ROCK GOES SYMPHONIC
VA - Rock Goes Symphonic (A Butterboy Compilation) (8 x CDs)
Rock Goes Symphonic isn’t about strict definitions or purist boundaries. It isn’t limited to tracks with full orchestras, and it isn’t trying to recreate the classical‑rock crossover clichés of the seventies. What this set explores is something broader and more interesting, the symphonic imagination in rock and its neighbouring genres. Sometimes that imagination comes from a real string section,sometimes it’s built from Mellotrons, synths, layered guitars, or studio alchemy. What matters is the feeling—scale, colour, drama, and the sense that the music is reaching for something larger than the room it was made in.
This compilation isn’t a “best‑of,” it’s a long, winding, cross‑era story about how orchestral thinking found its way into rock, pop, folk, ambient, and progressive music across six decades. These eight CDs trace that lineage from its earliest symphonic stirrings to its modern, cinematic bloom, using tracks that aren’t just beautiful, but often rare, overlooked, or quietly legendary in collector circles.
Across this set you’ll hear Italian one‑album wonders, French symphonic obscurities, Japanese pastoral suites, Argentinian prog epics, Scandinavian dream‑folk, American chamber‑rock, and modern orchestral‑pop that carries the same emotional weight as the classics. Many of these pieces never travelled far beyond their home countries; some were pressed in tiny quantities; others survived only through dedicated collectors and archivists. That’s part of the point, this set exists to bring those hidden corners into the same light as the giants.
CDs 1 and 2 lay the foundation: the Golden‑Era Symphonic Rock that shaped everything that followed. These are the long‑form suites, the orchestral pop experiments, the baroque‑rock hybrids, the music that first imagined rock as something widescreen and cinematic.
CDs 3 and 4 move into the modern era, where orchestral ideas reappear in new forms: chamber‑pop, post‑rock, ambient‑symphonic, and the kind of indie songwriting that treats strings and atmosphere as emotional architecture. These discs show how the symphonic impulse didn’t fade, it evolved.
CDs 5 and 6 bridge the eras. Here the acoustic, the electronic, the folk‑baroque, and the cinematic all meet. These tracks sit between worlds: part classic, part modern, all connected by a shared sense of scale and emotional depth. This is the “hybrid” zone — the place where the old language and the new one speak to each other.
CDs 7 and 8 bring the journey home with a deep dive into global symphonic prog, the rarest material in the set. Italian RPI gems, French cosmic suites, Argentinian and Japanese masterpieces, Scandinavian pastoralism, German symphonic heaviness, and American cult classics. These discs are the heart of the collector’s story: music made with ambition, imagination, and almost no commercial compromise. Many of these tracks were pressed in tiny runs, traded hand‑to‑hand, or rediscovered decades later. They’re here because they deserve to be heard alongside the canon.
Across all eight discs, the through‑line is simple, orchestral imagination. Whether it’s expressed through a Mellotron, a string quartet, a brass swell, a post‑rock crescendo, a folk‑baroque arrangement, or a 20‑minute suite, the spirit is the same, music that reaches beyond the small and aims for something larger, more emotional, more cinematic.
This set exists because these connections matter. Because the story of symphonic rock didn’t begin in 1970 and it didn’t end in 1977. Because the rarest records often say the most. And because when you place these pieces side by side, the classics, the moderns, the hybrids, the obscurities, you hear one long conversation across time.
Settle in. Take the journey. Let the scale of it unfold. (B)
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Track Lists
CD1 Golden‑Era Symphonic Rock
01 Sebastian Hardie - Openings 13:01 1975
02 Gentle Giant - A Cry for Everyone 4:06 1972
