Monday 12 January 2009

Seal Exclusive Interview on Rhapsody, As Well As Other Performances!

As 2008 came to a close, contemporary and world renowned soul artist Seal made several candid media appearances to support his latest release, the album Soul which is a collaboration of some of history’s greatest soul and R&B songs. All of the songs on this album are from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, a time when music was still more about personal expression and liberation than making money.

On December 8th, Seal appeared on The Late, Late Show With Craig Ferguson, as the musical guest for a very touching episode in which the host (popular UK comedian formerly of The Drew Carey Show) had lost his beloved mother.
On December 9th, Seal participated in an exclusive interview with Rhapsody, where he discusses the creation of the album, the reasoning behind the selection of each individual song, and what it was like to work with the album’s infamous producer David Foster. Although the interview can be seen solely by US viewers, it is available at the following location:

http://www.rhapsody.com/seal/seal-the-rhapsody-interview

Seal was also featured in a guest appearance on the US comedy/drama television show Eli Stone on the 10th of this month. Seal’s live performance on the show included his long time hit “Crazy” as well as the first track form the Soul album “A Change Is Gonna Come.” The episode is available to watch over the web, although it is also only available to viewers within the US.
http://abc.go.com/primetime/elistone/

On the 11th, Seal appeared on the popular American Football weekly program NFL Total Access which is a program on the NFL Network that shows highlights, game analysis, predictions for coming games and includes celebrity picks. Seal reportedly got 6 out of 10 predictions correct which is very good given the unpredictability of the current season.

As well, NBC rebroadcasted from last year The Music of Seal On Ice due to an incredible public demand. This production broadcast in the evening slots on the NBC network on New Years Day.

As well as these interesting Seal appearances, be sure to check out the video’s for the new album such as this one for “A Change Is Gonna Come” on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUiUJvYrOCo

Wednesday 17 December 2008

Classic Soul - “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long”

To date, the Soul album recently released by soul musician Seal has sold over 100, 000 copies in the United States alone, which can only be seen as fantastic, as the album hit stores a little over one month ago. One can expect to see this album reaching iconic status in the New Year, which is exceptional, owing to the fact that it is an album entirely of cover songs.

The fifth song on this epic album has earned the #110 spot on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” was co-written by Otis Redding and Jerry Butler and was released in 1965.

The song was released as the A-side of a single by Otis, and appeared again on his third album Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul. “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” is (obviously) a love song, following the trend of some of the other songs on Seal’s cover album.

Almost immediately after Redding’s version was released in 1965, it was covered by The Rolling Stones. The Stones version was overdubbed with screaming girls and released on their very first live album Got Live If You Want It! This version gave quite a bit of white audience exposure to Redding’s music (considerably so in Europe) which was a significant career changing moment for Redding. Otis was incredibly grateful to the Stone’s for this. So much, in fact, that he later covered their still popular song “Satisfaction” to return the favor.

Possibly the most popular (and controversial) cover of “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” was one done by Ike and Tina Turner in 1968. The end of the song features a call and response done by the duo, after which Tina can be seen holding the microphone in a suggestive way and Ike is making inappropriate gestures and noises while playing guitar in the live version. The song finishes while Tina Turner simulates an orgasm.

Whether or not this version of the song truly pays homage to the soul classic, one thing is for sure, Seal definitely does in his. Seal’s powerful voice speaks deeply into his fans in a constant, beautiful way.

It is hard to say for certain how the Soul album will fare in 2009 but as fan I hope for the best and look forward to taking a closer look at the other songs on the album.

Check out the great video here:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KOkKWSPwx6M

Thursday 11 December 2008

More about Seals amazing new classic soul album

Come and Take Me

Thus far charting better than the 2007 release System is soul music legend Seal’s emphatic cover album Soul, which has brushed the #1 spot on both the French and Belgian charts. Allmusic.com has rated the album at 4 stars, and The Toronto Star has given it 3 ½.

In the past week, Seal appeared on BBC Breakfast (Friday Dec. 5th) for a candid interview, and did a performance/chat on ITV’s Loose Women. Coming up, he’ll be performing on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on the 8th.
The Soul album is proving to have done an unreal job in paying homage to the true hero’s of this type of music. By cutting an album featuring solely this kind of music, Seal is not only giving these artists the respect they deserve, but he is also promoting their music to listener’s who may not be aware of the roots of the genre.

The fourth song on the Soul album is none other than Al Green’s classic “Here I Am (Come and Take Me).” This is a true love soul song about dependence, emotion, sex and love with a woman.

