SACD Seals & Crofts – Summer Breeze

Name: SACD Seals &amp; Crofts - Summer Breeze
SKU: CAPR 024 SA
Price: 44.00 EUR
Availability: BackOrder

SACD

44,00 € incl. VAT

Format

Hybrid Stereo SACD

Source

Original master tape (to DSD)

Genre

Pop/Rock

Pre-order

LabelAnalogue Productions (Acoustic Sounds 40 Series)
Catalogue numberCAPR 024 SA
GenrePop/Rock

SKU: CAPR 024 SA Categories: Preorder, Rock & Pop, SACD

Summer Breeze as a hybrid stereo SACD from Analogue Productions’ Acoustic Sounds 40th Anniversary Series, mastered to DSD from the original master tape. All ten tracks play in one sequence – from “Hummingbird” to “Yellow Dirt”.

The album begins beyond the hit

Some songs carry a whole atmosphere in their title, and “Summer Breeze” is one of them. Yet this Seals & Crofts album is much more than an extended radio moment: shared vocals, acoustic instruments and changing instrumental colours make music that welcomes you in without being tied to one mood.

Released in 1972, it was already Jim Seals and Dash Crofts’ fourth album – the breakthrough didn’t come from nowhere. They had developed their own way of bringing two voices and different string instruments together. The title song makes it easy to step in; the bigger reward comes from staying and following the less familiar paths.

Jim Seals and Dash Crofts with guitar and mandolin, circa 1972 — Seals & Crofts

The producer plays along

Louie Shelton produced Summer Breeze and played guitar on it too – not directing from behind the control-room glass, but taking part in the music. His relationship with the duo continued through further successful recordings, which makes him part of their story rather than a name in the small print.

The instrumentation reaches beyond the expected folk-rock frame: steel guitar, banjo, tabla and tambura all appear in the credits. What matters is not the unusual names, but how a different attack or a new set of overtones changes the familiar relationship between voice and guitar – those small shifts in colour keep the album from turning into a mere summer backdrop.

Hummingbird and jasmine flowers for Summer Breeze — Hummingbird

Give “Hummingbird” its beginning

The album opens with “Hummingbird”, not with its title hit – and the longer album version includes a prologue that the single leaves out. If you know the radio version, this opening gives you a new perspective: the music has time to settle before the familiar song unfolds.

The hummingbird also connects with the musicians’ spiritual world: both belonged to the Bahá’í faith. You don’t need to share those beliefs to hear that the imagery and the search for connection mean more than pretty references to nature – the album’s friendly surface is not the limit of its meaning.

More than one life for a song

The Isley Brothers and, much later, Type O Negative recorded strikingly different versions of “Summer Breeze” – proof of how much a strong song can carry. Coming back to Seals & Crofts afterwards brings the choices of the original into sharper focus.

Try following the voices separately from the small instrumental replies: the album doesn’t depend on piling up accompaniment, but on the relationships between the parts. The warmth stays – and the craft behind it becomes easier to hear.

The hybrid stereo SACD from Analogue Productions

CAPR 024 SA is a hybrid stereo SACD from Analogue Productions’ Acoustic Sounds 40th Anniversary Series. According to the publisher, it was mastered to DSD from the original master tape. The publisher also notes that the title track reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. The SACD layer plays on SACD-capable players, the CD layer on any conventional CD player. The disc contains the ten tracks of the original album.

You order from Michael 45 in Germany. We arrange the US import and ship from Hilden.

More from the series: Acoustic Sounds 40th Anniversary Series

Also in another edition: Summer Breeze

More SACDs by Seals & Crofts: Diamond Girl

Customer question: Buying Analogue Productions records in Europe