Seal: Seal IV : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

With his long-awaited return after a five-year absence, Seal brings an effortless masculinity -- strong without being a macho caricature; sensitive without being a wuss -- that's been sorely missing from the pop charts. Working with his longtime producer, the brilliant Trevor Horn, the singer-songwriter retreats from the lush, moody introspection of 1998's Human Being for a more accessible collection of soul pop. He retains his unwavering, if bruised, faith in the powers of love and forgiveness, but he sounds like he's been immersed in Stax, Bobby Womack and Sam Cooke -- at least on the best tracks, openers "Let Me Roll" and the horn-driven "Get It Together." They decry materialism's triumph over love and plea for us all to "trust and forgive each other," respectively. While that heal-the-world sentiment soon becomes repetitive and rarely approaches the poetic heights of past classics (the glimmering ballad "Touch" being an exception), that gorgeously granulated voice is never less than sublime.