Marion Gaines Singers - Leaning On The Everlasting Arms (Remastered) (2020) [Hi-Res]

The Marion Gaines Singers open “Leaning on Everlasting Arms” by leaning into a bluesy, hard rock-esque soundscape. Gaines’ hazy lead vocal tips its cap in the direction of Joe Cocker and Creedence Clearwater Revival, instead of that of the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi or Mahalia Jackson. Save for “Open Your Heart,” the album’s sole straight-ahead gospel song, Gaines and his group relish in the realms of deep, heavy funk.

Produced by Gene Barge, the album’s most egregious solicitation to fans of funk on radio and in film comes in the form of “The Man,” an allegory transposing the common tropes of slick street hustlers onto a fictional preacher man. Instead of selling dope, he a “super-cool blesser” who pushes salvation at no charge. Fixating further on the blaxploitation of the era, the group re-imagines Isaac Hayes’ “Do Your Thing,” a staple of the “Shaft” soundtrack, as a praise song, singing over a hip-shaking beat that their audience should “Pray on, pray on!”