She’s reclusive, releases albums about once a decade, never gives interviews, and has been around for 26 years with next to nothing known about her. Yet, she has had success and influenced artists on both sides of the Atlantic; and her image, voice, and sound are as unmistakable as they are timeless. Not only this, but she has sold in excess of 50 million albums worldwide. She is silky, she is smooth, she is Helen Folasade Adu, better known simply as Sade.
Whether you see her as the forefront of soul which set the standard for the 1980s and 1990s or dreary late night background music, she’s back with intent. I say ‘she’, but that should really be ‘they’ as Sade refers to a collective rather than just the lead singer. Since their debut, ‘Diamond Life’, 26 years ago, Sade have had countless hits which have hit the airwaves and never left. Just as Woody Allen has always gone done better in the UK than he has in his native country, the reverse is true of Sade. Their success is even more remarkable given that they have only released six albums in that time frame. It is this exercise of quality control which gives them an air of sophistication. Added to this is the fact that Sade never tries to be cool or follow trends resulting in their music aging rather well.
It’s been 10 years since their last release, ‘Lovers Rock’ and it was interesting to see which direction they would take. Should they stick faithfully to their tried and tested sound and risk being labeled as unoriginal and repetitive? Or should they change their sound and alienate their large fan base? The result is ‘Soldier of Love’ and it adheres to the sound which made them successful. Like a lot of good single genre bands, they have homed in on their sound; fine tuned and perfected it and consequently become masters of their craft. They are true followers of the theory that If it’s not broken why fix it! It’s full of soul, slow beats, and an overarching mournfulness totally dominates this album.
As usual, they demonstrate restraint both musically and vocally which gives the impression that they are lazy in their approach. Yet listening to the voice it is clear to see she is full of emotion and melancholy, it is just delivered with effortlessness. The themes are also similar; that of love. On a number of tracks she seems heartbroken to the point of being totally wounded.
The album commences with two stunning tracks; ‘The Moon and the Sky’ and ‘Soldier of Love’. The first is built around sustained strings and a fantastic guitar hook. The title track is far different to anything Sade has released before. Set to military drumming ‘Solider of Love’ is moody and aggressive. Depicting love as a battlefield I would certainly not want to cross this soldier in a dark alley. These two are as good as anything Sade has ever produced. If the whole album was this good it would have to go down as a classic. Not to say things go downhill from here, but the standard Sade sound sets in. Many of the songs would not feel out of place on any of the six previous albums. There are some slight diversions; an odd reggae number ‘Babyfather’ which appears out of place both in tone and lyrics on this love torn album. There are also ventures into country with ‘Be That Easy’. Some of the songs are stripped bare instrumentally and let Sade’s voice tower above the tracks such as ‘The Safest Place’, ‘Morning Bird’, and ‘Long Hard Road’, the latter of which being the best of this bunch.
In conclusion, unless they radically changed their sound it is hard to see how Sade could have gone wrong. They stuck to the sound which made them successful in the first place. This release will certainly not win over any new fans but neither will it disappoint loyal fans who hang on her every word. ‘Solider of Love’ will certainly not win any album of the year awards but I, for one, am pleased they are back.
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