Varese’s 12-song Kings of Gospel collection does a decent job of sampling an enormous genre so sparsely. By focusing on recordings from the ’60s — Meadowlark Singers, Silver Gate Quartet — and dated funk of the ’70s — the Violinaires do a surprisingly kitschy version of “Born Again” — the compilers have made an offering that’s thankfully bereft of the slick, over-produced soulless food that passes for praise today. As always, the most stirring gospel performances are the live, sweaty church throwdowns where the vocalists and their minions are on the verge of passing out. In this case it’s Clarence Fountain’s brutal “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” and the Soul Stirrers’ excellent rendition of “When the Gates Swing Open” that make this short but consistent compilation worthy of its maker. – James Christopher Monger
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