Seal IV - review (from someone who KNOWS good music)

Labels are a funny thing, those who defy labels are often looked on as young upstarts, genre-defying controversial up and comers. None of those sorts of things are ever said about Seal, yet he is just as difficult to pigeon hole as say, DJ Shadow, Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin or even Prince throughout the 80's. One of the reasons for this is that Seal, along with equally gifted producer Trevor Horn, doesn't always create a totally new sound, but rather employs many tried and tested techniques of music from the past and gives them the Seal-twist, which usually means his voice is so powerful and unique that it takes the listener away from everything they know about labels and 'trendy' music.

On Seal IV, he has taken his most conscious step towards a definitive era in music, that of Motown or early R&B, and in this respect, it is not as initially dynamic or interesting as his previous efforts, especially 1998's much overlooked Human Being. So why am I reviewing it then? If my policy is positive reviews, then what am I writing for? This album, like every single other Seal album in existance, grows on you with time. The intro "Let me roll" gets things off to a neo-soul, retro, tidy-funk, and his deep voice sounds full of emotion and passion as he sings, "I ain't got no credit cards to feature, ain't got no famous friends to speak of, just heart & soul." Okay, so he does have credit cards, but don't let that shallow and obvious point get in the way of what he's saying here. We don't have the money that he has, and therefore we are unable to refute the claim that he seems to be making on this song, that is that money and material things do not 'make a man'.

What about the tender anthems and vulnerable moments? Well they're best represented by Loves Divine, a truly delicate piece of music. The soft piano, and tender vocals really convince you of his sincerity, and musically too, the song is always careful not to dive too willingly into the corny conventions that you might expect from a song such as this. Just when you think the huge drums and orchestral sweeps will take over, and his voice get higher and higher, it all goes quiet. Instead of stretching the beauty out for 6 minutes, the sincerity ensures that the song is considerably shorter, and as a result it comes across as considerably more honest.

The war and inevitable lies to the people are also adressed on the albums best cut for me, Where there's gold. In typical Seal-fashion, the title is cryptic, and open-ended, where Gold could just as easily have been replaced with Oil in my mind. And also, in very typical Seal reviewing fashion, I am a little too confident that I know exactly what this song is really about when in reality the beauty of his lyrics is that they can mean so many positive things to so many people. The style of this track however will instantly grab you, the slick reggae groove really brings out the best in his amazingly smoothe voice as he sings in beautiful tones, "Where there's gold, you'll find a way to justify the loss". On the chorus, he sings high-pitched and with reverb that feels like the 80's, "Pray that you will have the mind to find out what went wrong", and to bring a brilliant conclusion to the track, he switches to proper reggae style, singing with heart and soul, "Roll up ya 'ead young girl, come on say roll up ya 'ead young girl, ya know say there's a awful lotta problem in this world, for every man woman child and girl..." Quite simply, it stuns me that he can do this and pull it off with the credability that he does, it seems clear to me that he saw in that beautiful Jamaican style of speech, a chance to get something across that would have been difficult in his normal dialect, and that's something that as an artist, I can totally comprehend and appreciate.

There are many other gems, to name a few Heavenly and My vision & the very interesting Tinsel-Town. On the whole though, Seal albums tend to mature with time, I'm not talking just weeks or months though, but maybe years, therefore this and every other review of Seal is probably not going to do the man and his music the justice it deserves. Having said that, I still don't feel this album eclipses his 1994 effort, but in it's sincerity and honesty, it is just as powerful. Maybe because of the more traditional R&B style lyrics, it is a little less musically interesting, but you shouldn't let that put you off, there are no 'bad tracks' as such on this album, if you dig Seal, you'll dig this!

Y.Misdaq