Seals & Crofts: Summer Breeze Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Seals & Crofts: Summer Breeze Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 10, 2024

Seals and Crofts had one of the most distinctive sounds of their era, but the one thing that may have more ostensibly set them apart was the spiritual element suffusing many of their songs, courtesy of their well advertised Baha'i faith. Both Seals (whose brother is "England" Dan Seals) and Crofts had really interesting histories that those wanting a little background can do some internet sleuthing to uncover, but they perhaps unexpectedly found their greatest success as this duo, which offered such memorable hits as "Hummingbird" and "Summer Breeze", both off of this album.

The track listing for this album can be seen in the screenshots of the disc menu I've uploaded to accompany this review.

Seals & Crofts: Summer Breeze Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

This is a Rhino release without an animated menu, and thankfully with the option to toggle between audio codecs courtesy of the colored buttons on your remote, so it's not absolutely necessary to have a monitor or display on to enjoy this release.

Seals & Crofts: Summer Breeze Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Summer Breeze is another fantastic sounding Quadio release from Rhino, with a beautifully spacious DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0 version accompanying a standard stereo version offered in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. The quadraphonic version gorgeously opens up both instrumentation (listen to the mandolin in the rear channels during "Hummingbird") and vocals (that gorgeous high harmony on "mind" in "Summer Breeze" also emanates from the rear channels). Quite often both the guys voices, either singing in unison or harmony, can emanate from all four channels, but there are also moments of discrete channelization. Also frequently guitar or mandolin sounds can be weighted toward the rear channels, allowing the front part of the soundstage to be filled with both voices and some of the nice orchestral arrangements. That same emphasis on rear focused channelization for a solo is also in evidence in the titular instrument on "Fiddle in the Sky".

Seals & Crofts: Summer Breeze Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no on disc supplements. An insert booklet reprints song lyrics and includes some photos of the original Sound Factory tape reel track lists, along with the usual verbiage about bass management depending on your audio setup. Also as with many Rhino Quadio releases, the disc has been silkscreened with the original label, in this case the old school "palm tree" Warner Brothers Records masthead.

Seals & Crofts: Summer Breeze Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Seals and Crofts may have frankly struck some younger types back in the seventies as positively passé, but their songcraft is typically exceptional, and the arrangements on this album offer a lot of color and virtuosity, along with really evocative (if, yes, slightly nasal sounding) vocals. Audio is once again superb like almost all of Rhino's Quadio releases. Recommended.