So the song “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” was played fairly frequently when I was in middle-school & high-school – though most of the time it was the shortened radio edit version, but WMMS did play the full and live versions fairly often… Didn’t mind it, but wasn’t in love with it either, but had never listened to the whole album before… As a prog guy, I have to say that I like what they were trying to do circa 1968, so I have no issue there – but the execution seems a bit lacking… All of the songs were serviceable with the exception of “Flowers & Beads” – which sticks out like a sore thumb, and sorta sounds like it was a commercial attempt to sound like the standard hippie-fare of the day, in order to draw some additional fans… Anyways, it’s clearly the worst song on the album… Additionally, “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” is the best song on the album, but there is a little asterisk next to it – but we’ll get to that in a moment… My biggest takeaway from listening to this album, was just how poorly it was recorded – as it sounds like it was recorded for AM radio, as it is very tinny, with almost no low-end – or deep bass and drums component… Have to say that really took a lot away from the compositions… Hopefully they corrected that sound live, but it was absolutely dreadful on the album… As for the song itself – clearly the first few minutes is basically the best part, and perhaps a bit at the end, but why you’d add a 6-minute drum solo in the middle is beyond me – and I’m a drummer… Pretty sure that’s why the radio edit took all that out, to make it much more palatable… Anyways, I was really hoping that I’d like this album as I love the direction they were trying to head, however, so many variables just held it back – with the audio quality and weak lyrics being the prime culprits… I’ll give it 2 for ambition, but that’s about it…