VA - The Underbelly of Rock 1967-1979 (A Butterboy Compilation) (6 x CDs)

ROCK

VA - The Underbelly of Rock 1967-1979 (A Butterboy Compilation) (6 x CDs)

This six-disc anthology dives deep into the underbelly of rock, where the overlooked, the unpolished, and the emotionally raw reside. Spanning 1967 to 1979, it’s a journey through the shadows of a genre often defined by its brightest stars yet shaped just as powerfully by its hidden architects. These are the Obscure Tracks That Just Had to Be Heard, songs that slipped through the cracks but left fingerprints on everything that followed.

CD1 opens in the late ’60s, a crucial foundation for what’s to come. Psychedelic experimentation, garage grit, and proto-hard rock collide in tracks by Contents Are, Haymarket Square, and Savage Resurrection, bands that never broke through commercially but laid the sonic groundwork for the heavier, darker textures of the ’70s. Their inclusion isn’t just nostalgic it’s essential. They are the spark before the storm.

Across the remaining CDs, the compilation unearths rarities that pulse with urgency and emotional depth. From the blistering riffs of T2 and May Blitz to the introspective melancholy of Alquin and Crack the Sky, each track is a genre-defining outlier. Many are cult classics, whispered about in collector circles, traded on bootlegs, and rediscovered through dusty vinyl bins. Others are near-mythical, private press releases, regional obscurities, or one-off studio miracles that somehow survived.

What binds them isn’t fame, but feeling. These songs weren’t built for radio, they were built for catharsis, rebellion, and revelation. They’re prized by crate diggers and archivists not just for their rarity, but for their resonance. They prove that emotional impact doesn’t require polish, and that influence often begins in obscurity.

Sequenced with  historical weight, The Underbelly of Rock is a testament to the artists who carved their own paths, often in isolation, and to the listeners who never stopped searching. Whether it’s the swagger of Legs Diamond, the cosmic ache of Paul Kossoff, or the surreal poetry of Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, this set offers closure, discovery, and proof that the soul of rock lives in its margins.

The final track, “She’s Lost Control” by Joy Division, brings the journey to a haunting end. Released in 1979, it’s a stark, emotionally raw outlier, post-punk in form, but rock in spirit. Ian Curtis’s detached vocal and the hypnotic pulse evoke a sense of unraveling, of quiet devastation. This is a triumphant finale, and it's a reckoning. And in that reckoning, the compilation finds its emotional truth.

This set is not a celebration of chart-toppers, it’s a confrontation with what was left behind. A resurrection of the forgotten, the fearless, and the emotionally unfiltered. It’s the set that should’ve existed decades ago. (B)

