Breaks: Peggy Scott & Jo Jo Benson

Better known for her more recent efforts, Peggy Scott-Adams began sans hyphen during the late ‘60s, most frequently in a duo setting with Jo Jo Benson. Today, though, Scott-Adams maintains a career that straddles soul and gospel while still being able to impact some popular, contemporary charts. That newer spate of work isn’t going to be as interesting to rap fans. But way back in ’68, Benson and Scott released an album called Soulshake.

The disc, while possessing a few winners isn’t the cornerstone of funk or soul collections and really has languished in a sort of semi-revered status since its release. While performing as a duo, Benson and Scott only released two full length albums, but the pair’s singles were what moved. Again, though, those tracks aren’t gonna be readily recognizable to most folks.

The title track off of Soulshake and the duo’s lead single from the album is a quickly paced tough soul track. And while everything about its cursory explanation would lead funk and soul fans to think that the track was something of a gem, it’s not too much more than decent. The vocals by each singer are more than ample, but it’s Scott’s voice that’s the most impressive. She can shout, holler and croon – she does it all. That, however, doesn’t make the disc an absolute stunner.

Instead, one of the elements of Soulshake that make it a worthwhile set of tracks – apart from the occasional and all too sample ready breaks – is the effect that was used to process the guitar. Throughout the entire album, there’s an odd echo and reverb used to augment the lead guitar having it come off as something akin to a sitar. It’s surprising over the first few tracks, but eventually just becomes another element in each of the songs, much like the slight, but still gritty voice of Jo Jo Benson.

The vocal duo mostly just sounds like a lesser Ike and Tina Turner. “Here with Me” sports a few spoken lines back and forth as the pair emulates a couple talking out a romance for a while. It’s not without charm, but it just doesn’t work as well as that better known duo.

Most notably, “Doin’ Our Thing,” sport a steele guitar even as a few other tracks do the same. There’s a hint of country throughout, but the overt use of an instrument so tied to a white genre makes the song, if not the entire album a curio.

Huey Meaux, a producer who’d worked on Doug Sahm recordings, is most likely responsible for the odder aspects of Soulshake. Without him, this vocal duo would be almost forgettable. The band that backs ‘em all up isn’t bad, it’s just not on par with the Stax or Motown axis of players. Those are extraordinarily high expectations to meet, but that was still the bar that needed to be met in order for Scott and Benson to make it. They didn’t, but  left enough of a legacy behind as to make you dance.