03 Beatles - A Day in The Life 4:59 1967
04 Procol Harum - A Salty Dog 4:37 1969
05 Tom Petty - Alright for Now 2:00 1989
06 Yes - And You and I 9:28 1972
07 Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) - Appena un po' 7:46 1972
08 Deep Purple - April 12:10 1969
09 Renaissance - Ashes Are Burning 11:10 1973
10 Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother 23:42 1970
11 Strawbs - Autumn 8:30 1974
12 Jethro Tull - Baker St. Muse 16:39 1975
13 Jethro Tull - Bouree 3:45 1969
14 Renaissance - Diary of an Empty Day 4:14 1978
15 King Crimson - Epitaph 8:48 1969
16 Focus - Eruption 22:51 1971
17 Radiohead - Exit Music 4:24 1997
18 Genesis - Firth of Fifth 9:30 1973
19 Supertramp - Fool's Overture 10:52 1977
20 Led Zeppelin - Friends 3:54 1970
21 Zombies - Hung Up on a Dream 2:59 1968
22 10cc - I’m Not in Love 6:04 1975
23 Triumvirat - Illusions on A Double Dimple 23:22 1974
24 Serge Gainsbourg - Initials B.B. 3:36 1968
CD2 Golden‑Era Symphonic Rock
25 Traffic - John Barleycorn Must Die 6:25 1970
26 Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Joybringer 3:33 1973
27 Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Knife Edge 5:03 1970
28 Electric Light Orchestra - Kuiama 11:31 1973
29 Who - Love Reign O'er Me 5:49 1973
30 Gryphon - Midnight Mushrumps 19:02 1974
31 Barclay James Harvest - Mockingbird 6:39 1971
32 Moody Blues - Nights in White Satin 4:24 1967
33 Beatles - Penny Lane 3:00 1967
34 Kayak - Phantom of The Night 4:59 1978
35 Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - R.I.P. (Requiescant in pace) 6:40 1972
36 Sting - Russians 3:58 1964
37 Matt Monro - Somewhere 3:33 1964
38 Caravan - The Love in Your Eye 12:32 1972
39 Queen - The Prophet's Song 8:19 1975
40 Camel - The Snow Goose 3:02 1975
41 Todd Rundgren - The Verb "to Love" 7:24 1976
42 Elton John - Tiny Dancer 6:03 1972
43 Colosseum - Valentyne Suite 16:51 1969
44 It's a Beautiful Day - White Bird 6:07 1969
45 David Bowie - Wild is The Wind 6:00 1976
46 Harry Nilsson - Without You 3:21 1971
47 Rick Wakeman - Jane Seymour 4:50 1973
48 Sebastian Hardie - Rosanna 6:03 1975
CD3 Modern Orchestral Rock Evolution
01 Paddy McAloon - 01 I Trawl The Megahertz 21:58 2003
02 Dead Can Dance - The Host of Seraphim 6:16 1988
02 Walkabouts - The Light Will Stay on (Single Version) 4:18 1996
03 Siouxsie and the Banshees - Dazzle 5:31 1984
04 Cocteau Twins - Frou-Frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires 5:36 1990
05 Enya - Caribbean Blue 3:59 1991
06 XTC - 1000 Umbrellas 3:40 1986
07 Tears for Fears - The Working Hour 6:31 1985
08 Talk Talk - Eden 7:40 1988
09 Mark Hollis - The Colour of Spring 3:52 1998
10 Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Shipbuilding 4:53 1983
11 Prefab Sprout - Desire As 5:20 1985
12 Kate Bush - Cloudbusting 5:11 1985
13 Sundays - On Earth 2:24 1992
14 David Sylvian - Orpheus 4:51 1988
15 Psychedelic Furs - Torch 4:51 1989
16 Peter Murphy - Cuts You Up 5:27 1990
17 Japan - Nightporter 6:59 1982
18 Roxy Music - My Only Love 5:18 1980
19 Blue Nile - Downtown Lights 6:31 1989
CD4 Modern Orchestral Rock Evolution
20 Church - Under the Milky Way 4:58 1988
21 Smashing Pumpkins - Tonight, Tonight 4:14 1996
21 Smashing Pumpkins - Tonight, Tonight 4:14 1996
23 Cranberries - Ode to My Family 4:30 1994
24 Smiths - Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me 5:06 1987
25 Echo and The Bunnymen - Ocean Rain 5:24 1984
26 Simple Minds - Belfast Child 6:41 1989
27 Waterboys - The Whole of The Moon 5:01 1985
28 Triffids - Wide Open Road 4:09 1986
29 Crash Test Dummies - Superman's Song 4:32 1996
30 Divine Comedy - Tonight We Fly 2:57 1994
31 Suede - Still Life 5:19 1994
32 Chameleons - Second Skin 6:51 1983
33 U2 - Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me 4:45 1995
34 Peter Gabriel - Red Rain 5:41 1987
35 Radiohead - Exit Music (For a Film) 4:24 1997
36 Cure - Plainsong 5:17 1989
37 Mazzy Star - Flowers in December 4:58 1996
CD5 Hybrid Cross Era Symphonic Rock
01 Antony and the Johnsons - Hope There's Someone 4:42 2005