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Track lists

CD1

01 Contents Are     - Peace at Last 2:07 1967

02 Index - Rainy, Starless Nights 3:15 1967

03 Wizards - See You Tonight 2:22 1967

04 Shag - Stop and Listen 2:35 1967

05 Dragonfly - Blue Monday 3:16 1968

06 Haymarket Square - Elevator 7:06 1968

07 Zoo - Love Machine 2:35 1968

08 Outcasts - Loving You Sometimes 1:51 1968

09 Ant Trip Ceremony - Pale Shades of Gray 4:31 1968

10 Hook - Son of Fantasy 2:34 1968

11 Ritual - Speed Freak 3:19 1968

12 Bachs - Tables of Grass Fields 3:43 1968

13 Savage Resurrection - Thing in 'e' 3:06 1968

14 Man - Spunk Box 5:50 1969

15 Sam Gopal - Escalator 2:50 1969

16 Damnation of Adam Blessing - Driver 3:57 1969

17 Litter - Future of The Past 12:38 1969

18 Head Shop - Heaven Here 2:45 1969

19 Truth - Music is Life 3:53 1969

20 Stack - Poison Ivy 3:23 1969

21 Mandrake Memorial - Volcano 4:59 1969

22 Smubbs - The Running Water 5:05 2019

CD2

01 Morgen - Welcome to The Void 4:47 1969

02 Thunder and Roses - White Lace and Strange 3:15 1969

03 Stray - All in Your Mind 9:05 1970

04 Toe Fat - Bad Side of The Moon 3:27 1970

05 Josefus - Country Boy 3:18 1970

06 Sir Lord Baltimore - Kingdom Come 6:34 1970

07 Cactus - Let Me Swim 3:49 1970

08 Trapeze - Medusa 5:43 1970

09 T2 - No More White Horses 8:39 1970

10 Lucifer's Friend - Ride the Sky 2:54 1970

11 May Blitz - Smoking The Day Away 8:20 1970

12 Pretty Things - Cries From The Midnight Circus 6:28 1970

13 Atomic Rooster - Death Walks Behind You 7:23 1970

14 RARE BIRD - Hammerhead 3:31 1970

15 Patto - The Man 6:09 1970

16 Frijid Pink - Boozin' Blues 6:04 1970

17 Gypsy - Dead and Gone 10:52 1970

18 Yesterday's Children - Providence Bummer 3:40 1970

19 Morning - Sleepy Eyes 3:27 1970

20 Quatermass - Black Sheep of The Family 3:38 1970

21 Steamhammer - Passing Through 5:11 1970

22 Move - Turkish Tram Conductor Blues 4:39 1970

CD3

01 White Light (US) - Cold Shot 4:25 1970

02 Savage Grace - Come on Down 4:22 1970

03 Rodriguez - Crucify Your Mind 2:32 1970

04 Troyka - Early Morning 3:54 1970

05 Iron Butterfly - New Day 3:20 1970

06 Power of Zeus - It Couldn't Be Me 3:51 1970

07 Human Beast - Maybe Someday 6:22 1970

08 Third Power - Persecution 3:29 1970

09 Cold Sun - South Texas 5:19 1970

10 Marcus - The City of Inbetween 3:34 1970

11 Human Instinct - Tomorrow 4:21 1970

12 Flower Travellin' Band - Satori Part 1 5:23 1971

13 Groundhogs - Cherry Red 5:43 1971

14 Bloodrock - D.O.A. 4:33 1971

15 Grand Funk Railroad - I Want Freedom 6:17 1971

16 Mountain - Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin) 5:55 1971

17 Savoy Brown - Tell Mama 5:19 1971

18 Audience - I Had a Dream 4:19 1971

19 Cressida - Let Them Come When They Will 11:48 1971

20 B.F.Trike - For Sale Or Lease 3:03 1971

21 Farm - Sunshine in My Window 3:57 1971

22 Leaf Hound - Freelance Fiend 3:11 2019

CD4

01 Alcatraz - Simple Headphone Mind 10:00 1971

02 Bridge - The Life of A Day 4:01 1971

03 Luv Machine - Witches Wand 2:45 1971

04 Highway Robbery - Ain't Gonna Take No More 3:55 1972

05 Captain Beyond - Dancing Madly Backwards (On A Sea of Air) 4:02 1972

06 Hard Stuff - Jay Time 2:51 1972

07 Night Sun - Plastic Shotgun 2:33 1972

08 Bang - The Queen 5:24 1972

09 Ten Years After - Choo Choo Mama 4:00 1972

10 Lindisfarne - Don't Ask Me 3:37 1972

11 Wishbone Ash - Sometime World 6:53 1972

12 Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Isobel Goudie - Part 1 : My Lady of The Night 7:30 1972

13 Tranquility - Try Again 4:38 1972

14 Silverhead - Ace Supreme 3:44 1972

15 Flow - It Swallowed the Sun 4:53 1972

16 Uriah Heep - The Wizard 3:01 1972

17 Nitzinger - Louisiana Cock Fight 3:33 1973

18 Granicus - You're in America 4:10 1973

19 Budgie - In The Grip of A Tyrefitter's Hand 6:24 1973

20 Gravy Train - Staircase to the Day 7:33 1973

21 Pink Fairies - Street Urchin 7:04 1973

22 String Driven Thing - It's A Game [Bonus] 3:37 1973

CD5

01 Blocco Mentale - La Nuova Forza 7:36 1973

02 Rare Earth - Ma 17:19 1973

03 Paul Kossoff - Tuesday Morning 17:35 1973

04 Rory Gallagher - Walk on Hot Coals 7:02 1973

05 Mantis - Island Suite 22:31 1973

06 Troc - Kali Lo 6:40 1973

07 Be-Bop Deluxe - Axe Victim 5:15 1974

08 Robin Trower - Bridge of Sighs 5:01 1974

09 Robin Trower - Day of the Eagle 5:02 1974

10 Baker Gurvitz Army - Help Me 4:36 1974

11 Gregg Allman - Where Can You Go? 8:10 1974

12 Kestrel - The Acrobat 6:43 1974

13 White Witch - Class of 2000 6:12 1974

14 Captain Marryat - It Happened to Me 8:11 1974

15 JPT Scare Band - Acid Acetate Excursion 6:58 1974

16 Headstone - Carry Me On 3:18 1974

17 Armageddon (US) - Buzzard 8:21 1975

18 Alquin - Stranger 6:41 1975

19 Dirty Tricks - Back Off Evil 6:40 1975

20 Crack The Sky - Ice 4:36 1975

21 Cain - Queen of The Night 3:08 1975

22 Pavlov's Dog - Song Dance 5:01 2024

CD6

01 Highway - Meadow 8:42 1975

02 Head East - Never Been Any Reason 5:11 1975

03 Arrows - I Love Rock 'N' Roll 3:02 1975

04 Max Webster - Hangover 4:36 1976

05 Paris - Rock of Ages 3:08 1976

06 Yesterday and Today - Alcohol 4:31 1976

07 Truth and Janey - My Mind 5:57 1976

08 Stonewall - Outer Spaced 3:31 1976

09 Angel - Cast The First Stone 4:38 1977

10 Detective - Recognition 4:32 1977

11 Starz - Cherry Baby 3:46 1977

12 Legs Diamond - Stage Fright 5:01 1977

13 Hunt - Little Miss Perfection 3:08 1977

14 Godz - Gotta Keep A Runnin' 7:31 1978

15 Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Martha's Madman 4:52 1978

16 Sorcery - Talking to the Devil 3:57 1978

17 Boyzz - To Wild to Tame 4:28 1978

18 Rockets - Can't Sleep 2:58 1979

19 Blackfoot - I Got A Line on You 3:17 1979

20 Point Blank - Takin' it Easy 4:38 1979

21 Teaze - Boys Night Out 4:06 1979

22 Joy Division - She's Lost Control 3:57 1979

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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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