VA - The Real Thing (A Butterboy Compilation) (4 x CDs)

THE REAL THING.

VA - The Real Thing (A Butterboy Compilation) (4 x CDs)

Russell Morris’s The Real Thing, written by Johnny Young and produced by Ian "Molly" Meldrum, didn’t merely enter the Australian music scene in 1969, it detonated, flipping the script on what Australian music could be. More than a single, it was a sonic manifesto: nearly seven minutes of swirling psychedelia, hypnotic tape loops, phased effects, and spoken-word interludes that left radio stations breathless and listeners transformed. At a time when Australia’s charts were dominated by polished British pop echoes, this track carved out an entirely new sonic space, daring, hallucinatory, and proudly outsized.

Its ambition defied commercial norms. It was too long, too strange, and too bold for what radio typically embraced, yet it resonated. The Real Thing didn’t just push boundaries; it redefined what Australian music could sound like. And people followed. In its wake came a wave of artists eager to experiment, echoing its spirit while forging new paths. The song became a landmark, an open door into the visionary.

But The Real Thing didn’t spring out of nowhere. It was built on years of underground creativity, the raw fuzz of Missing Links’ You’re Driving Me Insane, the dramatic flair of Twilights and Jeff St. John, and the existential angst of Masters Apprentices. La De Da’s, Throb, Cherokees, and Mike Furber laid the emotional groundwork. By 1967, the scene stretched further with Easybeats, Wild Cherries, and baroque-pop stylists like The Executives and The Groop. These artists didn’t just flirt with experimentation, they embraced it.

Russell Morris’s “The Real Thing” boasting psychedelic boldness sent ripples through Australian music, and what followed was a surge of experimentation. “Part Three Into Paper Walls” continued the journey, while Dave Miller Set’s “No Need to Cry”stretched emotional and sonic boundaries. Tracks like Bucket’s “I Can’t Help Thinking of You” and Clapham Junction’s “Emily on Sunday” turned inward, exploring introspection and nuance. By 1970, the scene had transformed. Autumn’s “Feel the Sun” emerged as an underground gem, Zoot reimagined “Eleanor Rigby” in heavy psych tones, and Flying Circus ventured into mysticism on “Gypsy Road.” The Valentines brought theatrical flair, while Tully dove into the avant-garde. And when The Reels released “Quasimodo’s Dream” in 1981, the lineage remained clear: Australian psych dared to go deeper, stranger, and truer.

And The Real Thing didn’t only speak to Australia. Its sonic DNA resonates with global touchstones and shares roots with an eclectic range of international releases that challenged musical boundaries. The influence of tracks like The Rolling Stones’ 2000 Light Years From Home or The United States of America’s American Metaphysical Circus, Moody Blues’ Legend of a Mind, and Tommy James’ Crimson and Clover is clear. What Meldrum and Morris achieved was a local psychedelic masterpiece with universal resonance that extended studio experimentation, use of musique concrète, and narrative ambition paved the way for a track like The Real Thing to resonate as both a pop single and a psychedelic manifesto.

Ultimately, The Real Thing wasn’t just a song, it was permission. A doorway. It told Australian artists they could be strange, ambitious, surreal, and sincere. This compilation shows how that message echoed through decades, encouraging bold leaps into sound, story, and imagination. And that is what makes it the realest thing of all.

These four CDs are divided into two evocative chapters. 

CDs 1 and 2 shine a spotlight on Australian artists, those who helped shape the sound that led to The Real Thing, and those who carried its imaginative flame forward. From proto-psych stirrings to the adventurous echoes it inspired, this is the local story of creative daring.

CDs 3 and 4 meanwhile, cast a wider net, showcasing international tracks that share the genetic code of The Real Thing. Whether through sonic experimentation, surreal lyricism, or spiritual bravado, these songs speak the same language of fearless innovation.

Together, the collection traces the ripples of The Real Thing, from its roots to its resonance across continents and decades.

This compilation is a psychedelic narrative shaped by sonic exploration, emotional depth, and cultural resonance. From “The Real Thing” onward, it unfolds as a four-disc meditation on sound, identity, and transformation. Studio experimentation and lyrical introspection weave through tracks like “Legend of a Mind” and “Let There Be More Light,” creating atmospheres that challenge reality. The Australian selections ground the journey in a local perspective, while international tracks from Brazil, Greece, and Canada extend its reach. There’s orchestral pop, existential inquiry, absurdist humor, all sequenced with intention and emotional pacing. Long-form compositions like “Suite: What Love” offer thematic anchors, while “Quasimodo’s Dream” and “Memory of a Free Festival” mark moments of reflection. Whether soaked in fuzz, strings, or silence, each track contributes to a unified arc. 

What binds these tracks together isn’t just genre or era, but an invisible architecture of shared imagination. From the very first pulse of “The Real Thing,” you’ve set the tone for something more mythic than nostalgic. That song alone isn’t merely a hit, it’s a declaration of psych as art form, as awakening, and it reverberates through the entire set like a guiding spirit.

