Corporate line:
“Soul” is the sixth studio album from multi-platinum selling, Grammy-winning, critically acclaimed Seal. Each song is a stone-cold soul classic, from Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’, Ben E. King’s ‘Stand By Me’, and Ann Pebbles’ ‘I Can’t Stand The Rain’ to Harold Melvin And The Blue Notes’ ‘If You Don’t Know Me By Now’ and Otis Redding’s ‘I’ve Been Loving You Too Long’.

The good:
“A Change is Gonna Come” – Yes, Sam Cooke’s version is burning with soul and Seal’s version is glossier–but if it doesn’t give you goosebumps then perhaps you aren’t really listening.

The rest:
“I Can’t Stand The Rain” – Why Seal chose this song–especially as the second track–is beyond me. Seal has never sounded so tired.

“It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World” – It’s a shame that this comes out sounding so sleek and soulless. James Brown sang it with a massive amount of soul and Seal just floats along.

“Here I Am (Come and Take Me)” – Painful. This song doesn’t match up well with Seal’s voice. It sounds like he is going through the motions.

“Knock On Wood” – Disappointing.

“Stand By Me” – The whole thing gets off badly from the beginning with a bad electronic piano and never recovers no matter how hard Seal tries.

Finally:
This is a hard review to write as a Seal fan. Problem #1: Seal is too good to do an album full of cover songs. Problem #2: Seal can take risks and could have took on songs from rock bands, country artists and others. Instead he covered easy pop songs. Problem #3: Seal picked songs that weren’t even all that great when they were released: “Here I Am (Come and Take Me).”

I would have liked to see Seal do some Sinatra, Elvis, country and rock songs. Seal doing the Police or even a song like Oasis’ “Wonderwall” would have been interesting. Instead we are handed an album where Seal phoned it in. David Foster lead Seal down the wrong road and delivered a soulless album.

Watch the video for “A Change Is Gonna Come”

Grammy-winning vocalist and songwriter Seal will release a new album, ‘Soul’, on Warner Bros. Records on November 11, 2008. 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 in the process of recording this record,” Seal said. “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’ve got to do is hang on for what is going to be a ‘killer’ ride,” David Foster said.

The London-born singer 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.