Seal - Human Being (1998)

I was a big Seal fan back in the '90s. He toured with Sting sometime in the middle part of that decade - I would have loved to have seen that show (even if it was in the Woodlands). Not coincidentally, I lost interest in Seal when he stopped using Trevor Horn as his producer. This CD, his third, is a moody affair. Very downbeat. While it is much different from his previous releases, Seal and Horn are a can't miss team, so this is very good.

Press of the time:

• Billboard: "a solid album that may turn out to be a sleeper"
• Rolling Stone (★★½ ): "a serious, moody album"
• Entertainment Weekly (B+): "these songs are walls of sound done up with particularly luxurious wallpaper"

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #22

Tracks: I like Human Beings, Latest Craze, and Colour. I usually want to skip Just Like You Said and When a Man Is Wrong (maybe I just don't understand the lyrics of the latter).

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: This album was released in November 1998. In December of that year, I rode on a charter bus from Bay City to Irving and back with 200 high school students. That particular Saturday we were headed to Texas Stadium for the Class 4A, Div 1 state football championship game between Bay City and Grapevine (final score: Grapevine 22, Bay City 0). I listened to this CD for the first time on the return trip that evening. For that reason, I consider it to be a fall/winter CD that can't be listened to in the spring or summer.