This song was used as a single of Green’s 1970’s soul album Call Me. The album is largely viewed as Green’s “magnum opus” and is ranked the 70th greatest album in any genre by VH1, and slid into the #289 spot on Rolling Stone’s list of the “500 Greatest Albums Of All Time”

“Here I Am (Come and Take Me)” peaked at the #10 spot on the charts and featured “Teenie” Hodges on guitar.
What is ironic about this song being selected as the fourth song on Seal’s album is the artists’ by which it is preceded. Sam Cooke and James Brown happened to have been two of Al Green’s greatest influences, and in his early stages he attempted to sing exactly like them, before being encouraged to find his own voice, which led to his success.

In a way, Al Green tributed his idols through his music, just as Seal happens to be doing with the entire Soul album.

SEAL BRAND NEW SOUL CLASSICS:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qXH13skpsNo&feature=channel_page

Monday 1 December 2008

It’s a Great, Great, Great Cover

Already ranking #17 on the UK album charts, and #4 on the U.S. Billboard top R&B/Hip-Hop Album chart is Seal’s monumental compilation of soul classics aptly titled Soul.
In less than a month, the album has made a huge splash, even going Gold on the Swedish album charts, as it breezes into the number 6 spot.

Thus far we have covered the first two songs featured on the album, “A Change is Gonna Come” (Sam Cooke) and “I Can’t Stand the Rain” (Anne Peebles). The third song on this phenomenal album is “It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World” by recently deceased funk/soul hero James Brown.

Co-written by Betty Jean Newsome, “It’s a Man’s, Man’s Man’s World” was recorded on February 16, 1966. At the time, the single ended up reaching the #1 spot on the Billboard Top R&B Singles chart, and quickly became a focal point to James Brown’s live performances.

The title of the song is a parody on the title of the 1963 comedy “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World.” Though co-written by a female who used her own interpretations of the interactions between the opposing sexes, the song is perceived as incredibly chauvinistic by some, even said to be “almost biblically [so]” by Rolling Stone.
“This is a man's world, this is a man's world

But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl”
Like most epic soul classics this song has been covered more than its fair share of times. Gov’t Mule and the Grateful Dead favored this song during live performances and Christina Aguilera sang it at the 2007 Grammy Awards in memory of James Brown, after his unfortunate Christmas Day death in 2006.

In 2004 Rolling Stone magazine praised “It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World” by ranking it #123 on its list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
Seal’s powerful version of the song features a string band, which accompanies his incredibly dramatic voice. It appears as if the weight and meaning behind the song flow through Seal as he is singing it, which fades out with the music in the last five seconds as he walks away.

Paying homage to a song that was a performance staple to a recently deceased soul hero can not be an easy feat, but Seal has definitely succeeded in honoring the late Mr. Brown.

Monday 24 November 2008

Seal: New Album 'Soul' Compiles The Greatest Soul Songs Ever Written, From The Likes Of Sam Cooke And Anne Peebles Released On November 11th

Synonymous with the “soul” genre of music is artist Seal. Since his self-titled debut 1991 he has been taking the scene by force and is now one of the categories foremost performers.

On November 11th, (Ironically a day used to recognize the heroes of our past) Seal released his Soul album, which pays homage to the greatest soul songs ever written, by pioneers of the genre from decades ago.

The songs on this album are some of the best of their kind, that sample true emotions such as pain, loss, romance and love.

The second song on Soul is a 1973 hit by renowned R&B and soul singer/songwriter Anne Peebles, called “I Can’t Stand the Rain”. It is one of her most recognizable songs and quickly came to be her best single. This is a terribly sad song about being without someone you truly care about. The rain beating against her windowpane creates deep imagery and also appeals to the listener’s emotions.

I Can’t Stand The Rain has been covered several times by multiple artists. Most notably, Tina Turner released a version of this song as her 6th single from her 1984 album Private Dancer. Commercially the song did very well for Turner, even peaking at the #2 spot in France in early 1985.

Missy Elliot’s debut single “The Rain” also features an excerpt from “I Can’t Stand The Rain” as the chorus.

The video for Seal’s version of the song is a very moving scene of the band in a seemingly abandoned house. As the music begins the lights start flickering. And the use of light is used several times throughout as the music rises and falls, including light from windows and swinging bulbs.

In Seal’s moving performance throughout the video, he makes it very easy to absorb the emotion and tone the song was meant to be sung with, and there is no doubt that Seal has once again done justice in serving a classic soul song a deserving amount of tribute.

Tuesday 4 November 2008

New Soul Records From Seal

Seal’s coming album, Soul features an array of covers of some of the greatest soul songs ever written from the 1960’s and 70’s. Featuring songs written by artists like Otis Redding and James Brown..

