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New Music
Karen Bliss
Movie Entertainment
February 2010
Sade makes every month romantic, not just February. The Nigerian-born Briton, Sade Adu — who leads the same eponymous band she’s had for 25 years — is not the most prolific artist. But when she comes out with something, it always has that gorgeous soulful, jazzy, funk fusion that made her 1984 debut, Diamond Life, a career establishing smash with songs such as Smooth Operator, Your Love is King and Hang on to Your Love.
That album is still one of the all-time greats, but Sade has a new release, Soldier of Love, the first since 2000’s Lovers Rock, which is every bit as seamless and seductive. The title track has been receiving radio play since December and the album will be released worldwide on Feb. 8.
Soldier of Love is as timeless as any Sade studio album (this is the sixth) and there are a few different pieces among the 10 songs, such as the piano-anchored Morning Bird and the lilting front-porch Neil Young style of Long Hard Road. This is a modern recording, produced by Sade with Mike Pela, where some of the grooves could be punched up for the clubs, but whose classic sound ensures this will stand up just as well in another 25 years. Wonder what kind of gift she gives on Valentine’s Day? “Honey, I’ve written you an album.”
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