Original Album Series: Seals & Crofts (2015)

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Original Album Series: Seals & Crofts (2015)

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This is a collection of 5 Seals & Croft albums released during the peak of their career in the 1970's. Included is their breakthrough album "Summer Breeze" which was their first big hit, reaching number 7 on the Billboard album chart in 1972; "Diamond Girl" which hit number 4 in 1973; "Unborn Child" number 14 in 1974; "I'll Play For You" number 30 in 1975; and "Get Closer" which hit 37 in 1976. It includes their biggest hit singles including "Summer Breeze", "Hummingbird", "Diamond Girl", "We May Never Pass This Way (Again)", and "Get Closer". While this is not a comprehensive collection of their work, it is a nice set from their heyday. This is an excellent collection if you do not have the individual releases.

By A Fan, amazon

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Original Album Series: Seals & Crofts (2015)

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Original Album Series: Seals & Crofts (2015)

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Summer Breeze offered an unusually ambitious array of music within a soft rock context – most artists tried to avoid weighty subjects in such surroundings (except, of course, CSN or Simon & Garfunkel, who could pretty much get away with anything). The title track is one of those relentlessly appealing 1970s harmony-rock anthems, in the same mode as the Doobie Brothers' "Listen to the Music" and appropriately ubiquitous on the radio and in the memory; the guitar (electric and acoustic) and vocal hooks are all well-nigh irresistible. The rest varies in sound and focus. "Hummingbird" quotes from the Baha'i scriptures and has a segmented structure with a chantlike opening and a sharp change in tempo, which didn't stop it from becoming a hit, and for all of its beauty, the soaring Marty Paich-arranged orchestral accompaniment, highlighted by lofty strings and a gorgeous horn part, never eclipses the core sound of the duo's singing and their acoustic guitar/mandolin combination. "Funny Little Man" mixes understated harmonies and acoustic instruments into an extended break that could almost pass for a classical piece. "Say" asks a lot of serious philosophical questions amid its rapid beat and playful tone. "East of Ginger Trees" is a hauntingly beautiful excursion into more Baha'i scripture, with delectable harmonies, a gorgeous mandolin part, and one of the most exquisitely restrained uses of orchestra of its era. "Fiddle in the Sky" shifts the album into purer country territory, while "The Boy Down the Road" moves listeners into a country-folk vein with a spookily melodramatic tale. "The Euphrates" picks up the tempo, providing an upbeat take on the meaning of life that loses none of its inherent sense of wonder. "Advance Guards" has that same sense of wonder, conveying it in a slower, more luxuriant setting, and the record ends on a rougher-hewn note with the more beat-driven, electric guitar-heavy "Yellow Dirt." Summer Breeze was the most highly regarded of all of Seals & Crofts' albums, a fact reflected by its reissue as part of the all too short-lived Warner Archives series in 1995, which also accounts for its far better than average sound.

by Bruce Eder, AMG

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Original Album Series: Seals & Crofts (2015)

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Seals & Crofts' highest-charting album, Diamond Girl went up to number four on the strength of its Top Ten title cut and the follow-up, "We May Never Pass This Way (Again)." A well-produced collection of songs ranging from the personal to the spiritual, this LP captured the twosome in their commercial and artistic prime. "Ruby Jean and Billie Lee" is an attractive autobiographical ballad written to the duo's wives. "Nine Houses" and "Intone My Servant" invoke the religious faith so important to them that they would stay after concert performances to share it with those who cared to listen. "Standin' on a Mountain Top" is a flashback from their early-'60s days with the Champs, and "Dust on My Saddle" is a cowboy story also written by Seals in the '60s. Louie Shelton's production is impressive throughout, making Diamond Girl an appealing collection of radio-friendly '70s soft rock.

by Jim Newsom, AMG

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After a string of hits, Unborn Child was a mistake coming from the Seals & Crofts camp when it did. Blatantly anti-abortion, it did little to help their careers and nothing in the way of chart success. But one must consider that it does hold good music in its grooves, and with today's attitudes changing, perhaps this isn't as harsh as it first appeared to be.

by James Chrispell, AMG

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I'll Play For You is Seals & Crofts' seventh studio album. The title cut reached #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #4 on the Adult Contemporary charts in the summer of 1975. "Castles in the Sand" also charted, peaking at #21 AC.

~ wiki

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Original Album Series: Seals & Crofts (2015)

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Get Closer is Seals and Crofts' eighth studio album. The title cut was a top 10 hit in early 1976, reaching #6 on the Pop charts, and #2 AC. It was their last hit to make it that high on the charts. "Goodbye Old Buddies" reached #10 on the AC chart as well.

The song "Get Closer" features the vocals of Carolyn Willis, who had been in the group Honey Cone.

"Sweet Green Fields" was sampled in the 1997 song "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See" by Busta Rhymes and later in 2002 by Syleena Johnson on her song "Tonight I'm Gonna Let Go".

~ wiki

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Original Album Series: Seals & Crofts (2015)

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