Seal: Seal (1994) : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Seal's second album hits the ground running. Although it has been three years since his monster single "Crazy" (the electronic gallop that's now the instrumental for a beer commercial) soared out of every health club and Mazda Miata in the continental United States, he apparently still has the touch.

This 11-song record might be seen as a sequel to the debut, the original Seal. Both were produced by Trevor Horn, former Revolutionaries Wendy and Lisa reprise their sidekick roles, and Seal – the strapping half-Nigerian, half-Brazilian Londoner – continues his bohemian rhapsody.

Simultaneously wide-eyed and skeptical, Seal's themes run from love (physical, metaphysical and "unconditioned," as he calls it on "Bring It On") to the evolution of identity and back again. He doesn't tell stories, exactly; he paints moody, emotionally raw images that could – if they weren't occasionally anchored by solid detail (whether the "turning to the needle" in "Dreaming in Metaphors" or the plush acoustic guitar that opens "Prayer for the Dying") – evaporate like water on Arizona asphalt.

The marked difference (other than backing vocals by Joni Mitchell on "If I Could" and Seal's shiny bald head) is in his voice. It's lower, stronger, more resonant. Mixing with expansive, sometimes orchestral music, it gives sentient weight to tossed-off thoughts like "Life's confusing, but I don't know why" ("People Asking Why"). His voice – soulful, raspy, a little dark – can make even the maudlin seductive.