Sade - Diamond Life
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Free Music Notes for Diamond Life
Free Music Review: A Diamond indeed!
Hit: 5 Stars
This is an old album (I never thought 1984 would become old, lol!) but I was reminded of it while preparing my first Listmania list, for my 40 favourite albums (yes, it definitely made the list). This album reminds me of UK music magazines Smash Hits, Record Mirror, and Blues & Soul (ah, the days when hardcopies of magazines and music ruled) as it came out while these were the magazines of the day, and Sade was a regular visitor to their pages.
"Diamond Life" is the debut release from Nigerian chanteuse Folasade Adu and her Band, simply known by the moniker Sade (an abbreviation of her first name). A sleek catchy hybrid of Pop, Soul and Jazz, the album was a multi-million seller and won Sade the Grammy for best newcomer. It showcased excellent musicianship and clever lyrics, rarely bettered even today.
Right from the group's image (her ponytails, large hoop earrings and backless dresses), and the fantastic blue-tinged black and white cover art (giving a retro look to match the sound), everything about this album reeked sheer class, which permeated right through the nine tracks on the album.
Opening cut (and a favourite of mine), the aptly titled dramatic "Smooth operator" with percolating percussion, spoken intro with dramatic flourishes, sprinkled with tenor sax, and that dusky Blues-y voice telling the tale of this western male who goes from "Coast to coast, LA to Chicago" is still a classic to this day, much like anything by Ella or Billie I daresay.
Other standouts are the swinging horn-peppered "Your love is king", the retro funk of "When am I going to make a living" (with semi-biographical lyrics about perseverance despite the hard times the band faced before hitting the limelight, this was well before American Idol remember), the tender and lovely "I will be your friend", and the reworking of Timmy Thomas' paean for racial harmony "Why can't we live together" (with an extremely long brilliant jazzy intro, and rich in congas). Another favourite of mine is the groovy "Cherry pie" with a killer bassline and dreamy echoing vocal effects.
This album stood out when it came out (and that was a time crowded with great music mind you; Prince, MJ, Madonna, Duran Duran, Bowie, Kool & the Gang) and it is easy to see why. Additionally, unlike most other winners of the Grammy newcomer award, every subsequent studio release by Sade has been brilliant and gone platinum, confirming that they (the Grammys that is) definitely got it right that time. The music scene (in the UK at least) has come full cycle with loads of young girls (Amy Winehouse, Adele, Duffy et all) hearkening back to a time when music was, well, music.
Free Music Review: Sade fan forever-- rainy afternoons were made for this
Hit: 4 Stars
My Profile: No qualifications as a music expert
In the mid 80's there was this fabulous radio program (on AM) that displayed an unsual repertoire of music ranging from jazz (Manhattan Transfer - Al Di Meola) to Klaus Schlutz !!.. anyway, I usually studied in this time and this was great music to have as a background.. then I hear Sade.. what a refreshing change of pace.. like hearing brazilian contemporary..yet this had its unique style.. not strident.. sensous.. appealing..the music to fall in love and be in love..
Much like Marisa Monte.. Sade will be style you will keep as your favorite
Free Music Review: Diamonds are forever
Hit: 5 Stars
This CD's fantastic and has been on my wish list for sometime. It's the best of all Sade and if you're a true fan this CD and or grouping of the original releases is a must. I didn't feel my collection was complete without Diamond Life and I'm sure once you purchase the original release (not the re-mastered) you'll understand why you've always felt like something was missing.Free Music Review: One of the Greatest British Lounge Music Albums of All Time.
Hit: 5 Stars
I have never reviewed a Sade product before, even though I have been a fan for 22 years. Well, it's high time I did as Sade is among my favorite British lounge artists. This woman came along with her band in the mid-80s, at a time when British music was experiencing a metamorphosis from punk and new wave to a revival of soul, pop, and jazz sounds with the likes of other U.K. contemporaries like Spandau Ballet, Swing Out Sister, Matt Bianco, Everything But the Girl, and Prefab Sprout--only to name a few--that now gets steady airplay on smooth jazz stations to this day.
To say that Diamond Life was a ground breaker is putting it mildly at best. Sade was not just another beautiful face who worked as a model and fashion designer. She proved herself to be quite a talent with a sultry, smokey voice that matched her exotic English-Nigerian looks and a truly gifted songwriter who looked at human character and racism without being a boring poet and weighing down the talents of her bandmates.
"Smooth Operator," with Stuart Matthewman's unforgettable sax work has stood the test of over two decades as one of the most erotically thrilling pieces of smooth jazz to ever receive airplay on the globe, and it is a true classic from start to finish. In fact, it's Matthewman's sax that often steals the show from Ms. Adu, intentional or not. The intimate and beautiful "Your Love is King" is even better than its predecessor for several mood enhancing reasons I will not elaborate on, but it is a song I never push the skip button on. "Hang On to Your Love" has wonderful keyboards and great rhythm that is playful and sensual all at once, just as "Frankie's First Affair" is slow, contemplative, and winsome.
It is true that "When Am I Going to Make a Living" is a bit of a filler song, but "Cherry Pie" is a great slice of lamentative funk that reminds one slightly of revamped Philly soul. "Sally" reminds me of a Toni Morrison novel set to music, and "I Will Be Your Friend," while admittedly not the strongest track on Diamond Life, is a sweet song of comfort and compassion. I must admit, though, that the successful airplay of Sade's remake of "Why Can't We Live Together" is an absolute mystery to me. I never liked the song to begin with, and her version, while smoother and definitely full of honest emotional angst just never grabbed me in the right way. Now that I have had all these years to get used to it, though, I don't question it so much anymore and enjoy the track for its integrity.
If you haven't gotten to know Sade very well yet, I can't recommend a better place to start than with the album that began it all. After all, that's how a lot of us got started. This is a 5 star album because it's 90% perfection, and the other 10% doesn't exactly suck. If you add this disc to your cd collection, Diamond Life will make you all the richer by far.
Free Music Review: My favorite CD of 1985!
Hit: 5 Stars
Thanks Derrick Livingston for being the first to introduce me to the sounds of Sade!