Stronger than pride --- Sade --- 1988 (Epic)
Jazz, as most of my readers will know, is not my thing. It's quite the “Unknown Country”, and I have very very little experience in it. What jazz I have heard has generally bored me, and though I can tell you the names of a few of the greats, I'd be hard-pressed to list any of their songs. I think my dislike of, or lack of tolerance for jazz comes from its openly experimental and improvisational nature. I like my music to be structured, and while I'm sure there are jazz fans out there who will dispute this, I find jazz to be very freeform, and I really can't get into it. Don't anyone try to convince me either: I know what I don't like, and for that very reason I may enter the world of jazz at some point for my “Stranger in a strange land” series, but that will be my only real dalliance with this genre of music.
All very well and good, I hear you say, but here you are preparing to review an album by a band who are known to have jazz influences, if only soft jazz, as well as soul, funk and r&b. So what's the deal? Well, the deal is that at the time I bought this album I was well into my short career as a radio DJ, and Sade at the time were quite popular (though of course everyone thought Sade was the name of the singer. Well, it is, but also the band. So it's not “she had a great song” but “they had a great song,” and so on) with hits like “Smooth operator” and “Your love is king”. Now, they came from the debut album “Diamond life”, but this was four years later and the new album was out, so I thought I'd hop on the bandwagon early and be first to unleash it on my adoring public of three or more listeners.
Thing is, though “Diamond life” was extremely popular and introduced the world to Sade, making them (her) a household name, this album was destined to be a lot more low-key, despite the fact that their most successful US single would be on it. Most of the rest would not do so well, and Sade would not repeat the chart success they had achieved in 1984. Put simply, this album would be for the fans, not the casual listener, and definitely not for the chart record buyer.
But is it any good?
Well, it's not bad. It certainly has its moments, though I would think it's less immediately accessible than “Diamond life”, and although I've not heard that album through, I base that conclusion on the sudden rise of Sade through the charts, the way people took to their music and the hits they had, all of which tell me that their debut must have been a very strong album indeed. This? Well, it's more... seasoned. A more mature album, showing the band less worried about having hits and more interested in writing good music, which is never a bad thing.
The title track gets us underway, with bassy, echoey drumbeats and lead singer Helen Folasade Abu, shortened to Sade's voice floating like some sort of ethereal presence across the music. She certainly has a very hypnotic voice, and though this music, to someone who was into Iron Maiden and Motorhead in the late eighties, came across as boring, it is in fact very ambient, with a lot of deep soul infusion and a very smooth and cool jazz base. Definitely good music to have on when she/he comes around, really sets the scene for a romantic night in. Nice guitar touches filling out the sound, which is mostly carried on keys and that muted percussion, and it's a nice slow introduction to an album that's obviously never going to have any pretensions towards rocking out, but even at that, “Paradise”, which turned out to be Sade's biggest hit single in the USA, up next, is more uptempo.
With a nice funky bassline and Sade's voice more animated but still sultry and cool, it rides along on a nice keyboard and guitar line and you can see why it was such a big hit on the dancefloor too. Not a ballad, not a smoocher but not a floorfiller in the sense of the likes of “Rhythm is a dancer” or “No limits”, it was still intensely popular at discos. “Nothing can come between us” takes the tempo down a notch, with some lovely sweet sax from Stuart Matthewman and very effective backing vocals from Leroy Osbourne, but it's the chilling “Haunt me” that remains the album's standout track for me.
Drifting on a beautiful classical guitar melody with backing by piano, it's one of two ballads on the album, and head and shoulders above everything else. When I bought the album, found it was “boring”, as I saw it at the time (and kind of still do, I have to admit) I consoled myself that there was at least one track for which I was glad I had bought the record. And it is
very good indeed. With a soft yet insistent vocal from Sade, with just the right inflections and the right emphases at the right time, it's completed by Gavin Wright's gorgeous violin passages which meld with some truly special piano work from Andrew Hale. Some luscious female backing vocals worthy of Judie Tzuke and a sumptuous sax break from Matthewman top this gem off, and it's a real pity that it's so relatively soon in the album, as really nothing comes close to this, nothing even stands in the same light as it.
Getting a little funkier with a tight little bassline and some nice guitar, “Turn my back on you” has Sade in higher, falsetto voice, and being the longest track on the album at just over six minutes, it has almost a minute of instrumental intro before she starts singing. It's another song of declaration of love and fealty, as many of the songs on this album are: not surprisingly, as the overall theme, which ties in with the title of the album, is that love is stronger than pride, and should always be fought for against all odds. The album, however, it must be said, is not stronger than “Haunt me”, and even though that is one amazing track, it is only one, and can't be expected to carry the other nine.
“Keep looking” is another mid-paced soul-flavoured piece, and “Clean heart” is a little more in ballad territory with a more commercial pop feel about it, nice sax breaks and some really insightful digital piano. “Give it up” slips along on a bongo/castanets beat with that solid digital piano again and some nice upbeat sax, the song itself a more jaunty effort than any of the last, while “I never thought I'd see the day” slows everything right down, though perhaps just a little too much, as it seems to almost stop. Hale's digital piano virtually carries the entire song, with minimal percussion and bass, though Sade's voice is a strong as ever, if a little
too relaxed at times.
The closing track is a rather nice instrumental called “Siempre hay esperanza”, and it's been a very long time since I took Spanish, but I think I can be reasonably confident that it means “I always have hope”. Not completely sure why it's in Spanish --- Sade has no Spanish heritage that I know of, having been born in Nigeria to an English mother and a Nigerian father --- at least the likes of Gloria Estefan can justify, if justify is the right word, using Spanish lyrics, being Cuban. Then again, Heart had a Spanish song on their album “Desire walks on”. Guess it's no problem, but a little odd. Nice little track though, and it does give the band a chance to really shine, with the bulk of the melody taken by Matthewman on the sax and the guitar, some nice trumpet indeed from James McMillan, and another of Paul Denman's cool little basslines driving the thing. Oddly, since she is identified almost as
being the band, there's no place for Sade herself on the closer, as she doesn't play any instrument.
I'm still not that impressed by this album, and in some ways I regret buying it, though that money is long spent now! It's definitely not my kind of music, but for a third album by a band who topped the charts with their first effort, it's an interesting departure from the style ascribed to them. Brave in a way, although of course they don't deviate too far from the winning formula that gave them hits with “Smooth operator” and “The sweetest taboo”, this album is nevertheless a little more intense, for such a laidback recording.
As for me, I may spin one of their discs every so often, or add a track to a playlist, but I don't think I can ever see myself becoming a fan of Sade.
TRACKLISTING
1. Love is stronger than pride
2. Paradise
3. Nothing can come between us
4. Haunt me
5. Turn my back on you
6. Keep looking
7. Clean heart
8. Give it up
9. I never thought I'd see the day
10. Siempre hay esperanza