But the album isn’t the complete departure it could have been. Longtime producer Byron Gallimore, who has been with McGraw since the beginning, is still behind the boards, and the themes are straight out of Nashville. But only on Touchdown Jesus (sadly not about Tim Tebow) does McGraw settle for the cornpone claptrap that dominates the bulk of contemporary radio country.

Download: Right Back Atcha Babe and One Part, Two Part (which features background harmonies from wife Faith Hill.)

•   GOSPEL/SOUNDTRACK

Various Artists, J oyful Noise (WaterTower) ★ ★  1/2

If Glee ever finds Jesus the musical result might be something akin to the soundtrack for Joyful Noise, the big-screen pairing of Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah, two huge personalities who deserved a better movie.

The pair do get a better soundtrack, though. Unlike the singers on Glee, Parton’s and Latifah’s voices are distinct and aren’t reliant on Auto-Tune. Latifah has her showcase on the traditional spiritual, Fix Me, Jesus. Parton, free from the hokey image of dancing with the ghost of Kris Kristofferson in the movie, sounds ageless on the sweet country waltz, From Here to the Moon and Back, one of three fine new songs Parton wrote for the project. Kirk Franklin keeps it real on the rousing testimonial, In Love.

The selling point, however, is the Higher Medley mash-up of Chris Brown, Usher, Sly & the Family Stone and Stevie Wonder, sung by the film’s cast with such over-the-top zest it’s either the most inspiring pop moment of the new year thus far or will inspire a trip to church to erase its memory. Go with it.

Download: Higher Medley.

•   POP

Daryl Hall, Laughing Down Crying (Verve Forecast) ★ ★ ★ 

Laughing Down Crying, Daryl Hall’s fifth solo album, is the best Hall & Oates album the hitmaking duo never made or certainly the finest to come from that camp since Private Eyes in 1981.

Eyes For You (Ain’t No Doubt About It), with its electronic rhythm track, plump bass and silky soul vocals even sounds like that old album’s No. 1 hit, I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do). That’s not meant as a dig at Hall, since he has a patent on that sound.

The album, dedicated to longtime bassist/guitarist T-Bone Wolk, who died four days into the project, also has a more organic, musician-driven sound than most of Hall’s earlier work. Examples include the folk-rock title track and, especially, the soulful R&B workouts Save Me, with its bluesy keyboards, and the funky horns and guitars crackling throughout Message to Ya, a song that would have been at home on a classic Ohio Players platter.

Download: Save Me, Message to Ya, Talking to You (Is Like Talking to Myself).

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