The Hesitations/ Freddy Butler

★★★

Soul Superman/With A Dab Of Soul

KENT. CD/DL

Twofer of Detroit soul rarities from Jack Ashford’s Pied Piper label.

The Hesitations and Freddy Butler’s respective 1967 debut long-players were masterminded by Pied Piper Productions AKA Motown Funk Brothers stalwart Jack Ashford and originally issued on Kapp. Butler was known for his big soul voice and a smooth sophisticated style, and With

A Dab Of Soul plays to his strengths with a ballad-heavy set including the sublime They Say I’m Afraid (Of Losing You) and Just Because You’ve Been Hurt, while on ’70s Northern soul dancer That’s When I Need You he really whips up a storm. The Hesitations, meanwhile, were rougher round the edges and, influenced by their pal Edwin Starr, hit with Soul Superman, their debut single, pretty much a rewrite of Starr’s Agent Double O Soul. They then made an album featuring a bunch of Starr-like tracks that had they been issued on Motown might very well have made it. Lois Wilson