James & Bobby Purify: Shake A Tail Feather! (Sundazed)

 The Sundazed label specializes in putting out world class reissues with all the little extras that make record collectors sing their praises. In the last couple of years Sundazed has been digging deep into the vaults of Bell Records issuing some vintage, long out of print 60's era soul music. Shake A Tail Feather! collects 28 sizzling soul duets by James & Bobby Purify recorded between 1966 and 1969.

 There's something about soul music from this period that has never quite been matched. A good deal of the credit goes to the legendary team of Rick Hall's Fame studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Rick Hall had collected an incredible cast of session musicians who had an uncanny feel for this music. Some of the later songs were recorded in Memphis at Chip Moman's formidable American Studio and also feature some great session players. The music also benefits from the songwriting of Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham arguably the greatest southern songwriting team.

 There were a number of hot soul duos at the time of these recordings most notably the legendary Sam & Dave. This collection makes a good case that James & Bobby Purify were certainly in the same league as that better known duo. In their brief career James & Bobby's passionate, soulful harmonies propelled them often onto the R&B and pop charts. The slinky Dan & Spooner penned "I'm Your Puppet" hit the top ten in both the R&B and pop charts in 1966, the frenzied dance number "Shake A Tail Feather", the storming Sam & Dave cover "I Take What I Want" and the soaring "Do Unto Me" all hit in 1967. In fact just about every one of their Bell singles hit the charts. Other gems include a stellar version of "You Left The Water Running" that rivals just about any other version, the surging "I Was Born To Lose Out", the pulsing Otis Redding penned "Keep Pushing" and "The Weeper" one of five previously unreleased tracks. The duo essentially folded in 1969 due to James Purify's unreliability but did get together down the line to issue two final LP's in 1975 and 1977.

 Fans of vintage 60's soul music will find this collection indispensable and as usual Sundazed has done a classy job on the packaging with period photos, unreleased tracks and thorough liner notes from Bill Dahl. Also highly recommended are previous Sundazed soul collections from the same period by Mighty Sam McClain and Solomon Burke.

-Check out these related reviews:
Mighty Sam McClain & Solomon Burke

Various Artists: Times Ain't Like They Used To Be
Vol. 5 & 6 (Yazoo)

 Times Ain't Like They Used To Be is an apt title for the music on these two exceptional rural music collections evoking a lost world of simpler times, back porches and dusty roads. Producer Richard Nevins states that the objective of this series "is to make available to the interested public classic recordings of early American rural music in high enough standards of sound quality to convey the power and eloquence of the amazing performances." That it does, revealing a treasure trove of styles from the 20's and 30's by performers only known to the most ardent of collectors.

 The music on these volumes is a wide amalgam of styles encompassing blues, spirituals, rags, ballads, breakdowns and everything in between. The amount of sheer talent and passion is amazing and the music is captured in all it's undiluted glory before marketing concerns or studio wizardry got in the way of the music. Adding to the power of the performances is excellent sound quality considering the vintage and rarity of many of these recordings.

 Colorful names like the Grayson County Railsplitters, Wilmer Watts & The Lonely Eagles, Bull Mountain Moonshiners and The Swap Rooters will, I suspect, be as unfamiliar to most listeners as they are to me but it makes little difference once this spirited music envelopes you with it's wailing fiddles and nimble banjo plucking. The more familiar names include Uncle Dave Macon, Jimmie Davis, Buddy Boy Hawkins and two tunes apiece by Delta blues legends Charlie Patton and Skip James. Also of interest to blues fans are two fine recording by Eli Framer from his only known 78, a newly discovered track by fine singer Ben Covington and the Mississippi Moaner's (Isiah Nettles) mesmerizing "It's So Cold In China."The real revelation however are the two newly discovered songs by the mysterious Blind Joe Reynolds. Reynolds cut only three 78's and the missing record become somethiong of a blues holy grail among collectors who probably assumed it would never be found. Reynolds is best know for his "Outside Woman Blues" which was cut by Cream in the 60's. As to be expected the sound quality is a bit rough but both "Cold Woman Blues" and "Ninety Nine Blues" are masterpieces showcasing Reynolds' stunning vocals and driving bottleneck guitar in all their raw glory. In addition to the music producer Richard Nevins provides insightful background in the 15 page booklet. Also included are never before seen photos of Skip James as a young man and the first known photo of the enigmatic Buddy Hawkins plus a newly discovered line drawing of Charlie Patton.

 The Times Ain't Like They Used To Be series continues to be an eye opening and broad minded look at the stunning rural music that some how find it's way on to record in the 20's and 30's. Anyone who has an interest in early American roots music should investigate these amazing CD's. In addition I also highly recommend the three volumes in Yazoo's Before The Blues series.

(Jeff Harris)

Various Artists: E. Rodney Jones- The World's Greatest Disc Jockey Vol. 1 (SDEG)

 Folks like E. Rodney Jones are an endangered species these days coming from an era when disc jockey's actually mattered and could influence public taste. On this fine collection Jones has teamed up with Jerry Williams aka Swamp Dogg to present the type of soul and blues he's championed all his life. This is a wide ranging collection of the known and well known spanning from the 50's right up to the present. Eleven of the cuts were produced by Jerry Williams and one produced by Jones himself.

 Among the well known names include a pair of sultry soul-blues numbers by Z.Z. Hill that open and close this collection. Both "It Ain't No Use" and "Second Chance" come from The Brand New Z.Z. Hill a good early 70's session that predates his popular Malaco period. Other well known artists include Irma Thomas on the excellent soul ballad "She'll Never Be Your Wife", the tough blues of Lightning Slim on the brooding "Good Morning Heartaches", Swamp Dogg's searing classic "Mama's Baby Daddy's Maybe", Guitar Shorty's ominous "Hard Life Blues" from 1959 sounding uncannily like Otis Rush from his Cobra era and Jimmy Reed on "Hard working Hannah" from late in his career that's not representative of his best work. The rest of the program is filled out with some first class Southern soul and blues gems like the recent Wilson Williams cut "My Woman Got A Caseworker", Little Oscar on the surging tough blues of "I Tried", Don Hillinger on the deep soul ballad of "I've Been Hit By Love", a typically fine Willie Clayton on "Party Down" and Charles Whitehead on the pulsing "Between The Lines" sounding like a lost Stax era classic. Undoubtedly one of the highlights is Roy C.'s epic eight minute "Saved By The Bell (Infidelity Georgia)" a classic half sung, half preached cheating song.

 E. Rodney Jones is still out there, now on KQXL out of Baton Rouge, doing what he's always done- "picking hits and breaking records." E. Rodney Jones- The World's Greatest Disc Jockey Vol. 1 is a marvelous collection of soul and blues that sadly your not likely to hear on the radio anymore except perhaps on a handful of Southern radio stations. This CD is available at Swamp Dogg's website: www.swampdogg.com