Customer Reviews

Seals & Crofts

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

What's fascinating about the first album is the spiritual conviction. S&C begin their collaboration with a declaration, See My Life. And then it embarks on an often mystical exploration of the Baha'i Faith. Here we have the astonishing beauty of their vocal harmony, and conversation between guitar and mandolin, and some tasteful orchestration added to the mix. An extraordinary album that has been silent too long.

A few years back upon reviewing the wonderful CD entitled: "Traces" I was quite vocal in my amazement that almost all of Jim Seals & Dash Crofts, original catalog had not been released in the CD format, ever.

Now it is September 2007, and at long last after decades of waiting, here at last they are. This is the very first and seldom heard Record: "Seals & Crofts" and as I have not played this LP since my final turntable went kaput in 1985, I was wondering what the re-issue, would be. Would we get bonus tracks? A 40 page booklet of liner notes with rare photos? Nope and nope, just a facsimile of the 1969 LP with the 12 tracks of 34 minutes of music intact and sounding great.

That said, this was a fine way for Jim & Dash to debut on record. The opening cut: "See My Life" is lively and was very unique in it's sound and performance upon it's release in 1969. Nobody sounded like these artists then, and all these years later nobody STILL sounds like them. All the ingredients of their future super-stardom can be found right here on this first offering. The mix of acoustic guitars & mandolin were nice & fresh for ears that were going deaf from loud electric guitars of this era, and the vocal harmonies were fully-formed and mature, right from the begining. A mix of up-tempo acoustic music is finely balanced with delicate ballads and even a little bit of orchestration was included in the production. This is very well crafted folk-pop that was years ahead of everybody else upon it's release.

Fantastic tunes abound here. "In Time" is a fine piece of Pop music played at an brisk pace and those glorious harmonies put this one right over the top. Was this ever a single? Well, if it wasn't, it should've been one. "Cows of Gladness" is real gem, and the orchestration fits in well here mixed right along side the voices and percussion. "Sea of Consciousness", still sounds wonderful. The vocals soar here, and it's all over too soon. Again for a first album, the writing stands out as very mature and many moods and feelings are explored herein. The sound quality is excellent, I have no complaints about that AND as I have been spoiled by re-issues, padded with extras, this one is just fine in it's original length and packaging. I can finally enjoy it once more, it's still a good as I remembered it. Now, along with the better known later records, you can again own Seals & Crofts first record, their first steps.
Four Stars !!!

I have waited years for this to come out on CD. I had the original vinyl which got stolen years ago. Very raw S&C, not the top 40 hits, but if you are a fan of S&C you will love the great harmony & lyrics found on this CD. Well worth the listen!

I have not heard this album in it's CD format, (I still have it in vinyl format!) but this was the first album recorded in 1969 by the duo under their name of Seals & Crofts. Later this album and Down Home(1970) was rereleased in 1974 as I & II.
The songs listed on this first album are: See My Life, Sea of Consciousness, Seldom's Sister, Not Be Found, Birthday of My Thoughts, In Tune, Cows of Gladness, Earth, Seven Valleys, Jekyll and Hyde, Ashes in the Snow, See My Life(Reprise)
For more info about ALL their albums, the lyrics, and the duo's history you can check out their website: www.sealsandcrofts.com
I love hearing their harmony, their songs with deep spiritual meanings without hitting you over the head with preaching, the mellow mandolin sounds on many songs. These songs stand the test of time!

Back in the 70's I had all the early seals and crofts cd's. After losing my my 600+ albums in a flood, I hadn't heard these albums for over 30 yrs . I constantly checked the stores for them when CD format began, and have been frustrated not finding them the last 20 yrs. When I got wind of Amazon I thought I would give them a try.There they were. I immediately bought the first album Seals and Crofts and then Year of Sunday, and Down home. These albums were made before their heyday top 40 success. I love the innocent simplicity and craftsmanship of these albums. you should start with their first album of their namesake,then down home, and year of sunday. these are must haves for any seals and crofts fan. They are'nt the most sought after re-release collection for nothing! James Wheeler

Seals & Crofts put out quality records and some of their best songs are on their earlier albums. "Ashes in the Snow" was not as popular as "Summer Breeze" and "Diamond Girl," but it is just as timeless. It's too bad it took them so long to reissue it--CDs have been prevalent for over 20 years now, and sadly many S&C fans never got to update their collections. As for that "editor"'s comment that "One of the most request catalogs for CD reissue we have ever had," I have 2 responses: (1) You made a grammatical mistake on your fifth word--you're an EDITOR?; and (2) If it is one of the most requested catalogs ever, why did it take over 20 years to release it? But this is deservedly finally available to the fans.

