"...You'd Better Get Hip..."
A fourth CD compilation
(this one for 2021) given over to Detroit Soul of the 60ts, in particular to
the Pied Piper Productions team (see full list below). I must admit that
in March 2022, I'm six months late as a reviewer and Soul-fan to this fabulous
60ts Northern Soul-ish party, but I've got to review this superlative reissue
from England's finest because it's such a joyous dancing winner.
Ace Records of the UK and
their stunning Kent Soul label subsidiary give you two sought after 1967 US
Debut Albums (both in Stereo) originally on Kapp Records – first by Freddy Butler
in April and then the Hesitations better known band effort that took over with
the hit single in June of 1967. Let’s get at the Soul Supermen...
UK released Friday 24
September 2021 - "Soul Superman/With A Dab Of Soul" by THE
HESITATIONS and FREDDY BUTLER on Ace/Kent Soul CDKEND 505 (Barcode
029667103428) Remastered 2 US Stereo Debut LPs onto 1CD and plays out as
follows (59:55 minutes):
1. She Won't Come Back [Side
1]
2. You'll Never Know
3. You Can't Bypass
Love
4. I Believe To My
Soul
5. That's What Love Is
6. Soul Superman
7. Soul Kind Of Love [Side
2]
8. I'm Not Built That
Way
9. I'll Be Right Here
10. Wait A Minute
11. Soul Superman No. 2
12. Clap Your Hands
Tracks 1 to 12 are the debut
album "Soul Superman" by THE HESITATIONS released June 1967 in the
USA on Kapp Records KS 3525. A Pied-Piper-GWP Production.
13. There Was A Time [Side
1]
14. That's When I Need You
15. I Like Your Style
16. I Fell In Love (I Can't
Help It)
17. Never Let Love Go
18. They Say I'm Afarid (Of
Losing You)
19. This Thing! [Side 2]
20. Just Because You've Been
Hurt
21. You'd Better Get Hip
Girl
22. Give Me Lots Of
Lovin'
23. She's Foolin' You
24. Deserted
Tracks 13 to 24 are the
debut album "With A Dab Of Soul" by FREDDY BUTLER released April 1967 in the USA on Kapp Records KS
3519 in Stereo.
The 20-page booklet with ADY
CROASDELL liner notes is the usual classy affair we've come to expect from Kent
- all those Kapp Records US 7"-single labels, rare Euro picture Sleeves,
the UK "Rhythm N' Blues" EP , promotional photos of both Freddy and
the boys larking it up in their Man of Steel outfits for the "Soul
Superman" LP. Croasdell quite rightly waxes lyrical about the Curtis
Mayfield-smooth Soul of Butler tracks like "That's When I Need You" -
Northern Soul nirvana for those in the know. The NICK ROBBINS Stereo Remasters
are beautifully full and warm and make you want to throw Talcum Powder on the
lino and do damage to your aging hips. Great.
FREDDY BUTLER
In January 1967 (over in
Blighty), singers Sue and Sunny had put out "You Can’t Bypass Love"
on Columbia DB 8099 as a 45-single. On the flipside of that sought-after dancer
was a tune called "I Like Your Style" penned by famed songwriters
Phil Coulter and Bill Martin. Freddy chose this mid-tempo shuffle for Track 3
on Side 1 of his debut LP and it’s a corker. "I Fell In Love (I Can't Help
It)" has a Clarence Carter sexiness to it as the rhythm passes it on home
to you.
April 1967 then saw Kapp
Records USA put out the Side 1 lead off track "There Was A Time" b/w
Side 2's Harmonica-driven "This Thing!" as a taster 45-single on Kapp Records K-819.
It would be the LP’s only single. But that didn't stop Northern Soul types in
English clubs going past the primarily ballad-oriented feel of the album and
gravitating to the bopping LP cut "That's When I Need You" – itself
apparently bootlegged onto a 45 sometime in the 70ts. Track after track is
classy and you can so hear why sums of money are and have been parted with for
this stuff.
THE HESITATIONS
The Hesitations LP clocked
up three US 45s (Kapp 790, 822 and 848) and Euro issues too. Predating the
album by nearly six months, December 1966 saw Kapp K-790 put "Soul
Superman" out with "I'm Not Built That Way" on the flipside - a
fantastic double-header for Northern Soul dancers guaranteeing that copies
cross hands for over £150 on a regular basis.
Dash for chart-immortality
number two came in February 1967 when Kapp K-810 hit the streets with the soft
shuffle of "Soul Kind Of Love" b/w "Wait A Minute". Girly
singers join the guys on the very Motown A-side as we hear about Soul Music
socking it to the kids and making the news. Personally I like the 'hear what I
got to say' loveliness of the flipside "Wait A Minute" better - very
sweet 60ts Soul. Single number three hit in April 1967 with another two from
the album - "She Won't Come Back" b/w "I'll Be Right There"
- and again - both cracker-lacking-good. Top album cuts don't come much better
than the '...do the Boogaloo and Philly Dog...' shuffle of the Side 2 closer "Clap
Your Hands" - jump around and get in the groove to this one.
There's a reason why fans of
Soul Music get weepy about Ace Records - releases like this. September 2021's
Kent KEND 505 exposes great Sixties Soul and does it with style and yes - even
love. Gorgeous...
CDs in Ace/Kent Soul’s Pied
Piper Productions Series of Detroit Soul
1. VARIOUS ARTISTS -
"Pied Piper Presents A New Concept In Detroit Soul" (28 January 2013
UK Ace/Kent Soul CDKEND 389 - Barcode 029667238922)
2.
VARIOUS ARTISTS - "Pied Piper:
Follow Your Soul" (25 May 2015 UK Ace/Kent Soul CDKEND 429 - Barcode
029667242929)
3. VARIOUS ARTISTS -
"Pied Piper: Finale" (24 February 2017 UK Ace/Kent Soul CDKEND 461 -
Barcode 029667078924)
4. THE HESITATIONS / FREDDY
BUTLER - "Soul Superman/With A Dab Of Soul" (24 September 2021 UK
Ace/Kent Soul CDKEND 505 – Barcode 029667103428 – 2 US Stereo LPs from 1967 on
Kapp Records Remastered onto 1CD – The Hesitations first, then Freddy Butler –
24-Tracks)
