The videos for the songs on Seal's debut Cd are good, but what makes it truly worth buying is the "live" accoustic versions of most of the songs that the video has. If you at all like Seal it is money well spent. Also, accoustic import CDs of Seal cost 3 and 4 times what you will pay for this tape. END
I came here initially to review what I hold to be one of the finest in-studio concert recordings I have ever seen, and one of the very few video releases I can (without shame) admit to cherishing. Instead I find myself rushing to the defense of an artist that has, during the course of the past several years, come to hold a very special place in my heart and ears.
A previous reviewer accused Seal of, in the end, being nothing more than a cute male-model-type akin to the NSync's and the Milli Vanilli's of the music industry. The review even went so far as to intimate that Seal is a guitarist of the air-variety sort, and that lip-synching techniques were employed in the making of this video.
All of which is, in my opinion, complete and utter nonsense. Here is a fact that some people don't understand about the art of recording, producing, editing, and manufacturing live performances: the camera crew doesn't simply show up, shoot, then pack up shop when the show is over. More often than not several performances are recorded, and through the magic of editing and the synchronization of audio, the end result is a more polished version than that which you would have been treated to if you'd been there.
A valid reason to gripe if you prefer a rawer, grittier, and even flawed performance over a polished end result, but certainly no reason to turn your ire to the artist. In all truth there is only a certain level of artistic control, if any, that is afforded to musicians when a record company decides to fork over the necessary funds for these types of projects. And with only one album under his belt at the time of this recording I think it's safe to assume that Seal wouldn't have had enough weight to throw around even if he had desired something different. But I can't imagine why he would.
The outcome of this video is a beautiful, intimate performance with a clean, crisp sound quality the likes of which I have yet to see equaled in other video releases. The acoustic arrangements of songs previously heard as gut-thumping dance tracks are intelligent and refreshing and display an artistic depth that most may not have known Seal to be capable of.
All in all, a must-see for casual fans of the man's music and a must-have for all the rest of us who understand the inexplicable yet inescapable truth that, in fact, "Seal saves".
The acoustic spirit is SO GOOD. It brings the words alive inside of you. The actual performance though is too much "look how good I am" in the attitude for me.
