Now Available: Seals & Crofts, Original Album Series

Given the sales figures, it’s a fair bet that most people who’ve invested in a Seals & Crofts album for their collection in recent years have gone with the duo’s greatest-hits collection, but if you’ve ever toyed with the idea of digging a little bit deeper into the career of the guys who brought you “Summer Breeze,” now’s your big chance: this week marks the release of an Original Album Series set by Seals and Crofts, one which collects the duo’s studio output from 1972 through 1976.

Now, we realize that your instinct is probably to think, “Well, surely that must cover all of their hits,” but if you are thinking that, then you’d be jumping the gun a bit, because they actually had two more top-40 singles after that: “My Fair Share” in 1977, and “You’re the Love” in 1978. With that said, however, this collection does indeed include all three of their top-10 hits – “Summer Breeze,” “Diamond Girl,” and “Get Closer” – and that’s the trio of tracks that’s most likely to inspire recognition from the average listener.

Here’s the albums that you’ll find within the set:

• Summer Breeze (1972) • Diamond Girl (1973) • Unborn Child (1974) • I’ll Play for You (1975) • Get Closer (1976)

Alas, you don’t get any bonus tracks, but you do get a solid collection, one which – with all due respect to the portion of the duo’s catalog that isn’t included within – contains the strongest studio albums of Seals & Crofts’ career…and, frankly, isn’t that enough? Well, let’s hope so, anyway, because it’s certainly some good listening, that’s for sure.