I've been going back and listening to a lot of 90s stuff lately. Been working through Seal's catalog. I loved Seal II, but had never backed up to listen to Seal I much. I knew "Killer" when it was a single by Adamski (the album version by Seal is a re-recording; Adamski's single is about 90% the same, but sounds more early 90's euro-tech).

So it made me think, who had the better debut album:

[Edited 4/28/23 15:58pm]

Max

Maxwell. One of the best debut albums ever.

Doesn't mean Seal's album isn't good. I like it. But it's not even on the same radar as Maxwell's album for me.

Ooooh ... BOTH ARE GREAT

But the Seal album hits me stronger becuase it was so 'different' sounding

Maybe edgier too?

Like I said, I love both

PS - WTF after Seal II

Seal's "Crazy" is a mega-classic single from his debut.

Wendy and Lisa are also studio musicians on that record (as well as on later recordings).

Maxwell's debut is an ALBUM, though.

I love that record, also.

No further comments, your honor

eDit

[Edited 4/29/23 12:46pm]

nayroo2002 said:

Seal's "Crazy" is a mega-classic single from his debut.

Wendy and Lisa are also studio musicians on that record (as well as on later recordings).

Maxwell's debut is an ALBUM, though.

I love that record, also.

No further comments, your honor

Just a slight correction: W&L are on a couple of songs on the second record in 1994. They co-wrote 2 songs and played on the 1994 album. They're not on his first 1991 record.

DotsofU said:

Ooooh ... BOTH ARE GREAT

But the Seal album hits me stronger because it was so 'different' sounding.

Maybe edgier too?

Like I said, I love both

PS - WTF after Seal II

I agree about the sound of Seal's record. He was sort out of the euro/techno/industrial realm, sideways. Adamski's version of "Killer" with Seal on it has an edgier club sound to it (in the production) than Seal's re-recorded version on the '91 album. Seal's version was fuller, more (but not over) produced.

Maxwell's was a full on conceptual album front to back.

I agree both are great. But listening to Seal's music lately, it really fits his style well.

I'm up to the 6th album and his sound is consistent. The quality doesn't dip and his voice has grown better and better. The first of the two Soul albums is really good, too. His take on "Knock on Wood" keeps the tempo of Ami's version but the soul version from Eddie Floyd.

The great sleeper tracks on Seal are "Future Love Paradise" and "Deep Water."

There are apparently two versions of the album. "Wild" is a rocker on the original, and "Violet" has no dialog in the singing. You can tell the difference by the time signature of those songs. The altered version has a ".2" at the end of the matrix number. The original as "-2" at the end.