Consumer Guide Album

The Ruffin Brothers: I Am My Brother's Keeper [Soul, 1970]
The Mississippi-bred Ruffins are as close as Motown gets to Southern soul, so it's probably geography that makes their approach more Sam & Dave than James & Bobby Purify--all growling melismatics, with Jimmy's higher and much narrower timbre providing sweet relief from David's rough power. And for once in Motown's life there are a lot of good covers--from Ben E. King, Jerry Butler, even the Delfonics (even James Taylor). B