That being said, it rocks pretty hard, and guitarist Erik Brann (or Braun, I've seen it spelled both ways) plays a suitably fuzz-toned lead, quite accomplished for a 17-year-old kid.

Brann wrote "Termination," which may be the best non-title track song on the album. The echoed vocals sound a bit like what the Yardbirds were doing in their psychedelic phase, and Brann gets a catchy riff going, with bassist Lee Dorman backing him suitably. (The bass is a little busy on some of the other tracks.)

Hey, I actually enjoy listening to those songs! Too bad I didn't give them a try 30 years ago. Didn't know what I was missing.