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Seal/"Human Being" (Warner Bros.)
For his first album in four years, the Grammy-winning Seal again collaborates with producer Trevor Horn for a soulful and appealing collection of elegant electro-tinged tunes. While there's nothing here as immediately grabbing as the classy 1991 smash "Crazy" or the award-winning "Kiss From a Rose," there are warm nods to a variety of styles, from techno-dance ("Latest Craze") and sad ballads ("Lost My Faith") to acoustic tunes ("When a Man Is Wrong") and grand statements ("Human Beings"). Pleasant enough. Two and one half stars
Mariah Carey/"1's" (Columbia)
This Christmas winner collects all of Carey's 13 chart-toppers, from "I Don't Wanna Cry" to the amazing vocal performances of "My All" and "Honey," plus four new cuts. It's a useful disc if you're a Mariah fan and don't have all the albums or singles. Along with the familiar romantic-ballad chart-busters, the track list includes the megahit single version of "Fantasy" (featuring rapper ODB) and a previously unreleased live version of "Hero." The quartet of new cuts features "When You Believe," a so-so duet with Whitney Houston from DreamWorks' forthcoming "The Prince of Egypt," and "Whenever You Call," a much better duet with Brian McKnight. Three stars
- Fred Shuster
Jewel/"Spirit" (Atlantic)
A flower child who's apparently spent too much time in the potting soil, Jewel is back with another wispy, wistful set of lighter-than- air acoustic guitar-picked melodies and greeting-card sentiments. It's 13 tracks of "everything's gonna be OK," cut too quickly as a follow-up to her 8 million-selling debut, "Pieces of You." The songs that stood out on that first disc, incidentally, were co-written with veteran San Diego singer-composer Steve...