Soul Superman/A Dab Of Soul

• The rare soul scene is overwhelmingly a 7” record-collecting world but there are a few notable exceptions. 1967 saw two Detroit-recorded LPs issued from one of the most admired production teams in the city – Pied Piper Productions. Motown musician Jack Ashford and his business partner Shelley Haims assembled the cream of Motown’s Funk Brothers musicians for the sessions and supplied classic sophisticated soul songs for the diverse artists who were to be given a shot at the album market. Cleveland group the Hesitations had hit with their debut 45 ‘Soul Superman’ and this success gave them a chance to expand into the album market. Detroit singer Freddy Butler’s more sophisticated ballad-singing was seen as ripe for an LP by the team. 
• Freddy Butler was a big-voiced solo act who had already recorded for Detroit labels M&M, Samo, Starmaker and Wheelsville. The only single from this LP, ‘There Was A Time’, was recorded at United Sound studios in September 1966 and though it failed to chart, the project went ahead. There was more emphasis on big ballads such as ‘They Say I’m Afraid (Of Losing You)’ and ‘Just Because You’ve Been Hurt’, but the sound is still unmistakably Pied Piper, evident in the slick mid-tempo rhythms of ‘I Like Your Style’, ‘Deserted’ and ‘You’d Better Get Hip Girl’. The most famous track was the bouncy ‘That’s When I Need You’, which was played at the UK’s big Northern Soul all-nighters in the 70s when it was bootlegged onto a 45 despite having only legitimately been an LP selection.
• The songs of Jack Ashford, Lorraine Chandler, Joe Hunter, Mike Terry and Herbie Williams – coupled with the best Detroit soul arrangers and musicians – mean this really is a case of dropping the needle anywhere and finding a gem.

Tracklist

SOUL SUPERMAN

1. SHE WON’T COME BACK

2. YOU’LL NEVER KNOW

3. YOU CAN’T BY PASS LOVE

4. I BELIEVE TO MY SOUL

5. THAT’S WHAT LOVE IS

6. SOUL SUPERMAN

7. SOUL KIND OF LOVE

8. I’M NOT BUILT THAT WAY

9. I’LL BE RIGHT THERE

10. WAIT A MINUTE

11. SOUL SUPERMAN NO. 2

12. CLAP YOUR HANDS

 

A DAB OF SOUL

13. THERE WAS A TIME

14. THAT’S WHEN I NEED YOU

15. I LIKE YOUR STYLE

16. I FELL IN LOVE

17. NEVER LET LOVE GO

18. THEY SAY I’M AFRAID (OF LOSING YOU)

19. THIS THING

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