Seal – Seal IV

Untitled Album Four

You’d think with all the positive thinking, Seal would be able to come up with at least a title for his fourth album, simply called Seal IV. But alas, Seal’s thinking is still limited to “moving on” and “loving forever”. Upbeat and optimistic, pop music’s Quasimodo of love ballads and inspirational dance diddies delivers again once more to the world of adult contemporary music. Pessimists and nay-sayers may be turned off by all the love, but any fan of innocuous, radio-friendly soul may want to check the album out.Though Seal’s music has always been eclectic and/or generic, IV is very musical and bluesy. The sensitivity of his subject matter is reflected accurately with plenty of orchestral arrangements and piano accompaniment in songs like “Love’s Divine”. “Let Me Roll” takes stab blues-rock, but falls a little short. While the nature of soul music is to be uplifting, Seal comes through with aplomb. The album has a musical pace and consistent musicality that leaves one sitting uncomfortably optimistic; I challenge the inapt listener to embrace the message to the music. Stand up and dance with it. Stop being so crabby. Seal’s not crabby!
One cannot doubt that Seal is still on that journey towards light and love and fuzzy bunnies and what not on IV. Luckily, it is a catchy and complexly interesting journey that won’t be too annoyingly positive for radio. Admit it, optimists are annoying. It says something for Seal to be able to spread the good news without irritating the crap out of his listeners.