I hope you enjoy this temple of sound. (B)

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Track lists

CD1 Australia

01 Russell Morris - The Real Thing 6:21 1969

02 Russell Morris - Part Three 'Into Paper Walls 7:02 1969

03 Autumn - Feel The Sun 2:38 1971

04 Dave Miller Set - No Need to Cry 6:12 1970

05 Zoot - Eleanor Rigby 4:42 1970

06 Long Grass - Sunshine to Burn 2:58 1971

07 Masters Apprentices - Its Because I Love You 4:37 1971

08 Flying Circus [Australia] - Gyspy Road 3:25 1970

09 Doug Parkinson - Dear Prudence 4:23 1969

10 Fraternity - Seasons of Change 3:59 1971

11 Flying Circus [Australia] - Celeste 2:59 1971

12 Clapham Junction - Emily on Sunday 2:56 1969

13 Axiom - Arkansas Grass 3:08 1969

14 Jeff St. John's Copperwine - Cloud Nine 6:23 1970

15 Flake - Reflections of My Life 4:51 1970

16 Healing Force - Golden Miles 3:24 1971

17 Clik - La De Da 3:08 1970

18 Levi Smith's Clefs - Lisa 3:31 1970

19 Glass Web - Two Faced Woman 3:07 1970

20 Valentines - Juliette 4:13 1970

21 Inside Looking Out - H.M.S. Buffalo 3:32 1971

22 Company Caine - The Day Superman Got Busted 6:22 1971

23 Tully - You Realise You Realise 3:01 1971

24 Kush - Christopher John Suite 10:13 1974

25 Reels - Quasimodo's Dream 4:09 1981

CD2 Australia (pre Real Thing)

01 Mike Furber - Watch Me Burn 3:24 1966

02 Masters Apprentices - War Or Hands of Time 2:47 1966

03 James Taylor Move - Magic Eyes 2:45 1967

04 Easybeats - Falling Off The Edge of The World 2:58 1967

05 Executives - Windy Day 3:09 1967

06 Blackfeather - Seasons of Change 3:49 1971

07 Missing Links - You're Driving Me Insane 2:56 1965

08 Twilights - Devendra 1:49 1968

09 Ronnie Burns - Exit Stage Right 2:30 1967

10 Jeff St. John & The ID - Eastern Dream 2:29 1966

11 Playboys - Black Sheep R.I.P. 2:26 1966

12 Throb - Black 3:10 1966

13 La De Da's - How is The Air Up There 2:31 1966

14 Cherokees - I've Gone Wild 2:38 1966

15 Moods - Rum Drunk 2:18 1967

16 Wild Cherries - That's Life 3:17 1967

17 Groop - Woman You're Breaking Me 2:16 1967

18 Executives - Moving in a Circle 2:37 1968

19 Groove - Simon Says 2:35 1968

20 Twilights - Cathy, Come Home 2:01 1966

21 Pastoral Symphony - Sunshine is My Sorrow 2:24 1968

22 Zoot - Monty and Me 2:33 1968

23 Bucket - I Can't Help Thinking of You 2:29 1969

24 Dave Miller Set - Why? Why? Why? 2:32 1969

25 Russell Morris - The Real Thing 6:21 1969

CD3 International 

01 Beatles - It's All Too Much 6:26 1969

02 Rolling Stones - 2000 Light Years From Home 4:49 1967

03 Millennium - It's You (Mono Single Version) / Bonus Track 3:11 1968

04 Moody Blues - Legend of a Mind 6:39 1968

05 Bee Gees - Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You 3:40 1967

06 West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band - A Child's Guide to Good and Evil 2:25 1967

07 Human Instinct - A Day in My Mind's Mind 2:11 1969

08 Fox - Butterfly 3:25 1970

09 Tommy James and The Shondells - Crimson and Clover [Single Version] 3:29 1968

10 Free Design - Kites Are Fun 2:41 1967

11 Love - You Set The Scene 6:51 2022

12 Hollies - King Midas in Reverse 3:08 1967

13 Syn - Flowerman 2:34 1967

14 Zombies - Hung Up on a Dream 2:59 1968

15 Pink Floyd - Let There Be More Light 5:28 1968

16 Open Mind - Magic Potion 3:31 1969

17 Kaleidoscope - Flight From Ashiya 2:40 1967

18 Smoke (UK) - High in A Room 3:03 1967

19 Koobas - Barricades 5:04 1967

20 Tomorrow - My White Bicycle 3:18 1967

21 End - Cardboard Watch 2:54 1968

22 Millennium - To Claudia on Thursday 3:25 1967

23 Neon Philharmonic - Morning Girl 2:11 1969

24 Serpent Power - Endless Tunnel 13:14 1967

25 Collectors - Suite: What Love (Single Version) 3:38 1969

CD4 International 

01 Byrds - Change is Now 3:21 1967

02 Creation - How Does it Feel to Feel 3:08 1968

03 Sagittarius - My World Fell Down 2:56 1967

04 Rolling Stones - Citadel 2:50 1967

05 Nice - The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack 4:15 1967

06 Pretty Things - Defecting Grey 4:27 1967

07 David Axelrod - Holy Thursday 5:29 1968

08 Deviants - Garbage 5:36 1968

09 Iron Butterfly - Termination 2:53 1968

10 Moody Blues - Have You Heard (Part 2) 2:31 1968

11 Move - Cherry Blossom Clinic Revisited 7:43 1968

12 Os Mutantes - Panis et Circenses 3:38 1999

13 Spirit - Mechanical World 5:13 1968

14 West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band - Smell of Incense 5:51 1967

15 Small Faces - The Journey (Single Version) 2:55 1968

16 Love - The Red Telephone 4:48 1968

17 Idle Race - Days of The Broken Arrows 3:39 1968

18 Morgen - Welcome to The Void 4:47 1969

19 Can - She Brings the Rain 4:07 1969

20 David Bowie - Memory of a Free Festival (Single Version) 7:27 1970

21 Hawkwind - Mirror of Illusion 6:59 1970

22 Kevin Ayers - Song From The Bottom of A Well 4:37 1970

23 Aphrodite's Child - The Four Horsemen 5:53 1972

24 Bonzo Dog Band - The Intro and The Outro 3:03 1967

25 Collectors - Suite: What Love 19:07 1969

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Music weaves itself into the fabric of our emotions, dances through the corridors of memory, and whispers to the soul of who we are. Sharing these stories deepens the connection, turning the experience into something timeless and profound.

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