‘And that becomes a more interesting challenge for us the longer we carry on together. ‘I never want to repeat myself,’ Sade says. But with songs such as the quirky, high spirited reggae chant ‘Babyfather’ and the hypnotic, lushly arranged opener ‘The Moon and the Sky,’ Sade were exploring new territory.
At times, the band sounded like the original, early 80s version of Sade, with Matthewman back blowing soft sax on ‘In Another Time’ and the vocal on ‘Long Hard Road’ hymning. What became clear as the recording progressed was the way the music had moved away from the old country soul styling of Lover’s Rock and evolved with a more eclectic identity. The album was completed in the summer of 2009, mainly at Real World. She’s got more stamina than the rest of us.’ĭenman points out that because each member of the band lives on different continents and none brings any completed songs into the studio, the writing and recording process takes a long time. You feel like you’re all on this quest that’s always’always been in the back of her mind. Hale says, ‘The big question for all of us at the beginning was, ‘Did we still want to do this and could we still get along as friends?’ She’s never, ever seemed to doubt what it was she wanted.
In particular, the sonic layering and martial beats of the title track, ‘Soldier Of Love,’ sounded quite different from anything they had previously recorded.
#Music by sade songs series#
In a series of sessions at Real World, Sade sketched out the material for a new album which, they all felt, was shaping up to be their most ambitious to date. Guitarist and saxman Stuart Matthewman interrupted his film soundtrack work in New York, and keyboardist Andrew Hale gave up his A&R consultancy. Bassist Paul Denman de-camped from Los Angeles, where he had been managing his teenage son’s punk band, Orange. It was the first time the four principals had met up since the Lover’s Rock Tour wrapped in 2001.
The call went out in 2008 for the group to re-convene at Peter Gabriel’s Real World studio, near Sade’s home in the countryside of south west England. When that process leads to more concrete ideas for an actual studio project, Sade’s other members are happy to make the band a priority again. And you’re kind of always making a record anyway, because your life and every day is all going to end up in there somehow, disguised. Strangers would come up to me over the years and ask ‘What are you doing?’ When are you making the next record? And I always sort of gave them vague answers. ‘I’m not interested in releasing music just for the sake of selling something. ‘I only make records when I feel I have something to say,’ she says. The lead title track single debuted at #58 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the band’s highest debut on this chart.įor Sade herself, the lynchpin of the band’s creative process, the unusually long delay between studio albums five and six – their discography also includes Stronger Than Pride (1988) and Love Deluxe (1992)–was a simple matter of integrity and authenticity. Not surprisingly based on the group’s popularity with two generations of fans, Soldier Of Love debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200. The world has significantly changed since the group put out the triple platinum Lovers Rock in 2000 - it was a year before 9/11, after all - but their sultry new songs and the cool, seductive voice of Nigerian-born lead singer Sade Adu bridge the gap timelessly, recalling their classic hits that have been staples of AC and smooth jazz radio for two decades: ‘Your Love Is King,’ ‘Smooth Operator,’ ‘Is It A Crime,’ ‘Kiss Of Life,’ ‘The Sweetest Taboo’ and ‘No Ordinary Love.’Īll told, since the back-to-back 1984-85 releases of their hit debut album Diamond Life, which earned Sade a Best New Artist Grammy in 1986–and the follow-up Promise, the band has sold nearly 23 million albums in the U.S. In February, Sade fans around the globe were rewarded for their years of anticipation, with the release of Soldier of Love, the Grammy-winning quartet’s first album in 10 years.
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