Remember how it used top be cool when Puff Daddy would rip off an old soul song, or an 80s pop song, or a friggin' Led Zeppelin song, and pass it off as his own? Well last summer, he did it again with "Shake A Tail Feather", only this time, no one got it because the song that he ripped off was just obscure enough to slip past the oldies radio playlists. That song was a tune by the Five Du-Tones which was made famous by James and Bobby Purify, a paired of conk-headed southern soul brothers (actually cousins) whose singles are so infectious it's hard to believe they never made it past the Bell Records studios and the juke joints of Pensacola.
Shake A Tail Feather, the Purify Borthers' greatest hits collection, was recorded entirely between 1966-1969, and covers the whole array of Motown-era ballads, boogaloos, and up-tempo shuffles with that finger-snappin', barbecue sauce groove that comes from years of getting hot and bothered in the Florida sun. This is the definition of fresh music, people.
The collection starts with the playful, almost ponderous, "I'm Your Puppet", and moves through a slap-happy set including the title track and "You Can't Keep A Good Man Down". The hest track on the record is "I Take What I Want", a sped-up foxtrot funk with one of the first-used fuzz guitar lines in a pop song. After an exhausting 28 tracks, it becomes clear that James and Bobby Purify are the best soul combo you ever missed out on.