02 Julia Holter - Feel You 4:08 2015
03 Efterklang - Modern Drift 4:55 2010
04 Innocence Mission - Brotherhood of Man 3:28 2007
05 Andrew Bird - Sovay 4:41 2005
06 Villagers - Becoming a Jackal 3:19 2010
07 Antlers - Kettering 5:11 2009
08 Shearwater - Rooks 3:21 2008
09 Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position 3:53 2007
10 Dears - Lost in The Plot 4:50 2003
11 Swell Season - Falling Slowly 4:50 2006
12 A Winged Victory for The Sullen - Steep Hills of Vicodin Tears 4:25 2011
13 Arcade Fire - Intervention 4:19 2006
14 Weyes Blood - Movies 5:53 2019
15 Low - Especially Me 5:26 2011
16 Angus & Julia Stone - Santa Monica Dream 5:30 2010
17 Explosions in the Sky - Your Hand in Mine 8:17 2003
18 Agnes Obel - Riverside 3:48 2010
19 Divine Comedy - A Lady of A Certain Age 5:47 2006
CD6 Hybrid Cross Era Symphonic Rock
20 Cinematic Orchestra - To Build a Home 6:11 2007
21 Decemberists - The Crane Wife, Pts. 1 & 2 11:19 2006
22 Elbow - One Day Like This 3:40 2008
23 Unthanks - The Testimony of Patience Kershaw 4:05 2009
24 Grizzly Bear - Foreground 3:35 2009
25 Florence & The Machine - Shake it Out 3:50 2011
26 MONO - Ashes in the Snow 11:45 2009
27 Eluvium - Prelude for Time Feelers 5:50 2007
28 Joanna Newsom - Emily 12:08 2006
29 Beirut - Postcards From Italy 4:17 2006
30 Paper Kites - Bloom 3:30 2010
31 Bat for Lashes - Laura 4:26 2012
32 National - Fake Empire 3:17 2008
33 Keaton Henson - You 4:42 2013
34 Radio Dept. - Heaven's on Fire 3:33 2010
35 M83 - Wait 5:43 2012
36 Midlake - Roscoe [Fleetwood Mac] 4:46 2006
37 Sufjan Stevens - Chicago 6:04 2005
38 Sigur Rós - Hoppípolla 4:28 2005
CD7 Rare Symphonic Rock
01 Celeste - Principe Di Giorno 6:13 1976
02 Harmonium - Depuis l’automne 10:27 1975
03 Locanda Delle Fate - A Volte Un Istante Di Quiete 6:28 1977
04 Triana - En el lago 6:36 1975
05 Triana - En el lago 6:35 1975
06 Carpe Diem - Reincarnation 3:51 1975
07 Sandrose - Vision 5:22 1972
08 Tai Phong - For Years and Years (Cathy) 8:31 1975
09 Corte Dei Miracoli - Verso Il Sole 6:27 1976
10 Metamorfosi - Cielo di Marte 6:00 1973
11 Atlas - Elisabiten 7:09 1979
12 Gotic - Escenes de la Terra en Fiesta i de le Mar en Calma 4:04 1978
13 Ezra Winston - Call Up 6:51 1988
14 Ragnarök - Fabriksfunky 4:52 1975
15 Novalis - Wer Schmetterlinge lachen hört 9:18 1975
16 Kaipa - Musiken Ar Ljuset 7:04 1975
17 PFM - Harlequin 7:49 1975
18 Quella Vecchia Locanda - Villa Doria Pamphili 5:26 1974
19 Le Orme - Gioco Di Bimba 2:56 1972
20 Eris Pluvia - In the Rising Mist 4:38 1991
21 Quasar - Seeing Stars 3:35 1982
22 Nimbus - Children of The Earth 3:16 1980
23 Mirthrandir - For Four 14:44 1976
24 Arachnoïd - Le chamadère 13:52 1979
25 Apoteosi - Apoteosi 5:56 1975
CD8 Rare Symphonic Rock
26 Crucis - Recluso artista 6:48 1976
27 Cervello - Canto del capro 6:33 1973
28 Bacamarte - UFO 6:27 1983
29 Balletto Di Bronzo - Epilogo 2:30 1972
30 Pentwater - Living room displays 5:01 1977
31 Yezda Urfa - Boris and His Three Verses 2:51 1975
32 Cathedral - Gong 7:00 1978
33 Cathedral - The Search 11:28 1978
34 Raccomandata Ricevuta Ritorno - Il Mondo Cade Su Di Me 6:49 1972
35 Atoll - L'araignee-Mal - B) L'araignee-Mal 5:12 1975
36 Shingetsu - Oni 9:37 1979
37 Wigwam - Bless Your Lucky Stars 6:02 1975
38 Pulsar - Puzzle / Omen 8:24 1975
39 Solaris - Marsbéli Krónikák: I 3:34 1984
40 Trace - Gaillarde 6:22 1975
41 Wapassou - Trip 13:45 1973
42 Mona Lisa - Voyage avec les morts 9:48 1974
43 Alphataurus - La Mente Vola 9:20 1973
44 Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso - Canto Nomade Per Un Prigioniero Politico 15:43 1973
45 Museo Rosenbach - Zarathustra 20:33 1973
46 Corte Dei Miracoli - Verso Il Sole 6:27 1976
47 Atila - El Principio Del Fin 15:54 1975
48 Grobschnitt - Symphony 13:47 1972
49 Dice - War a) Ouverture 1:19 1977
50 Dice - War b) Fronts 6:12 1977
51 Dice - War c) Battle 2:33 1977
52 Dice - War d) Deserted Battlegrounds 0:42 1977
53 Atlas - Den Vita Tranans Väg 7:18 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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