Andy Gibb’s Greatest Hits Reprised, and Flashback with Iron Butterfly

Two long out-of-print greatest hits collections are back in print today thanks to the fine folks at Rhino Records.  Iron Butterfly’s Evolution: The Best of Iron Butterfly arrived on the Atco label in 1971 and brought together 11 tracks from the hard rock pioneers’ first four albums.  Andy Gibb’s 1991 Greatest Hits, originally on the Polydor label, differed from the 1980 RSO Records hits compilation, and offered 12 prime pop cuts from the youngest of the Brothers Gibb.

Although Rhino’s Light and Heavy: The Best of Iron Butterfly upped the number of tracks to 21 for the compact disc era, Evolution was the original LP worn out by fans of the “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” rockers.  Its 11 songs are all drawn from Heavy (1968), In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (1968), Ball (1969) and Metamorphosis (1970).  The calling card of the band, “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” is heard in its edited single version.  Together with Rhino Handmade’ s lavish 2-CD Fillmore East 1968 (watch for a review coming soon!), the all-killer, no-filler Evolution is a great reminder of one of the first bands to synthesize strains of hard rock, acid rock and psychedelia into a successful whole.  The group’s personnel, alas, wasn’t as consistent as its sound, dogged by line-up changes almost from the start.  Evolution is a fine opportunity, though, to remember guitarist Larry “Rhino” Reinhardt, who died on January 2 at the age of 63.  He can be heard on the tracks culled from Metamorphosis.  Doug Ingle’s organ and vocals tie the disparate tracks together: the garage fury of “Unconscious Power,” the pop of “Flowers and Beads,” the prog rock-anticipating instrumental force of “Iron Butterfly Theme,” the acid psychedelia of “Belda-Beast” and the folk-rock of “Slower than Guns.”  Evolution is a particular bargain courtesy the budget Rhino Flashback line; you’ll likely find it for around five bucks!

Hit the jump for the scoop on the re-release from Andy Gibb, plus order links and track listings for both titles!

Release Round-Up: Week of January 10

A slow week, but enough substantial releases to make this our first Round-Up of 2012!

Alex Chilton, Free Again: The 1970 Sessions (Omnivore Recordings)

After The Box Tops, before Big Star, the late, great Chilton finds his voice as a writer. A review from Joe is forthcoming!

Jellyfish, Bellybutton / Spilt Milk (Omnivore Recordings)

Brand-new vinyl remasters of the only two albums by the perennially underrated power pop band.

Andy Gibb, Greatest Hits / Iron Butterfly, Evolution: The Best of Iron Butterfly (Rhino Flashback)

From Rhino’s budget arm, two great, long-out-of-print compilations get their due on CD! (Check back very soon for a full breakdown from Joe!)

Various artists, ICON (UMe)

Another round of ’em.

Reissue Theory: Andy Gibb

Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we reflect on well-known albums of the past and the reissues they could someday see. The new Bee Gees box set prompts this post to look at the “other” Gibb brother who enjoyed a great deal of success – yet is sadly not around to continue making great music.

As Joe’s review of the new Bee Gees box set Mythology shows, young Andy Gibb was a pretty integral member of the musical family. Though he wasn’t part of the ensemble that Barry, Robin and Maurice bought to great success in the late ’70s, his birthright as a Gibb (and some killer tunes from his brothers) gave him a great run of success in the same era – one that was sadly shorter-lived than that of The Bee Gees themselves.

Andy, born in Manchester in 1958 (not the Isle of Man, as his elder brothers), first sought a music career after The Bee Gees struck out internationally. He managed to secure some small club performances in Ibiza in the early ’70s before returning to the family’s home base of Australia to cut some tracks with Australian producer Col Joye. The first single, “Words and Music,” was a minor hit in the country, but second single “Can’t Stop Dancing” (later covered by The Captain and Tenille) was never released.

But by that point, fate had intervened. Robert Stigwood, manager of The Bee Gees, signed Andy to the RSO label in an attempt to further enjoy the success the Gibbs were bringing to both the label and the pop music scene. Working with his brothers and producer Albhy Galuten in America, Andy cut the bulk of his debut RSO LP, Flowing Rivers, including the Barry-penned smash “I Just Want to Be Your Everything.” Both that song and follow-up “(Love is) Thicker Than Water” were No. 1 hits; the title track off sophomore album Shadow Dancing was, too.

While most of Gibb’s subsequent songs would be U.S. Top 40 hits, his growing addiction to drugs led to a long drop from the public eye in the 1980s while he cleaned up his act. With RSO long gone by the end of the ’80s, Andy worked with Barry and Maurice on album for an intended comeback on Island but died of an inflammation of a heart muscle just five days after his 30th birthday. He was never one of “The Brothers Gibb,” but he was a Gibb brother, and a talented one, too. Mythology does well in honoring his brief but popular stint in the spotlight – and it would be a kick if those three Andy Gibb LPs, out of print since being remastered on Polydor in 1998, got the expanded treatment.

After the jump, a look at how expanded editions of Flowing Rivers, Shadow Dancing and final studio album After Dark might be sequenced.