Billy Butler – The Right Tracks – The Complete Okeh Recordings 1963-1966 CD (Kent)

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, it’s on Kent.

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. Ace Records