Seals & Crofts - I & II (09/10/19)

I went and opened my big mouth and said "soft rock." No, no, i said it. I'm a big boy. I can handle the first two Seals & Crofts albums back to back.

Actually, this warner brothers repressing was a good thing. Those albums were both out of print, but the duo was mid career. If you're really investing in a group it makes sense to acquire their back catalog and make it available to new fans. It's also interesting because the first album is 90% Seals, while the second album is about 50/50, 60/40 at the worst.

Obviously i'm a fan of the harder stuff, but you know me well enough by now to realize that i find immense pleasure in simply understanding something, making connections no one else has noticed, playing with ideas, and saying "i like it" to a group of people who thought i would hate it.

If you thought The Moody Blues were squirrely, then James Seals is about to take you to school for show and tell. His songs are abstractly "folk rock" but he writes whatever music he wants to write. I hear all sorts of other bands like the Beatles and Meat Puppets and faint whiffs of Supertramp on the second album (chronological time isn't important), and he certainly wasn't at all afraid to experiment with vocal effects and delivery. I also can't neglect to mention the strange effect produced by juxtaposing the baroque flavor of Crofts's melodic mandolin playing with the decidedly romantic orchestrations by Bill Holman.

After which Dash Crofts said "ok, that was fine, but it's just not groovy enough. No, no, we won't go full funk, but let's crank it up two or three notches at least. A little bit of electric blues isn't gonna kill you. You might even sound like you're having fun, wink wink. Sure, obviously, you write all the lyrics and we'll have a couple slow tunes; i just need a little more swing and rhythm, you know?"

That's the real difference. The first album is a serious songwriter making his occasionally strange "art," but for the second album his friend said "take the stick out of your ass," and it totally worked. The second album is not necessarily happier, but it's definitely more fun.

And a "1, 2, 3, country!"

Actually, i'm surprised the last song on the second album isn't a bigger hit today. "Leave" is pretty awesome with a couple great guitar solos. It's the best mash up of classic soft rock and blues i've ever heard.

[No good youtube link, some assembly required]

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