GOSPEL MUSIC REVIEW : Winans Herald a Return to Basic Notions of Religion

As the Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker story oozed out of TV sets Sunday night, the Winans were at the Celebrity Theatre offering a thoroughly different take on the workings of religion.

With all the cynicism earned by televangelists in recent years and the concerns for liberty engendered by the political agendas of some religious groups, some might feel a touch of dread when an influential crossover gospel/R&B; group proselytizes for a “return to what made us a great nation,” as the Winans do in the liner notes to their current “Return” album.

But what the four Winans were selling in their two-hour concert wasn’t political dictums but such basic notions as hope, trust, giving and a shared humanity. And their music, similarly to that of the best black gospel groups that have gone before them, wasn’t just a lyrical expression of those concerns but a working example.

Brothers Marvin, Carvin, Michael and Ronald Winans don’t quite reach the trancelike abandon or gritty fervor of some of their traditional forebears. Instead, they cool that old-time gospel heat with a mixture of supple modern soul. Sunday, that combination often brought to mind Van Morrison’s recent Universal Amphitheatre shows: There was a beautiful, controlled blaze to the entire performance, which spilled over into pure epiphany at key moments.

One such moment came during “Right, Left in a Wrong World,” a 1987 song that depicts a world gone awry, where “The government seems to be cheating / Selling arms to the enemy / And those who are supposed to be preaching / Are now warring on my TV.” In concert, that turmoil was expressed musically with a riot of rhythm and textures pushing against each other, but with the Winans’ four emphatic voices soaring above it.

The brothers harmonize as it seems only brothers can. (The four come from a brood of 10 children, and lately it seems that practically everyone in the Winans family is staking out a vocal career. Vickie Winans, a Winans by marriage, opened the show.) The lead vocal duties were passed around, with Marvin and his twin brother Carvin taking the majority of them.

Marvin’s voice at times recalled the late Marvin Gaye, never more so than on “He’s My Friend,” where he slipped from a fragile, broken falsetto into joyous shouts and show-stopping displays of emotion-led technique. Carvin had opportunity to equal that with “When You Cry,” a ballad about shared suffering and hope that he concluded with some stunning scat vocals.

If there wasn’t a call for an encore at show’s end, it was only because the Winans had achieved a sense of completeness with their closing songs. Leading from the recent hit “It’s Time” to the soulful ballad “Wherever I Go” to a final church hymn, the group had the audience clasping hands, hugging and singing along, as if it were the end of a church service.