There is so much a man can tell you, so much he can say... especially if that man is named Kirk, and the thing he's telling you about is Seal's "Kiss From a Rose."
Kirk goes back to the 90s for a close look at Seal's Grammy-winning, Batman-adjacent power ballad and finds a song that's much more interesting than he even remembered. It's an indulgent world of thick counterpoint, long phrases, harp flourishes, and oboe solos, with some of the richest vocal arranging this side of a chamber choir.
Band/Artist: Seal
Album: Seal II, 1994 and the Batman Forever soundtrack, 1995
Composed by: Seal
Produced by: Trevor Horn
Listen/Buy: Apple Music | Amazon | Spotify
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OUTRO SOLOIST: Sam Howard
This episode's outro soloist is bassist Sam Howard. Sam lives in Nashville, TN, where he performs and tours with all kinds of artists, most recently hitting the road with the wonderful singer/guitar-shredder Molly Tuttle. Sam played all the way through the Strong Songs outro, so keep an ear out for his playing mixed under the horns on the way out. You can find out what Sam's up to at his website, https://samhowardmusic.com.
NEWSLETTER/MAILING LIST
Sign up for Kirk's mailing list to start getting monthly-ish newsletters with music recommendations, links, news, and extra thoughts on new Strong Songs episodes: https://kirkhamilton.substack.com/subscribe
STRONG MERCH!
Visit the Strong Songs merch store for some very cool t-shirts, mugs, totes, and more: store.strongsongspodcast.com
STRONG PLAYLISTS
You can find playlists containing every Strong Song as well as all of Kirk's weekly music picks from his other podcast, Kotaku Splitscreen, on both Spotify and Apple Music.
SUPPORT STRONG SONGS ON PATREON!
The biggest of thank-yous to all of Strong Songs's Patreon patrons. The show is drawing ever-nearer to its next goal, which will mean a bonus episode all about music terminology. If you want to support the show, do so here: https://Patreon.com/StrongSongs
OCTOBER 2019 WHOLE-NOTE PATRONS
andrew walters CALEB ROTACH Chad Barnard Dan Apczynski Dave Florey Glenn Jared Norris Mark Schechter Merlin Mann
OCTOBER 2019 HALF-NOTE PATRONS
Alex Singer Alexander Polson Andre Bremer Andrew Baker Andrew Lee Arjun Sharma Bill Thornton Brett Douville Brian Amoebas Brooke Wilford Chas Lednicky Chris Brown Cyrus N. White Dominik Schmitt Earl Lozada Eero Wahlstedt Elliot Jay O'Neill Emily Williams FlSHBONES Forrest Chang Jaehoon Jeong James Johnson Jasmine Fellows Jeffrey Olson John and Sharon Stenglein Jon O'Keefe joujou Juan Carlos Montemayor Elosua Jules Bailey Justin Liew Justin McElroy Kate Albury Kevin Morrell Kevin Pennyfeather Matt Gaskell Max Schechter Melanie Stivers Michael Blackwell Miriam Juskowicz Mueller Nate from Kalamazoo Nicholas Schechter Richard Toller samuel gardner Shane DeLeon Shaun Wiese SP Tim Tom Clewer Tom Lauer