Review of Seal: Videos 1991 to 2004

Introduction

Yes it really is 14 years since we all first heard of Seal (god that really makes me feel old!) Back in 1990 he wrote the lyrics and performed on Adamski`s "Killer", which spent 4 weeks at number 1 in the singles chart in 1990. Following this dance collaboration, he then went off to start his solo career, with the excellent debut album "Seal". He eventually returned with 1994`s "Seal II", featuring the Grammy award winning "Kiss From A Rose", followed by 1998`s rather awful "Human Being" which has no good songs on it at all.

After completing and shelving a whole new album a few years ago, Seal decided to go back to his roots, returning to London, and hooking up with Trevor Horn (who produced his early work with great success). This resulted in 2003`s "Seal IV" (imaginitive chap isn`t he?) but this was preceded by a collaboration with dance/chillout collective Jakatta, a single called "My Vision" which made it into the charts and put Seal back on the map.

This DVD is released to coincide with the release of a Greatest Hits album, featuring some songs from the last 14 years as well as a new track, yet another cover of "Walk On By".

The tracklist is handily outlined up above. Missing from the DVD version are the following:-

Kiss From A Rose (a massive hit, so why isn`t it here?)
Fly Like An Eagle
My Vision (his most recent hit, and a glaring omission)
If You Go Away

Video

Aaargh! An NTSC full frame transfer! How lazy can you get! Not only do they neglect widescreen for the most recent videos, they also make the whole DVD in NTSC so it looks even less impressive. It`s ok to watch on the whole, but it just smacks of laziness.

Audio

Just a PCM soundtrack. Is this 1999? No it`s 2004, when the multi-channel soundtrack is king. If you`re only going to do PCM stereo, why bother? I mean it all sounds ok, but it`s not that different to the CD, so what`s the point of bunging it on DVD?

Features

Not even a "Play all" option, but selecting any track plays it and anything following it.

Conclusion

Do not buy this disc.

It`s a total rip off. A lazy NTSC transfer and a lazy PCM soundtrack do not a good DVD make. If you want a greatest hits package buy the CD version - you`ll get more tracks too! You`re not missing anything by not seeing the videos.

However, if you do want to buy a Seal DVD, buy the excellent Seal: Live At The Point Dublin instead. As well as a full concert (in DD5.1 or dts), you get the videos for Crazy, Future Love Paradise, The Beginning and Killer (only PCM again though), as well as excellent acoustic versions of Deep Water, Show Me, Crazy, Wild, Whirlpool and Violet (all in DD5.1 or dts too!)

Avoid.