The first single, “A Change Is Gonna Come” is most notably considered an anthem for the American Civil Rights Movement after its release in 1964.
Originally the song was written in 1963 by R&B singer/songwriter Sam Cooke. Cooke wrote this song after hearing Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ In the Wind” a song whichdirectly targeted the issue of racial discrimination, which was one of the most prevalent problems in that period of time.

Cooke was incredibly moved by the fact that a white man could produce a song so direct and forward about the rampant problem of racism in the United States. This inspired Cooke to respond some of Dylan’s questions such as “How many times can a man turn his head, pretending he just doesn’t see?” with the answer, “It’s been a long time coming, but I know a change gonna come.”

The song was recorded in 1964 and placed on Cooke’s album Ain’t That Good News. Unfortunately it was not used as the single, but was re-released as the single for the B side of his album Shake. Cooke had long wanted to touch on the plaguing issue of racism but was reluctant to do so based on having a primarily white fan base.
“A Change Is Gonna Come” was first performed by Sam Cooke on February 7th, 1964 on The Tonight Show, but received little recognition, being eclipsed just two days later by The Beatles’ performance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
Since, the song has been performed and recorded by artists including Bob Dylan, Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin and The Allman Brothers. Recently the song was even employed by the Arcade Fire in support of BarackObama’s nomination as President of the United States.

Seal has already released a video for “A Change Is Gonna Come” available on Youtube. It simply features Seal woefully singing into a microphone, which one can see embodies the angst and pain of the original intentions of the song.
Since “A Change Is Gonna Come” is revered as one of the three hundred greatest songs ever written by NPR (National Public Radio,) it is the perfect song to crown Seal’s album tributing other great soul artists, the aptly named, Soul album.

Tuesday 21 October 2008

New Album Info

SEAL TO RELEASE SOUL — PRODUCED BY DAVID FOSTER
NOVEMBER 3 Internationally

Multi-Platinum Singer-Songwriter Delivers Career Defining Album in SOUL

(October 1, 2008) - Burbank, CA - Grammy-winning vocalist and songwriter Seal will release a new album, SOUL, on Warner Bros. Records on November 3, 2008 internationally. It is the best-selling artist’s sixth studio album and was created in partnership with legendary producer David Foster.
SOUL is comprised of eleven classic soul songs that each evokes their own drama, emotion and romance. Seal brings his unique, signature style to the album and found a great collaborative spirit working with Foster.
“Someone once said ‘...the album will sound like the time you had making it’…. Never before has it been as true as the process of recording this record,” said Seal. “Although David and I had been acquaintances before, we’d never quite managed to work together. Upon doing so, I was quick to realize that I was in the presence of true greatness. I’ve worked with a lot of producers before, but never have I come across anyone as naturally gifted and knowledgeable as David. If you are fortunate enough to have that combination, then you find that the album making process tends to go very swiftly, making this the smoothest and most enjoyable album I have ever made. And if you are exceptionally fortunate, you find yourself also having made a great friend. I cannot thank him enough.”
“I've made a lot of records in my time, but I've never enjoyed the recording experience more than I have with Seal. I think he's the only singer on the planet that could do this album, bringing something new and fresh to these classics, paying tremendous respect to their heritage, but, at the same time, owning them and making them uniquely "Seal". He was born to sing these songs and all we got to do is hang on for what is going to be a "killer" ride,” said David Foster.
The London-born Seal first emerged from Britain’s house music scene in the early ’90s providing vocals and lyrics for techno artist Adamski’s 1990 hit “Killer.” The Top Ten debut single, “Crazy,” followed and Seal would go on to earn critical acclaim and worldwide commercial success over four albums. Seal’s prodigious vocal gifts — his soaring, husky baritone that has become a signature on such hits as “Prayer for the Dying,” “Kiss From a Rose,” and “Don’t Cry” — amplify the emotion he brings to a song.
To learn more, listen to streaming audio, and watch music video clips, please visit his website at www.seal.com.

The track-listing for SOUL is as follows. Please note this is not a final album sequence.
1. A Change Is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke
2. I Can't Stand The Rain - Ann Pebbles
3. It's A Man's Man's Man's World - James Brown
4. Knock On Wood - Eddie Floyd
5. I've Been Loving You Too Long - Otis Redding
6. Here I Am (Come And Take Me) - Al Green
7. If You Don't Know Me By Now - Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes
8. It's Alright - The Impressions
9. I'm Still In Love With You - Al Green
10. Free - Deniece Williams
11. People Get Ready - The Impressions