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| Unborn Child | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 8, 1974[1] | |||
| Recorded | The Sound Factory,Los Angeles | |||
| Genre | Soft rock | |||
| Length | 38:06 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Producer | Louie Shelton | |||
| Seals and Crofts chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Christgau's Record Guide | D−[2] |
Unborn Child is the sixth studio album by American music duoSeals and Crofts, released on February 8, 1974 byWarner Bros. Records. It features two singles, "Unborn Child" and "The King of Nothing", which reached number 66 and number 60 on theBillboard Hot 100 respectively. The title track reached number 63 in Canada.[3] Upon release, the album caused controversy for itsanti-abortion message.[4][5]
 | This articleis written like astatement of a personal opinion gained from the artists' interview. Please helprewrite it in aneutral,encyclopedic style.(April 2023) |
The project originated when Lana Bogan, wife of recording engineer Joseph Bogan, watched a TV documentary onabortion and was inspired to write a poem from the perspective of an aborted fetus. While Seals and Crofts were working on their new album, Bogan approached Seals with the poem. She asked him to put the poem to music, which became the lead single "Unborn Child."[6][7]
Seals and Crofts were followers of theBaháʼí Faith, a religion founded in the 19th-century which teaches that life begins at conception.[6]
After listening to the full album, Seals and Crofts named it after the lead single because they decided that it best represented the concept of the album.[6]
According to Crofts,Warner Bros. warned them not to release the album, because the subject ofabortion was highly controversial. The duo insisted that the message of "Unborn Child" was universal,[6] and Crofts stated that they made the record "to save lives."[7]
Despite Warner's warnings, the album was released in February 1974 to great controversy. The title track garnered backlash and was banned from some radio stations because of itsanti-abortion stance.[4]Unborn Child hurt the duo's popularity and was criticized by music critics. The controversy lowered the profile of Seals and Crofts and slowed down their music career.[8]
According to Bill DeYoung, the duo crossed the thin line that separated their music from theBaháʼí Faith, andabortion-rights advocates boycotted the record and the duo's concerts.[7][8][9] For the album, Seals and Crofts won the "Keep Her in Her Place" award from theNational Organization for Women (tying withPaul Anka for his recording of "(You're) Having My Baby") during its "annual putdown of male chauvinism" in the media on Women's Equality Day.[10]
However, it did receive a mostly positive review from Noel Coppage, who, in a July 1974 issue of what was then known asStereo Review described the song "Windflowers" as "truly beautiful, one of the most dazzling opening songs I've heard on an album in a long time," with "two-part harmonies that soar above inspired and single-minded runs on Crofts' mandolin and unbelievably clean and understanding strums on Seals' acoustic guitar, backed by some restrained and brilliant strums on Louis Shelton's electric guitar." Of the title cut, he wrote that its "message is anti-abortion propaganda, pure and simple, but it is delivered gently and poetically inside a layered, meaty melody–and hardworking liberals like me can like the song while disagreeing with the tract it could be prosaically reduced to."[11]
All songs written byJames Seals andDash Crofts, except where indicated.
Side One
Side Two
| Chart (1974) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[12] | 37 |
| Canada[13] | 18 |
| USTop LPs & Tape (Billboard) | 14 |
