Live at the Galaxy, LA, July 1967

This grainy live recording captures psychedelic wrecking crew Iron Butterfly in a particularly sharp club performance from early in their career. Still months away from the release of their 1968 debut Heavy, Live at the Galaxy captures the band in their earliest, roughest form, working out songs heavy on organ stabs and blues riffing. The bootleg quality of the album is on par with other obscure, audience-recorded artifacts of its era by psych bands like the Electric Prunes and others, but the band transcends the lo-fi cloudiness of the album with spirited jamming that all but wrote the acid rock rule book, especially on high points such as "Iron Butterfly Theme." ~ Fred Thomas