I just fired up my CD. Thank Amazon! The production values are great. I was very surprised as this was a 1969 album and I was expecting it to sound hissy, fuzzy or scratchy. Not so, it could have been recorded today. Each instrument is clear and clean. I love the variety as few bands use flutes and mandolins. And the harmonies and offseted voices are pure and distinct.

So "milk the Cows of Gladness" and "churn the butter of happiness" as this is a wonderful album and a super blast from the past. I think this and "Down Home" are the best, as Seals and Crofts seem so comfortable to just sing happy and uplifting music without worrying what the general AM radio listeners of the day would think of it.

When the CD era came around I picked up Seals & Crofts' Greatest Hits as one of those albums I'd always meant to get around to buying. I'd had the vinyl 45s of "Summer Breeze" and "Diamond Girl", and what impressed me most was that they had b-sides that were on a par with the a-sides ("East of Ginger Trees" and the instrumental "Wisdom", respectively). But after a few listens I found that a ten song greatest hits only left me wanting more. This music had aged very well, becoming even more appealing with time. But to my surprise here was a major act of the 1970s whose catalog was almost entirely missing in action in the CD era.

Now that they've been reissued there were more Seals & Crofts albums than I'd ever dreamed of. I had no intention of buying all ten or so albums, I figured I'd just download about 80 minutes' worth of mp3s so I could customize a second "best of" CD. After sampling this and sampling that I got frustrated; it all sounded good. So I just downloaded the entirety of the first two albums, "Seals & Crofts" and "Down Home". (I'd already found a CD reissue of the "Diamond Girl" album somewhere along the way.)

I've seen Amazon reviewers who suggest that Seals & Crofts "went pop" later in their career, as though their top 40 hits were statements of compromise. I'd beg to differ. This album sounds very much like the Seals & Crofts of later years; it merely lacks the one or two tracks that get selected as singles. That's not to say this isn't an enjoyable album, it is. There's not a single track that would demand I hit the "NEXT!!!" button on the car stereo. It represents the era from which it came, the album-oriented era of pop music, when an album was meant to be enjoyed as a cohesive whole rather than as a hit single supported by throwaway filler.

In the mp3 era though, if one is attempting to download select highlights from each album in a group's catalog, the first "single" here would have to be "Ashes In The Snow". Other highlights would be the upbeat "In Tune", "Seven Valleys", and the first three tracks, "See My Life", "Sea Of Consciousness", and "Seldom's Sister".

This album came out in 1969 and as a first album you can hear the echoes of the mid-sixties occasionally, as though the artists gathered up their portfolios of songs they'd written in the past half-dozen years when preparing the song list for their debut. "Jekyll and Hyde" in particular rings of 1965 or 1966, and "Not Be Found" has moments that peg it to the late 1960s. But nothing ever sinks to the level of precocious folkie banalia that sometimes derailed the first few Simon & Garfunkel albums. Most likely it's because Seals & Crofts must have been close to 30 years old when recording this debut, matured past the age of well-intentioned postadolescent embarrassments.

Overall, the instrumentation is a joy to listen to, their playing ringing in your ears with a distinctive resonance. The harmonies of course are trademark Seals & Crofts. The production is a delight as well, it honors the tradition of "the best production is that which never calls attention to itself". The music is folk-inspired without ever sounding like "annoying coffeehouse loser with an acoustic guitar and a dream". The talent that distinguishes Seals & Crofts from the pack is already clearly evident. Best of all, the next album, "Down Home", only gets better.

Seals and Crofts have such a great catalog of hits and most listeners of pop/rock are familiar with them. However, before the string of hits that brought them into the limelight, their real masterpiece, in my opinion, was the self titled album SEALS AND CROFTS. With beautifully haunting melodies and harmonies, the spiritual lyrics and lovely music evoke a spirit of that late '60's period of peace, love, and harmony of all peoples. I recall being introduced to the music of this album on a PBS presentation that featured the songs on this album. Later I saw them in a memorable concert that featured this album. This was the first (and only) Seals and Crofts album I ever purchased until many years after they had already achieved worldwide popularity. I am thrilled that SEALS AND CROFTS is now available on CD. If you are a fan of the duo, this is an album you should check out if you haven't yet. If you have never liked their "hits", but like folkish pop with good melody and vocal harmony, you may want to give this one a chance as it is not quite as commercial as the later material and the songs are top notch. Five stars from me!

Item was advertised as a "box set." It is NOT! It is a single CD housed in a standard jewel box.