Search - Billy Butler :: The Right Tracks - Complete Okeh Recordings 1963-1966

The Right Tracks - Complete Okeh Recordings 1963-1966
Billy Butler
The Right Tracks - Complete Okeh Recordings 1963-1966
Genres: Pop, R&B, Rock
 
  •  Track Listings (28) - Disc #1

Presenting the 'holy grail' of 60s Chicago soul CDs - the first legitimate issue of the Complete OKeh Recordings of Billy Butler. Although never a big name in the way that his elder brother Jerry has always been in char...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Billy Butler
Title: The Right Tracks - Complete Okeh Recordings 1963-1966
Members Wishing: 2
Total Copies: 0
Label: Kent UK
Original Release Date: 7/10/2007
Re-Release Date: 7/24/2007
Album Type: Import
Genres: Pop, R&B, Rock
Style: Soul
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPCs: 029667228022, 0029667228022

Synopsis

Album Description
Presenting the 'holy grail' of 60s Chicago soul CDs - the first legitimate issue of the Complete OKeh Recordings of Billy Butler. Although never a big name in the way that his elder brother Jerry has always been in chart circles, Billy Butler is considered by soul fans to be synonymous with quality and excellence, his small catalogue of recordings outranking those of artists of far greater fame. The fans have been waiting for this CD for years. It's wholly appropriate that now it's here, and it's on Kent UK. As well as the A- and B-sides of all of Billy's OKeh 45s, and the rare version of 'Found True Love' that was originally issued by accident on the stereo version of Billy's "Right Track" album, our CD features all of the surviving alternate takes and unissued tracks - both vocal and instrumental - that Billy left behind when he left OKeh for Brunswick in late 1966. Some of these tracks are also making their stereo debut, mixed down from original Columbia 3- and 4-track masters where such things have survived. It also features six hitherto unissued masters and alternate takes, plus five instrumental backing tracks which feature Billy on rhythm guitar only, and which remained unfinished when Billy left OKeh for Brunswick in late 1966. In the early days of Northern soul, Billy Butler's OKeh 45s were among the most cherished by the scene's pioneering collectors. Nearly 40 years later, it is the hallmark of quality that sets "The Right Tracks" apart from many other such collections.

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CD Reviews

Superbly executed comprehensive collection
Zub | Forks Twp., PA | 07/30/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Not infrequently, siblings or offspring of superstars gain recognition beyond what their talents - or more accurately, lack of - merit. Conversely, a few who share lineage with high profile celebrities are destined to struggle, despite true talent, in the shadow of the chosen one. The latter came to be the story of Jerry Butler's younger brother, Billy. Despite his talent and skills, and the support of powerhouse icons in the industry like Curtis Mayfield, Billy's three-year stint at OKeh Records during the mid-60's yielded only modest chart success with one top-10, a few top-40 r'n'b charters and a single, anemic incursion into the pop top-100 with "I Can't Work No Longer".



Forty years' neglect of Butler's contributions finally ends now that Kent Records of the U.K., part of the Ace Records family, brings to market an outstanding - and the first legitimate - collection of Butler's OKeh recordings. This massive, 29-track collection contains all his a- and b-single sides, as well as alternate versions and eight additional, previously unreleased tracks done while at OKeh. All, save one, have been taken from the original tapes with several appearing in stereo for the first time. Ace consultant and collector, Tony Rounce contributes a session-by-session musical history of Butler's OKeh years to the 16-page liner notes booklet that also contains pics, illustrations and track details.



Though relegated to also-ran status in his day, Billy Butler's musical contributions get the premier treatment here. Going way beyond the run-of-the-mill best-of's or greatest hits pieces usually afforded even more successful artists of the era, this new Kent effort deserves shelfspace in the collector's musical library."