His Twisted Psyche
4 Out of 5 Stars
Seal is one of those deeply confessional singers who pours his pain and emotions into each of his songs. On his third album (and the first with a proper title), "Human Being
" digs even deeper into those wounds and reveals himself as a full fledged singer songwriter on a par with his idols Joni Mitchell or Marvin Gaye. And like the distorted cover portrait, Seal stretches himself into a man that makes you look and listen to his pleas and crooning.Those who thought Seal might turn to obvious commercial patter after the success of singles "Fly Like an Eagle" and "Kiss From a Rose" were probably soothed by the easy groove of the title track. But underneath that was a lyric that cried for a desperate understanding in the face of murder (allegedly he wrote the song after the killing of Tupac and Notorious BIG). "We're mere human beings, we die. It's destined" Seal sighs.
If that doesn't get your party started, "Lost My Faith" finds our spiritual wanderer Seal admitting that the lack of a lover's touch has left him lost and adrift. It may be the closest in sound to his biggest hit ballad, it's light years away thematically. There's little on "Human Being
" that connects as immediately as "Killer" or "Crazy," or offers the hope of his second album. It's Seal's most dramatic album and his most weighty. As you can guess, it is also his least commercially successful. But if you give it more than a few extra spins, it may be the Seal album that makes the most lasting emotional impression.
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