Album Review: Soul 2 by Seal

The follow-up to the 2008 covers album Soul finds Seal treading on hallowed ground: the tracklisting includes cornerstones of American popular music such as What's Going On and Let's Stay Together. His voice and interpretive skills are such, though, that most tracks fit him like a glove, to the point where, on Rose Royce's Wishing on a Star, his oak-aged vocal seems a better fit for the remorseful lyric than original singer Gwen Dickey's. He grew up with these 1970s hits, and evidently reveres them, but isn't cowed by them – save for Let's Stay Together, which is sung in a higher key than normal, precisely imitating Al Green.

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On 2008's Soul, Seal went through the '60s soulbook with the assistance of producer David Foster. For its 2011 sequel, Seal moves on a decade and brings in Trevor Horn to helm its 11 tracks (sometimes in conjunction with Foster and his cohort Jochem van der Saag), a result that perhaps freshens proceedings up a bit but doesn't change them markedly. Soul 2 remains a faithful re-creation of classic soul, Horn applying a new coat of paint to the original arrangements, ensuring that this is a fresh, glistening environment for Seal.

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His voice hasn’t dulled in the slightest, and carries these covers into new territories. Mike Diver 2011 Twenty-one years ago, in March 1990, a young British singer of Nigerian descent took the dance producer Adamski to number one on the UK singles chart with the still-striking track Killer. A year later, few pop fans had heard anything more from Adamski – but everyone knew about the vocalist, Seal.

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