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
Wednesday 17 December 2008
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
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.
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.
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