A Light Hits the Gloom on the Grey: Seal’s Second Album Set for Deluxe Release

Seal II deluxe
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“There is so much a man can tell you / so much he can say…” Seal will be saying a little more with the help of Rhino, who will issue a new deluxe edition of his second album on June 14.

Available as a 2CD/Blu-ray or 2LP set, Seal (known colloquially but unofficially as Seal II, to differentiate from his self-titled debut from three years earlier) will include the newly remastered original album plus a bonus disc of unreleased alternate versions of the album’s biggest hits and most treasured songs, plus rare non-LP material like the Japan-only single “Love is Powerful” and covers of Jimi Hendrix (“Manic Depression,” “The Wind Cries Mary”) and The Steve Miller Band (Seal’s hit version of “Fly Like An Eagle,” included on the blockbuster soundtrack to the Michael Jordan/Looney Tunes mash-up Space Jam). Five of those bonus tracks, all previously released, will be included as the fourth side to a new vinyl pressing of the album (a milky-white color variant of which will be available at Barnes & Noble), and the Blu-ray included with the 2CD edition features new hi-res stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes of the original album. A previously unreleased alternate of “Kiss from a Rose,” one of the album’s biggest and most belated hits, is streaming now.

Once again teaming up with producer Trevor Horn, Seal’s second album continued the British singer’s rise as one of the world’s most acclaimed dance/soul artists, with help from a stellar cast of musicians including Jeff Beck (who also added guitar to the non-LP cover of “Manic Depression”), bassist Pino Palladino, William Orbit, Horn’s Art of Noise cohort Anne Dudley, string arranger Gavyn Wright and former Prince and The Revolution guitarist/keyboardist duo Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman.

Lead single “Prayer for the Dying” became another international hit for the London musician – peaking at No. 14 in England and just missing the Top 20 in America – while the emotional “Don’t Cry” also became a U.S. Top 40 hit. The album’s signature song, however, was “Kiss from a Rose,” an unconventional, almost medieval-tinged ballad (one that Seal was never particularly proud of until Horn found its arrangement). A Top 5 U.K. hit on its own when released as a single to promote the album, “Kiss from a Rose” was tapped for the end credits and soundtrack to 1995’s Batman Forever (in which Val Kilmer replaced Michael Keaton as the Caped Crusader) and became the summer’s biggest hit, topping the Billboard Hot 100 and winning Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. (Seal kept the soundtrack streak going with his take on The Steve Miller Band’s “Fly Like An Eagle,” a No. 10 U.S. hit from the Space Jam soundtrack.)

The newly expanded Seal hits stores June 14. Pre-order it below. (As an Amazon affiliate, we earn a portion of qualifying portions from the below links.)

Seal (Deluxe Edition) (Warner/Rhino, 2024)

2CD/Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

CD 1: Original album (2024 remaster) (released as ZTT 4509-96256-2 (U.K.)/Sire/Warner Bros./ZTT 45415 (U.S.), 1994)

  1. Bring It On
  2. Prayer for the Dying
  3. Dreaming in Metaphors
  4. Don’t Cry
  5. Fast Changes
  6. Kiss from a Rose
  7. People Asking Why
  8. Newborn Friend
  9. If I Could
  10. I’m Alive
  11. Bring It On (Reprise)

CD 2: Rare (previously unreleased except where noted. * included on 2LP edition)

  1. Bring It On (Alternate Version)
  2. Reality
  3. Prayer for the Dying (Alternate Version)
  4. Kiss from a Rose (Alternate Version)
  5. Fast Changes (Alternate Version)
  6. Newborn Friend (Alternate Version)
  7. I’m Alive (Alternate Version)
  8. Don’t Cry (Alternate Version)
  9. People Asking Why (Alternate Version)
  10. Dreaming In Metaphors (Alternate Version)
  11. If I Could (Alternate Version)
  12. Love is Powerful *
  13. Manic Depression (feat. Jeff Beck) *
  14. Blues in E *
  15. The Wind Cries Mary *
  16. Fly Like An Eagle *

Track 12 from Japanese non-LP single – ZTT/WEA WMD5-4135, 1993
Track 13 from Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix – Reprise 45438, 1993
Tracks 14-15 from “Kiss from a Rose” U.K. CD single – ZTT ZANG52CD1, 1994
Track 16 from Space Jam (Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture) – Warner Sunset/Atlantic 82961, 1996

Blu-ray: Original album in Dolby Atmos and hi-res stereo mixes

Mike Duquette
Mike Duquette

Mike Duquette (Founder) was fascinated with catalog music ever since he was a teenager. A 2009 graduate of Seton Hall University with a B.A. in journalism, Mike paired his profession with his passion through The Second Disc, one of the first sites to focus on all reissue labels great and small. His passion for reissues turned into a career, having written at and worked for all three major catalogue music labels and contributing to Allmusic, Billboard, Discogs, City Pages and Ultimate Classic Rock. He's penned liner notes for Verve, Chess, Mondo and Soul Music Records.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Mike lives in Astoria, Queens with his wife, a cat named Ravioli, twin daughters and a large yet tasteful collection of music.

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