Hard to believe Seal started in the United Kingdom house music scene, given how tailor-made his voice is for the mainstream soul tunes that are the focus on his most recent disc and concert tour. There is the sandpaper grit in his midrange, and the flirtation with falsetto when the emotional stakes and musical key are raised. His jet black skin (he’s of Nigerian-Brazilian heritage) and suave, calculated urbanity completes his embodiment as a classic soul man.

For all these reasons, "Soul" is his largest-selling record since his second self-titled release back in 1994, the one aided by the monster power-ballad "Kiss From a Rose" being affixed to the end of a Batman movie as the credits rolled. Without question there is a florid, paint-by-the-numbers quality to these makeovers — David Foster produced it, after all. But no need to take liberties when the song selection clicks into line like an ace jukebox from the '70s being plied by a hip dude with a pocketful of quarters.

The lead track, Sam Cooke’s "A Change Is Gonna Come," was resurrected for the Obama race — Seal sang in California during the campaign while he and his supermodel wife, Heidi Klum, stumped for the future president — and became the entrée for the entire concept. Pretty soon, Seal and Foster were cherry-picking stuff from the catalogs of Al Green ("Here I Come (Come and Take Me)" and "Still in Love With You"), Curtis Mayfield ("It’s Alright" and "People Get Ready"), Otis Redding ("I’ve Been Loving You Too Long") and James Brown ("It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World").

Seal promises a generous helping of Soul plus a judicious smattering of his own hits ("Kiss From A Rose," "Crazy," "Prayer For the Dying") on the United States leg of his tour (after South America, before Europe) which begins Tuesday night at the Orpheum. The core band is spare — just a backing trio has been announced, with Seal himself also on guitar, although I can’t imagine there won’t also be strings, as in this rendition of "Man’s World" done for English television here (move it to the 6:23 mark to start the music). And here is his version of "Change Is Gonna Come" amid much dry ice and orchestration.

Seal at the Orpheum Theatre, Tuesday, March 31, 7:30 p.m., tickets $45-$75.