Review of Seal: Live At The Point Dublin

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 features a concert recorded in 1991, when Seal was at the height of his early success. He toured on the back of his first album, playing all 9 tracks from that album plus a few B sides/EP tracks from various singles. There are also sections on the DVD featuring acoustic versions of 6 of the songs, as well as videos from the singles released from the first album. More on those later.

The tracklists for the various sections are handily outlined up above, so I won`t waste time repeating them.

Video

Full frame transfers all round for the concert, the acoustic session and the videos. All to be expected for material recorded in 1991. The main feature is the concert footage, and this is your usual concert footage, featuring blokes on stage, a crowd, and a few opening shots of the location. Much of the footage has been played around with though, so there`s lots of sepia, black and white and grainy stuff on show. At times this looks very hazy and is a bit annoying, but it`s supposed to be art so we`re supposed to let it go.

I`ll admit that it`s a bit more interesting than your standard footage, but the hazy/grainy nature of much of it isn`t always easy on the eye.

Audio

A choice of PCM, DD5.1 and dts for both the concert and acoustic sections. The promo videos are presented in PCM only and sound fine.

Let`s start with the PCM track for the concert. This is surprisingly good, and perhaps one of the best PCM tracks that I`ve heard on a DVD (there don`t tend to be that many). Moving up to the DD5.1 and dts tracks brings further improvement though, with some good instrument placement and crowd noise. The bass can sometimes sound a little muddy on a couple of tracks, but it`s not too bad. Maybe it was intentional or I`m just a bit too picky.

The acoustic section sounds really excellent though, with very clean and crisp audio, particularly with one of the multi-channel mixes (the PCM version is good too). Instruments are locked onto channels, there`s lovely reverb and it`s almost like being in Church Studios in October 1991. The acoustic tracks were released on a few CD singles, but this might be the first time you`ve heard them.

Features

The original promo videos and the acoustic tracks are the real extras here, and I`ve already mentioned them.

Conclusion

An excellent little package this one. The highlight for me is definitely the acoustic session. I`ve been listening to these tracks for many years having owned the original CD singles that they appeared on. But the two new 5.1 mixes of the tracks breathe new life into them, and it`s nice to watch the performances too.

The main concert is also very good, and highlights the quality of Seal`s first album. The band really go to town with new arrangements (reggae versions of songs, more funky and rocky versions, and also a few acoustic pieces). An excellent cover of Hendrix`s "Hey Joe" (also a B side from the period) is a good addition to the set list. I must say that I still think that "Killer" doesn`t work without all the electronic gizmos from the Adamski version. Either the original or the rare Adamksi/Ben Chapman remix are the only way to hear the song.

The promo videos are a nice addition, if only to really date everything because they just look so late 80s/early 90s. Nice to have them and make this a complete package of Seal from this period.

A must for fans of Seal`s early work, and you should definitely pick this up for the acoustic tracks if you don`t have them. If you are more of a casual fan or if you like good acoustic music then you might also be interested in this title. You can pick it up for around the price of a CD so it`s definitely worth a look in my opinion.