Okay, see, here's the thing: we know you probably think it's not cool to like Seal. You probably hear his name and automatically go into convulsions as you hear the intro for "Kiss From A Rose" over and over and over. But here's the thing: the man is badass. He has a killer voice, he's an amazing songwriter, and he's released a string of fantastic albums. He's also married to Heidi Klum, which has its merits, but this is a music blog, so we'll keep things clean.
Point being: we've been listening to Seal since 1991, and the man continues to deliver. His last record System went a tad too far into techno territory for us, whereas 2003's Seal IV really delivered an R&B swagger that both surprised and delighted. Given that, we're pretty psyched to hear that his next record will be a cover of R&B classics entitled Soul. The record drops November 11th (next Tuesday), and a couple of videos have made their way to the web.
The first (Otis Redding's "I've Been Loving You Too Long") can be seen above, while you can also catch another (Sam Cooke's totally-appropriate-for-election-day "A Change Is Gonna Come") over at YouTube.
Okay, chill out: we know where you're going with this. R&B classics, covers are bullshit, sacrilege, Seal's a sellout, etc. etc. Well, you can be a hater all you want. While you're on that track, put this in your pipe and smoke it: We didn't really "get" Hendrix until we heard Seal cover "The Wind Cries Mary". Let the hating commence.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Seal Debuts New Videos, New Record Soul On The Way
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2 comments:
Ahem, Seal clubbing aside (get it? get it?), you didn't get Hendrix until he was covered? "The Wind Cries Mary" is a particularly accessible tune too.
Take it for what you will: when you're 15, and the radio is dominated by middle of the road pop, sometimes it takes a kick in the ass from some decent pop to "get" the stuff that's a little more real. Maybe if we had heard the original first, it would have been equally accessible? It just happens that the Seal version was our first exposure.
To our credit: Elvis Costello has also said he didn't "get" Hendrix until he heard "The Wind Cries Mary". Granted, it was the original, but still. ;)
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