MoFi Iron Butterfly – In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida LP

* Strictly limited to 3,000 copies

Few songs are more instantly recognized – or more influential, infamous, and, yes, notorious – than Iron Butterfly’s “In-AGadda-Da-Vida.” The anchor of the mind-trip of an album of the same name, it occupies an entire side of an LP and runs for 17 minutes and five seconds, both bold moves in 1968 that changed how artists approached music in the studio and how listeners experienced it at home. The group’s sophomore record also blew open the possibilities associated with psychedelia, heavy arrangements, and suggested meanings. Often overlooked, the first side of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida features a wealth of period-era garage rock and stoner pop teeming with hummable hooks, fuzz-guitar riffs, and a mystical aura. They all lead up to the track that drags listeners through a vibrant cosmic universe by way of a comehither groove at once adventurous, alluring, sinister, and chromatic.

Mastered from the original master tapes, Mobile Fidelity’s numbered-edition 180g vinyl LP and hybrid SACD place Iron Butterfly’s organ-drenched melodies, acid-rock scope, mindwarping effects, and cauldron-bubbling rhythms on a soundstage as massive as the concert stage depicted on the album cover. These audiophile reissues offer elite levels of separation, balance, and imaging that put the quartet’s work into greater perspective. From start to finish, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida exudes the flavor and feel of the late 1960s’ most celebrated recordings, traits that reveal themselves as obvious the moment these collectible versions start to play. Your immersion in Iron Butterfly’s garden of Eden awaits.