Sweet merciful holy CRAP, is this CD good. It's Seal's acoustic track of his "Best Of" album... basically what this CD does is strip down the heavily-layered tracks from Seal's yester-years to plain and simple acoustice instruments. That doesn't neccessarily mean Trevor Horn's knack for quirky arranging doesn't come into play at all, however. The most obvious instruments, such as guitar and piano, are here, but a few odd things come into play as well; the credits list one person as being responsible for "stomping on boxes and banging on various household items" as well as "percussion/drums."
From this credit we see two things: 1) Zip ties come into play often, and 2) Everyone seemed to have a fun time making the album, as can be seen in the lighthearted rendition of "Waiting For You," which has Seal apparently laughing near the end.
The regular collection of Seal's Best Of includeds many of his biggest singles from his 1991 acid jazz-y album to his motown/blues 2003 record. Thankfully, he doesn't shy away from his critically criticized album of '98, which was his most touching, raw one to date. Also collected are a few odds and ends from different soundtracks that were quite annoying to have to get otherwise... like "Fly Like An Eagle," from the Space Jam soundtrack and "Lips Like Sugar" from the 50 First Days soundtrack.
Also, as a nice bonus, Seal has throw in his signature-branded cover of "Walk On By," which stuck in my head for weeks and made this my most anticipated albums for Christmas. Laura Nyro also did a cover of this song awhile back, and, more commmercially, so did Burt Bacharach with somebody-or-other.
Definitely a must-buy. In my Top 10 Album List. 5/5