Sade - Soldier of Love

has the kind of cross-format appeal where she was would hit smooth jazz, hip-hop, pop fans.

also i'm pretty sure that there's been a quiet critical re-evaluation of her to the extent where her critical rep and general standing are way higher than i remember for her last album

both Love Deluxe and Lovers Rock placed in P&J

Diamond Life, too

also i'm pretty sure that there's been a quiet critical re-evaluation of her to the extent where her critical rep and general standing are way higher than i remember for her last album

hmmm. thought this sort of reevaluation (re-valuation sounds better) happened precisely with the last album.

or, you know, critics liked her all along

yeah I think a lot of people worked up the courage to come out and fess up around the period of Lovers Rock.

or, you know

14. Sade: Diamond Life (Portrait) 283 (30) *
31. Sade: Love Deluxe (Epic) 181 (19) *
25. Sade: Lovers Rock (Epic) 360 (39)

uk/us divide, over here she always gets dismissed with the boring/yuppie/coffee table accusations - far less so this time round

There is something about Sade that makes you want to actually own the album. Not just the single, and not just a few tracks downloaded off iTunes. And not a Googled rapishare zip. Does Billboard break out physical sales? I bet her share of physical album copies to the total is much higher than with others.

"There is something about Sade that makes you want to actually own the album"

so you can put it on yr coffee table?

Yuppies love CDs

# suffers from R&B deflation but good review otherwise

Impressive:

early 10 years after the group's last studio effort, Sade is back with "Soldier of Love," blasting in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with 502,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

"Solder of Love" gives Sade its first No. 1 debut and its best sales week since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. On top of that, it's the best sales week for an album by a group since AC/DC's "Black Ice" bulldozed into the chart at No. 1 on the chart dated Nov. 8, 2008, with 784,000.

"Soldier" is Sade's second No. 1 album. Its first, "Promise," spent two weeks at the top of the chart in 1986. The new album is also the first studio effort from the band -- led by vocalist Sade Adu -- since "Lovers Rock" was released in November of 2000. That set debuted and peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 370,000 sold in its first week. Since its release, "Lovers Rock" has sold 3.9 million in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

All told, Sade has notched eight top 10 albums in a row on the Billboard 200 -- its entire output of albums, which stretches back to its "Diamond Life" debut in 1985. That total includes its six studio sets, one greatest hits ("The Best Of") and one live recording ("Lovers Live"). With that feat of eight top 10s, Sade is the first group since Led Zeppelin to see its first eight charting albums all reach the top 10. Led Zeppelin actually did it with its first 10 albums -- from 1969 with its self-titled No. 10-peaking set, up until 1983 when "Coda" topped out at No. 6.

Vasco my house isn't big enough to have a coffee table @(

this is a good record, just wish the production was less tinny sounding. i miss her being backed by a band.

She isn't?

not sure. i thought it was a drum machine for instance on the first few songs. but maybe it is live, its just left to sound a bit tinny.

ie id have liked more songs that sound a bit fuller like in another time.

I was going to say: the drum machine is the real drag here. The title song excepted, these songs have no momentum.

people listen to sade for momentum?

Her older stuff at least sounded as if they were trying to get you into bed.

"To Turn My Back On You" has crazy sexy momentum

"Never As Good as The First Time" and "My Sweetest Taboo"!

I don't think her regular band actually has a drummer?

Production doesn't sound 'tinny' to me at all, FWIW.

I have to say I love the sequencing. It really holds together. And the more I listen the more little folds and eddies I keep finding in the songs.

not tinny then. just cheap. the old stuff sounded rich and luxuriant. this doesnt.

its not about momentum, its that most of these songs all seem to have the same rhythm behind them. which gets a bit dull. not quite plodding though, shes too good a songwriter to let that happen. it is slightly dated sounding though. i dont want to hear dido sounding production on a sade album.

I stopped hating on "White Flag" when it came on the radio and my friend started talking about how great Sade is and me and my friend corrected him that it was Dido, after which it occured to me that I'd probably really like it if it came with Sade's name attached to it.

― The Reverend, Saturday, October 24, 2009 6:57 PM Bookmark

I honestly don't hear "cheap" in this whatsoever!!

Reverend you'd probably like "White Flag" even more if Sade's VOICE was attached to it

titchy, you're ridiculous

"My Sweetest Taboo"!

― Inculcate a spirit of serfdom in children (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, February 18, 2010 10:37 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark

lmao @ dude pulling an "her older stuff is better" & not actually knowing what her older stuff is called

stfu, article police.

deej I think your threshold for what cause you to l your ao has reached a dangerous low

well, its not 'my sweetest lmao'

the sweetest stfu.

no ordinary lol

no love whatsover for "BABYFATHER"? favorite song right now

I still can't decide whether I despise or love that song.

deej the fact you think you deserve to keep living is ridiculous.

then again considering half the shit you listen to you probably think this stuff sounds like its made for audiophiles.

most awkwardly worded slam in awhile

perhaps you are just a bit thick?

dude deej has good taste what are you talking about

dude this has nothing to do with you - this is about deej trolling me like a little child.

Look titchy I'll give you "slightly dated" and that many of the songs have "the same rhythm" - for me these are two of her selling points. But "cheap" sounding??

I mean, I would actually love this album even more if it DID sound cheap in places but I am just not hearin it

tbh the production is my beef w/this - the percussion's quantized "perfectly" & you can hear it whereas all the way through the last one the feel that you were listening to a group of musicians playing something live & for me that was a real plus to Sade records: that "buncha badass musicians laying deep in the groove and holding it down" feeling. I dig this album but the "live" feel is harder to come by than it was on "lovers rock" & all previous points.

OTOH "cheap"/"tinny": umm no

granted, it might just be my PC speakers. but the thing im talking about is the drum programming/sounds. they sound a bit cheap to me. the sounds are a little ersatz. like the type of hip hop drum sounds you could get on sound modules 10-12 years ago. which is why i think it sounds a bit cheap/dated/tinny. not to the level where it interferes with my enjoyment, but be that easy, in another time, or the safest place are the type of production values i would personally would have liked to see more of.

granted, it might just be my PC speakers

hahahaha amazing self pwn here

PC speakers classify sounds as "African-American" instead of "black."