Light and Heavy: The Best of Iron Butterfly

California acid rockers Iron Butterfly are largely known for the instrumental “Iron Butterfly Theme” and the 17-minute side-long track “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” which epitomized progressive late-'60s FM radio, where extended jams were favored over their “pop” counterparts. On this extensive collection of the group’s studio work from 1967-1970, the under-three-minute AM radio “single” version of “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” makes the cut, along with album tracks from the band’s first album, Heavy (which featured a different lineup than subsequent albums), and the following three albums. Perversely, every song from the In–A-Gadda-Da-Vida album is chosen except the excellent “Are You Happy.” However, remaining highlights from the albums Ball and the underrated Metamorphosis (with guitarists Mike Pinera and Larry “Rhino” Reinhardt) fill out the selections, with “I Can’t Help but Deceive You Little Girl” being the sought-out hard-to-find single. For anyone unfamiliar with the group, this “best of” provides a decent overview. However, established fans will likely prefer to own each of the band’s four albums, since Iron Butterfly were always more of an album-rock band.