Seal, System

Ask the man on the street to name a Seal song, and chances are he would go for Kiss From a Rose, the cloyingly schmaltzy hit ballad that put any memory of Seal's maverick musical beginnings with Adamski and Trevor Horn in the dustcart. Hoorah, then, that six albums down the line, Seal has decided to revisit his past. He has hired Stuart Price, the producer of Madonna's Confessions on a Dancefloor, and a man who knows the power of a silvery beat and a heavy sprinkling of trance. Songs like Amazing and If It's in My Mind, It's on My Face are huge, euphoric examples of radio-conquering dance music. Sadly, this imperial form dips when Seal tries a few loved-up numbers. In particular, Wedding Day, a song he wrote on the morning of his nuptials to supermodel Heidi Klum, is a river of oleaginous smugness.