2nd Chance

Despite influencing hip-hop-soul wailers like Faith Evans and Kelly Price, gospel staple Clark Sheard is a relative unknown. But this collection of R&B-steeped God-fearers may change that. At best, Clark Sheard soars over the tracks (including a jewel produced by fan Missy Elliott) with a hearty soprano that’s thunderously gritty and airily dreamy. But leaden, scripture-dense lyrics too often make this sound more like dogma than deliverance.