Sound: The Butterfly did have a big sound for their time, trippy pysch meeting with heavy blues. On this their 1969 third album they got to try a couple of different styles, with varying levels of success. Erik Brann, a teenage prodigy playing in a platinum-selling act? Stardom beckons surely. Well, no. Here he is often woefully exposed by the band's real virtuoso, the bassist Lee Dorman, and often offers no more than scratchy rythym guitar. Hear Dorman's astonishing wander on the slow Lonely Boy for instance. Brann does lay a nice line on Time Of Our Lives and It Must Be Love, otherwise the bass/organ/drums completely dominate. The artwork is not the best, but the back cover photo, all hair and kaftans, adds a little humour with one of the band holding aloft a photo of people dancing in a ball. Geddit? // 7
Lyrics and Singing: Not many people are going to remember the Butterfly for their sometimes clumsy lyrics and nothing much changes on this outing, with the rare exception of the floaty "this is the end" coda on In The Crowds and the sideways look at fame that is Time Of Our Lives. The one good thing they did have was Doug Ingle's sometimes comical theatrical baritone, which did sit nicely with the organ/guitar combination. "Ah'm juerst a lonele boy", to quote. // 5
Impression: Ball followed on the heels of the mega-selling "In A Gadda Da Vida" and it was inevitable really that it would be overshadowed by it, and subsequently it's gone down in history somewhat overlooked, though it did go top 5. For me though it's a more rounded album, as the band get to try out some interesting ideas. The faux-soul of Lonely Boy and rocksteady It Must Be Love intermingle nicely with the strange creature that is Belda Beast. The thump and crash of Time Of Our Lives intertwines with the whimsy of Her Favorite Style. An impressive late '60s album, which the CD throws in the 1969 double A side To Be Alone/I Can Only Deceive You, Little Girl. // 7
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