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32 years after its release, this big man's debut with a soulful voice, numerous scars, and a tormented soul is being reissued in a “deluxe” version.
The backstory is that he lent his voice to Adamsky for “Killer”; a month later no one remembered Dr. Adamsky, while Seal, with “Crazy,” had entered the heart of the average listener who was absorbing pop from MTV and its ilk.
Expectations were high, and he was the first to set precise conditions. Trevor Horn in the production, not Cecchetto. In other words: with that voice, we are ready to invest.
The result was a heterogeneous album, solid, and functional for the period. Electronic, acoustic, soul nuances: the album was liked, but the writer was not entirely convinced. Even today, with yet another listen, I sense some moments of uncertainty, improvable, rectifiable.
Most of the tracks start well, develop with the right zeal, but reflect too much. The refine is repeated excessively, and towards the end, the melody doesn't sprint, and the listener risks getting bored. It's certain that for his age, although he was a co-author with relative authorship in the lyrics, Seal showed he was present, molding himself with the world and positioning himself above average.
The album is quickly summarized: 9 tracks among which The Beginning, Deep Water, Crazy, Killer, and Violet stand out. The other episodes are negligible. Patience is required with Violet. At first, at my 15 years, I found it mushy and void. Then, listen after listen, I grasped its softness, the magnetic wave. A great piece, in short.
This re-edition includes some remixes, rare B-sides, and the “premix” which add little or nothing to the originals, a fine ear is needed to catch the nuances of difference.
I found the successor, “Seal 2”, dated 1994, more substantial. Perhaps more studied, perhaps more thought out. This “Seal” is a distracted but effective peek, an act of presence in a landscape, that of 1990/91, that was preparing to bid farewell to the glossy pop in favor of the more colorful but more electronic dance of Technotronic, early Britpop, and grunge.
Seal has always been a step above, or below. Anyway, always strictly lost in thought. He never wanted to make revolutions or revelations, simply, at the bottom of the albums, he noted: it’s the best I have to offer, take it or leave it. This was before the depression of 1997/98, but we’ll talk about that in due course. That is, if he feels like it, noble (cit.).
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