Cherry Red [Release date : 18.07.25]

Harmony rock and pop duo Seals and Croft’s biggest hit single came early on in their career.

1972’s ‘Summer Breeze’ (later covered by the Isley Brothers) was the title track from the duo’s fourth album, reaching no.6 on the Billboard chart.

Their biggest perhaps, but they had many more…

This anthology:

CD1 : Seals & Crofts (1969) : Down Home (1970)
CD2 : Years Of Sunday (1971) : Summer Breeze (1972)
CD3 : Diamond Girl (1973) : Unborn Child (1974)
CD4 : I’ll Play For You (1975) : Get Closer (1976)
CD5 : Take It Easy (1978)

What happened in 1977? Maybe we’ll never know… or maybe the answer is in the title of their 1978 album.

In any event, the duo’s nine albums in ten years release schedule was the definition of prolific.

And, more importantly, the quality of the music was the definition of consistency.

All nine of the albums in this anthology were North American Billboard Chart entries. Some US Charts, others Canadian charts, many of them both.

And if any band’s music reflected the evolution of yacht rock to soft rock in the seventies, it was the mellow, lyrically evocative material being created by Seals and Crofts.

It’s evident on every album. Radio loves Soft Rock, and so the duo scored massive hit singles with ‘Diamond Girl’, ‘Get Closer’, as well as ‘Summer Breeze’, and of course, ‘We May Never Pass This Way Again’, a song with a deeper meaning than most songs that surrounded it in the charts. It resonated strongly with Nat King Cole’s ‘For All We Know’, a hit song more than a decade earlier.

These great songs and others are liberally sprinkled across the nine albums. The sweet and sour ‘Baby Blue’ from Get Closer plays with our emotions, while ‘I Keep Changing Faces’, with similar sentiments, is as Yacht Rock as you can get without looking out the sick bags.

Their 1974 album, Unborn Child, caused considerable controversy. Written from the perspective of an aborted foetus, it reaffirmed their belief in and adherence to the Baha’i faith, something they had been open about, and had often spoken of from the stage.

It hurt sales, temporarily, but they rallied quickly with their I’ll Play For You and Get Closer albums in ‘75 and ‘76 respectively. Both went Gold. Sandwiched between, their Greatest Hits release went double Platinum.

(Established songwriters and performers know how to get the best out of the studio environment. To the extent that David Paich, David Hungate, Jeff Porcaro and Jim Gordon were key members of S&C’s studio band).

Two more albums and the duo signed off.

Croft ultimately relocated to a ranch in the Texas Hill Country. Seals moved to Costa Rica and lived on a coffee farm for a while, eventually settling in Nashville, where he died following a stroke in 2022, aged 79. RIP. *****

Review by Brian McGowan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 16 November 2025.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This 600th show was first broadcast on 18 November 2025

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

Power Plays w/c 1 December 2025

We feature all the artists selected in this sequence in 2025.

Featured Albums w/c 1 December 2025

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)

Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings. The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.