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Published: 2008
Category: Soul
Sade
Videos
Cherish the Day
Smooth Operator
No Ordinary Love
Your Love Is King
Love Is Stronger Than Pride
I watched the Grammys and paid particular attention to the women. And with the exception of Alicia Keyes, I thought: Really? Is that all?
Then I watched Perez Hilton's VH1 show about divas --- much more amusing than almost anything I've seen on TV of late --- and when I could take my eyes off Perez, I watched the women. And, again, I thought: Really? Is that all?
This is not entirely the rant of an old-timer who can't get with the program and, in reaction, reflexively rejects what he doesn't understand. I think it's really about the music --- or, I'd argue, its absence. How many melodies of million-selling songs by today's top-rated female singers can you hum? I come up pretty blank. These so-called divas merge for me into one tuneless singer, usually with a decent voice, but with producers for writers and production tricks for hooks.
So, as an exercise, I tried to think of the last female singer who struck me as talented and original.
I had to go back two decades. (Please refresh my memory if you have more recent candidates.)
Sade.
I knew almost nothing about her then. I know only a bit now. Nigerian father, English mother, raised in Africa and England. False starts in fashion and modeling, slow start in music. And then --- can it be 25 years ago? --- massive fame.
The fame was for the music, which was mostly quiet and smoky. Sensual, not sexy. “Hypnotic” was the critic's shorthand back then. I prefer “atmospheric”, for, like Bryan Ferry, Sade creates a world. As with Ferry, that world is urban, rich in romance, pulsating with emotion. And epic emotion at that: She'll have “no ordinary love”.
I gather she's had her torments. Married, moved, divorced, silent. But when Sade returns to recording, the quality remains. Do many of her songs sound the same? Yes, because what she's creating is a mood, and a mysterious one at that. No matter: This is adult romantic music, Barry White for sophisticates, comfort music for stressful moments, an aphrodisiac for those who are not having their first encounter in the midnight hour.
“The Best of Sade” really is, and a bargain at $10. To hear these songs is to feel refreshed, cleansed, more awake. And to think ahead to the night.
To buy “The Best of Sade” from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy “Diamond Life” from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy “Lovers Rock” from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy “Love Deluxe” from Amazon.com, click here.