Soul is a vast departure for recording artist Seal. His previous album 2007’s System took Seal back to his dance club days with a very interesting progressive album. However, due to poor sales, Soul features Seal creating in a totally different genre. Soul is an album of cover songs produced by legendary hit-maker David Foster. Will Soul be able to top the charts with its soulful interpretation of classic songs?
The first single off of Soul is Seal’s rendition of Sam Cooke’s classic A Change Is Gonna Come. The song is the perfect first single. The track is extremely well done and Seal shines along with the David Foster arrangement.
It’s A Man’s, Man’s World is Seal’s version of James Brown’s classic. The song has a completely different vibe and vocal delivery from the original which is not a good thing.
Ben E. King’s classic Stand By Me is covered by Seal. Easily one of the most recognizable songs on the album, Stand By Me by Seal is done well.
I Can’t Stand The Rain was originally performed by Ann Peebles. This is one of the more awkward covers on the album. The original works because of its niche factor, however this version just sounds odd.
Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes were the original artist of If You Don’t Know Me By Now. This is another one of the stronger covers on the album. Seal delivers a strong vocal performance and the production backs him up.
The Deniece Williams hit Free is also covered by Seal. The song has a completely different vibe than the original version which was lighter. The track is fairly well done however.
Knock On Wood was originally performed by Eddie Floyd. Knock On Wood is another strong cover as it does not stretch Seal’s vocal range and is still current in today’s time.
The Curtis Mayfield hit People Get Ready is also covered. This might be the strongest cover on the album. Seal delivers a strong vocal performance and the new rendition is timeless.
Another Curtis Mayfield song It’s Alright is also on Soul. The song is nothing all that memorable unfortunately.
Doing an album of cover songs is not the easiest task in the world. For instance it is hard to hear anyone perform Free like Denice Williams. However, Seal does a solid job re-interpreting the songs. Overall Soul gets 7.5 out of 10. If you are a fan of Seal make sure you pick up Soul when it is available in stores on November 11th.
