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Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Seals & Crofts wasn’t a\u00a0one-hit wonder of the ’70s<\/a>. Jim Seals and Dash Crofts helped define the soft rock sound of the decade\u00a0with a breezy style that incorporated elements of jazz, folk, rock, and pop as the band garnered\u00a0multiple chart hits, was\u00a0nominated for Grammys, and sold millions of records.\u00a0One of the duo’s biggest songs, “Summer Breeze,” is an iconic tune that captures an easygoing love connection, wrapping up the hazy glow in a bittersweet sound and topping it off with an infinitely catchy melody \u2014 but it’s not the group’s best work.<\/p>\n We think the Seals & Crofts catalog holds even finer treasures. In our view, the duo has catchier and more sophisticated songs that don’t always get the appreciation they deserve. Some of these were hit singles that became radio staples during the band’s heyday. Others are deep cuts that make revisiting the albums a voyage of audio rediscovery. We think they deserve some time in the spotlight.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Hummingbird<\/p>\n
The 1972 song “Hummingbird” is from the duo’s album “Summer Breeze,” which means it had a lot of competition from the beloved title track. The depth of the lyrics may be surprising for the soft rock genre, but it’s a natural fit for the late ’60s and early ’70s New Age spirit. “Heavenly songbird, we were so wrong \/ We harmed you,” the pair sings in the opening, doubling their voices instead of going for harmony. The effect is an electrifying, hymn-like delivery in the church of Mother Nature.<\/p>\n Eventually, the funky bits roll in, with a fluttering flute line and wah-wah guitars adding weight to the urgent “Hummingbird don’t fly away, fly away” motif the lyrics return to repeatedly. Then there’s a plea for awakening: “Haven’t you noticed the rays? The spirit sun is stronger \/ And a new day is dawning on us all”). Soon after, this passage is contrasted by the ominous admission, “Alas, here comes the ‘Gardener’; he’s come to till the flowers,” removing the very thing that draws the hummingbird nearer. That’s deep stuff.<\/p>\n Jim Seals explained in a 1991 Los Angeles Times<\/a> interview that the hummingbird is a metaphor for Bah\u00e1\u02bcu’ll\u00e1h, leader of the Baha’i faith that both he and Dash Crofts followed. Seals considered the song’s underlying message \u2014 that the world’s greatest spiritual teachers end up being persecuted due to human misunderstanding \u2014 as a musical “mea culpa” of sorts.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Get Closer<\/p>\n
The message in “Get Closer” is a simple one: If you want commitment, you need to commit. As straightforward as that idea may be, there are far too many instances where it gets forgotten, which is why Seals & Crofts’ instructive tune is such a winner. Sometimes, it takes a musical gem like this to illustrate the more solvable problems in life in a manner everyone can understand.<\/p>\n That’s not to say the song takes the situation lightly \u2014 it actually faces the tough stuff head-on in a way that progresses as\u00a0the lyrics unfold. “You say we’ve been like strangers,” Jim Seals and Dash Crofts sing in unison, “but I’m not like the others you can wrap ’round your fingers.” This is boundary setting at its most direct. The pair also pulled in singer Carolyn Willis to sing the female counterpoint to the male perspective. Her line “And there’s a feelin’, deep down inside me \/ I can’t explain it and you’re wondering why” is delivered in a piercing, almost gospel wail that sends shivers up the spine. Anyone who’s ever been in a romantic quandary knows exactly what these three are singing about.<\/p>\n The soaring, soulful song found a place in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, reaching the No. 6 spot in July 1976. Today, the choir chorus is still a sing-along favorite after all this time.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Diamond Girl<\/p>\n
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