Sun and Steel is the sixth and final studio album released by Iron Butterfly in 1975. It explores a wider variety of styles than any other Iron Butterfly album, yet always remains within the contemporary conventions of hard rock. Tracks from this album are usually left out of Iron Butterfly compilations/greatest hit collections. It is also the band's only album to fail to chart on the Billboard 200. In Canada it made an appearance at number 89, December 27, 1975.[2]
| Sun and Steel | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 1975[1] | |||
| Recorded | 1974–1975 | |||
| Genre | Hard rock | |||
| Length | 35:05 | |||
| Label | MCA | |||
| Producer | John Ryan | |||
| Iron Butterfly chronology | ||||
| ||||
Reception
edit| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
| Only Solitaire |   [4] |
Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine delivered a negative review of Sun and Steel, rating it one out of five stars. He said it "was an outright disastrous attempt at reshaping the band's signature sound to '70s hard rock conventions, lacking even the curiosity value of Scorching Beauty."[3]
George Starostin's Only Solitaire page gave a positive review of the album, rating it eleven out of fifteen. He said that "This is the best Iron Butterfly album I've heard so far" and that "as I'm not a fan of the 'heavy soul' genre, I have to admit the band worked some mini-wonders on here", singling out "Scorching Beauty" as the best track.
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead Vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Sun and Steel" | Brann | Brann | 4:01 |
| 2. | "Lightnin'" | Bill DeMartines, Philip Taylor Kramer | Kramer | 3:02 |
| 3. | "Beyond the Milky Way" | Ron Bushy, DeMartines | DeMartines | 3:38 |
| 4. | "Free" | Brann | Brann | 2:41 |
| 5. | "Scion" | Brann | Brann | 5:02 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead Vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6. | "Get It Out" | Brann | Brann | 2:53 |
| 7. | "I'm Right, I'm Wrong" | DeMartines, Kramer | Kramer | 5:27 |
| 8. | "Watch the World Going By" | Brann | Brann | 2:59 |
| 9. | "Scorching Beauty" | Brann | Brann | 6:42 |
Personnel
edit- Iron Butterfly
- Erik Brann – guitars, lead vocals
- Ron Bushy – drums
- Bill DeMartines – keyboards, vocals
- Philip Taylor Kramer – bass, vocals
- Additional personnel
- David Richard Campbell – orchestration on "Beyond the Milky Way" and "I'm Right, I'm Wrong"
- Jerome Jumonville – horns on "Beyond the Milky Way" and "Free"
- Alex Quigley – Marimba on "Free"
- Julia Tillman, Maxine Willard, and June Deniece Williams – backing vocals on "Free"
Singles
edit- "Beyond the Milky Way" b/w "Get It Out"
- "I'm Right, I'm Wrong" (3:50 edit) b/w "Scion" (3:40 edit)
References
edit- ^ "Scorching Beauty/Sun and Steel". CD/DVD Reviews. Retrieved April 19, 2011.
- ^ "RPM Top 100 Albums - December 27, 1975" (PDF).
- ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Sun and Steel – Iron Butterfly at AllMusic. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
- ^ "Iron Butterfly".