Still plying their trade

Whatever You Need 

Johnny Ray Daniels

At 76, this gospel-music veteran is long overdue for a solo debut. And he doesn’t waste the opportunity. Making no concessions to modernity unless clean production counts, he applies his rich, explosive voice to the kind of old-school material that frees him after a couple of verses to settle into a repetitive call and response with his background singers that builds in intensity, eventually approaching the level that gave rise to the term “church wrecking” back in the day. He doesn’t get there on his own. A five-man “Sacred Soul Sound Section” that doesn’t hide its Hammond organ under a bushel meets him more than halfway. But whether praising, expounding, or testifying, Daniels commands the spotlight.

Roots

Jimmy McNeal

The album begins with McNeal’s “Pawpaw” singing Willie Walker’s “I Want to Be at the Meeting” a cappella and ends with McNeal himself singing it with a contemporary combo. In between, McNeal delivers songs of worship and inspiration fit for congregations of any color, assuming that they have the vocal and musical wherewithal to do the more soulful moments justice. And if you think that an album titled Roots should pack more than two covers (“Don’t Move That Mountain” by Dolly Parton’s aunt joins the aforementioned Walker tune), at least be impressed that McNeal’s roots apparently include Andraé Crouch and Queen, without whom he might never have constructed the powerhouse “A Little While Longer.”

What’s It Gonna Take? 

Van Morrison

If you loved Morrison’s 128-minute Latest Record Project, Volume 1, you’ll like this 79-minute follow-up. Like the former, it’s front-loaded with COVID-lockdown protest numbers, and this time Morrison’s naming names (Klaus Schwab [“the wizard”], Bill Gates [“playing God”]). Also like Volume 1, this one winds down with songs considering a somewhat bigger picture. Not that “I Ain’t No Celebrity,” “Stage Name,” and “Fear and Self-Loathing in Las Vegas” break new ground—Morrison has been mining the burdens of stardom for decades, and “Absolutely Positively the Most” is hardly his first God song. But “Pretending” is a Van song for all seasons. And the Invasion of the Body Snatchers cover art is a hoot.

When Do We Get Paid 

The Staples Jr. Singers

In 1975, along with the rhythm section of Ronnel Brown and Corl Walker, the teenaged Mississippi siblings Annie, A.R.C., and Edward Brown recorded these 12 slices of skeletal gospel funk so that they’d have something to sell at the church gigs that had become their bread and butter. Hence the album’s name, which, yes, looks funny on the cover surrounding praying hands. But as the title cut makes clear, the Browns weren’t hankering after Mammon. They were simply reminding their audiences that the laborer is worthy of his wages. Now in their 60s, they’re still plying their trade. One hopes that the attention generated by this reissue helps them finally lay the matter of compensation to rest.

Encore

Cancer claimed Gary Brooker, the longtime lead singer and principal composer of the English rock band Procol Harum, in February. He was 76. Upon his death, streams of the group’s catalog surged, and “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” a worldwide smash for the band in 1967 and one of the earliest and most literal examples of Baroque pop, reentered the British charts. Also, Cherry Red Records made Within Our House, a little-known Brooker live album from 1996, available as MP3s for the first time.

Credited to “The Gary Brooker Ensemble with Choir and String Quartet,” the album conflated two fund-raising concerts performed at the Anglican St. Mary and All Saints Church in Surrey. The choir alone sang “Steal Away” and “Gospel Train” (aka “Get on Board, Little Children”). And Brooker, who was in excellent voice, rewarded the faithful with his greatest hit. But he also performed the gospel standard “Jesus on the Mainline,” and his exuberant setting of Psalm 150 (“Psalm for St. Mary”) stole the show. —A.O.