POP MUSIC REVIEW : Dan Seals Takes a Walk on the Mild Side

Dan Seals obviously is not your standard-issue Nashville artist. A Texas-born country singer whose heroes are ‘50s soul greats Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson, Seals has a new single, “We Are One,” that is a philosophical call for brotherhood reflecting the teachings of the Bahai faith. He’s figured on the pop charts, first in 1976 as half of the duo England Dan & John Ford Coley and then on his own, and he had 11 No. 1 country singles in the ‘80s.

With all those distinguishing ingredients, he should have been more intriguing than he was in his show Monday at the Crazy Horse Steak House.

The bearded singer and his four musicians played a well-executed, wide-ranging set, but Seals has a mild artistic temperament, and instead of using the pop and soul influences, the unconventional philosophy and his long history to make his show challenging and spiky, he folded them gently into a tasteful country-pop sensibility that at best came off as pleasant and bland.

Seals’ approach to Cooke, on “Good Times,” was much like James Taylor’s to Marvin Gaye, capturing the original’s bounce and sweetness but none of the submerged melancholy. Seals’ voice also recalled Taylor’s reedy timbre at several other points, especially on material in a ‘70s folk singer-songwriter vein.

That was effective on lyrics that called for a plaintive approach, but his voice had trouble projecting when the backing was loud. He also should shelve the shaky falsetto lines he used as transitions on “All That Glitters (Is Not Gold).”

The musical scales were tipped toward a rock attack, and even Seals’ most “country” material was set in pop frameworks--there wasn’t a fiddle or a steel guitar in sight.

Jesse Winchester’s “Sweet Little Shoe,” Seals’ country-dance hit from last year, was potent, and “Rage On,” a Seals composition about his West Texas origins, was the most fully satisfying song of the set, its smooth, rolling pace and atmospheric harmonies making it sound almost like something that could fit on “The Notorious Byrd Brothers” album.