Sean Trane
OK, it’s been almost a decade that Sade had delivered us a new studio album, and to be honest, even the previous Lover's Rock had gone by completely unnoticed (not that it brought anything new back then either), back at the start f the new millennium. Soooo, one can wonder why the group actually spent the time and money to record yet another album, that once again doesn’t bring much novelty to the overall scene, or even to their own catalogue. OK, I guess they needed an excuse to tour, and to be honest, I can understand why the public would want to attend their tours, just to get a glimpse of that diva frontwoman, who has aged ever-so gracefully, and has kept her silky-smooth voice intact. But don’t get me wrong Sade was never just her, but the three other band-members, of whom all three are still present over 25 years after their debut album. Indeed, Hale, Matthewson and Denman are still there and in fine form, but their usual drummer since the third or fourth album is as well. From this collection of tracks, the first two tracks are the best (IMHO), but maybe it's because that by the third track, you'll find yourself in a déjà-entendu with the still quite-cliché and will become quite blasé of this typical Sade soundscape heard dozens or thousands of times before.
As I said, musically this new Soldier Of Love album brings nothing new to Sade’s overall soundscape, even if some tracks may be slower than what we were used to – I guess something that comes with “maturing”. Unlike their first few albums, there is no immediate hit or any stand-out tracks, but most likely in some 15 years, there will be one or two crowd favourites from this recent song collection. Certainly nothing to write home about, especially if you have Diamond Life and/or Promise, but in case you don’t this recent album can give you the honest illusion that you’re not far away from the classic Sade.