Sade - Stronger Than Pride

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Free Music Notes for Stronger Than Pride

Free Music Review: Sade's "Pride" is stronger than most
Hit: 5 Stars

"Love is Stronger than Pride" relies on tom-toms for its backbone, and keyboard effects from the late 80's should by all accounts sound dated...but here they do not. Acoustic guitar accents are littered about, and the final result, a warm and blissful sensuality, is perfect for lyrics like "I can't hate you, though I have tried/I still really, really love you/love is stronger than pride." The album's smash single, "Paradise," consists of one bass line and two chords (three, if you count the spontaneous-sounding variation the keyboardist throws in near the end), but the song lacks for nothing. Instead of using chord changes to break up the song, we instead have very distinct verses, choruses, and a bridge, thanks to subtle changes in vocal melody. "Keep Looking," another sultry midtempo treasure, and the album's other hit, "Nothing Can Come Between Us" boast a couple more chords but essentially use a similar approach.

For those fans that appreciate Sade's slower, percussionless ballads, the record offers the Spanish folk-flavored "Haunt Me" (considering her vocals here, a most appropriate title indeed), and the gorgeous "I Never Thought I'd See the Day," a ballad so open it's almost impossible not to envision the massive expanse of an ocean at sunset while listening. Featuring only ethereal keyboards, strings, and the occasional muted trumpet flourish, there's an incredible amount of space in the song's production; occasionally you can even hear the hi-hat keeping time that the microphone must have picked up from Sade's headphones while she sang. The mood here inspires one of Sade's strongest performances, with an impressive range of texture and projection onhand. The sweet ballad "Clean Heart" and the seductive instrumental "Siempre Hay Esperanza" are the sort of material you'd expect from Sade, but on the irresistible "Turn My Back on You," the band gives hint to the harder-hitting, funk-laced pop that would make up the bulk of their next album, 1992's "Love Deluxe." Here a massive drum beat and thick bass line give the song a sturdy backbone, but the jazz guitar and Rhodes keyboards are subtle, and with Sade's high, breathy vocal (generously reverbed), you're faced with an altogether different kind of funk, the kind you can either dance to at a club or seduce with in the privacy of your own home.

Initially criticized by some for a predictable sound, "Stronger than Pride" certainly stands taller when viewed in retrospect. Sade may not have the most varied approach to singing, but the beauty and purity of her voice makes it able to go anywhere, and the giant leaps in production prove that her band realized this. A crisp remaster for 2000 makes it nearly three-dimensional, and what you're left with is one of music's most distinctive voices and bands offering a stellar work rich in experimentation of groove and production. Anyone interested in how to make a pop record more interesting will no doubt learn volumes from "Stronger than Pride." And everyone else can just drown in the beauty.

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