Strong Songs

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://tinyletter.com/KirkHamilton

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