SADE (HELEN FOLASADE ADU) — Diamond Life (review)

SADE (HELEN FOLASADE ADU) — Diamond Life album cover Album · 1984 · RnB Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Sean Trane
First a few precisions to correct some very widespread and persistent misconceptions. Sade is not the Nigerian-born singer in herself, but well an British group made of a constant line-up that writes its own material and has taken its name from part of one of their female singer’s middle name. Indeed, the real leader of this band is the guitarist/saxman Stuart Matthewson, and he is by Andrew Hale on keyboards, Paul Denman on bass and of course the delightful creature of Helen Folasade Adu on vocals and lyrics. Their music is a gentler generally mainstream quality jazz/pop that somehow managed to dominate the synthesized dreck that “graced” that dreaded decade. Sade’s stunning physical presence and silky voice was a sure-fire asset for the band, and more than one of their video-clip received heavy rotation on that equally-dreaded MTV crap channel.

And the band struck gold right from their debut album, with some outstanding soft-porn jazz-pop like the awesome opening Smooth Operator, the no-less killer-slow Your Love Is King, the languorous Cherry Pie, and more. And when I said quality, I really meant quality as keyboardist Hale uses in the dreaded mid-80’s some Fender Rhodes and some awesome Hammond-organ (even Winwood didn’t dare to back then), instead of these crappy digital-synth garbage with memory banks. Ok, not all the tracks are of the quality of the afore-mentioned hits, but there are no stinkers duds or fillers on this album. For that matter Diamond Life closes on the album’s best track, the Montgomery-penned Why Can’t We Live Together in one of the best version I’ve heard so far (along with Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express version), and the band show their instrumental depth here, where they couldn’t in the more standard verse-chorus songs of the rest of the album.

Sonically, we’re not that far away from Steely Dan’s poppier jazzy pop, but without Becker or Fagen’s depth in lyrics or tricky songwriting. Well if you’re like and really dislike the general sound of the 80’s, but you want to shut the tasteless 80’s pop junkies, you can always counter with classy pop/rock/jazz groups like Dire Straits or Sade, the very few artistes that did manage to fill the void left by the quality breakdown in the mainstream public tastes (ie: Phil Collins, Madonna, Prince, Wham, Lionel R, and Miiiiiiiiichael J). So brace yourself, because you won’t see me rate an 80’s album that high, even in the jazz or prog realm.

Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Jazz Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
A Love Supreme Post Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
Kind of Blue Cool Jazz
MILES DAVIS
Buy this album from our partners
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
CHARLES MINGUS
Buy this album from our partners
Blue Train Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners

New Jazz Artists

New Jazz Releases

LIVE WOUND RESPONSE [OUT​.​FEST 2013] Jazz Related Improv/Composition
RHODRI DAVIES
Buy this album from MMA partners
Dominic Lash, Josh Sinton, Alex Ward Jazz Related Improv/Composition
DOMINIC LASH
Buy this album from MMA partners
Dominic Lash, Pat Thomas : Elements and Properties Jazz Related Improv/Composition
DOMINIC LASH
Buy this album from MMA partners
El Camino Sigiloso Jazz Related Improv/Composition
PAULA SHOCRÓN
Buy this album from MMA partners
Lucky All Along Post-Fusion Contemporary
LISA HILTON
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Jazz Online Videos

Chicago - Hard to Say I'm Sorry / Get Away [Live At 55]
CHICAGO
snobb· 18 hours ago
John Coltrane's iconic Parker Blues: "Freight Trane" w/ Tobias Meinhart, Rick Rosato & Jesse Simpson
TOBIAS MEINHART
js· 19 hours ago
Yo Viné Para Echar Candela
SPANISH HARLEM ORCHESTRA
snobb· 1 day ago
Joe Armon-Jones - Sorrow (feat. Liam Bailey) (Official Audio)
JOE ARMON-JONES
snobb· 1 day ago
Ambrose Akinmusire - muffled screams
AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE
snobb· 1 day ago
More videos

New JMA Jazz Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Jazz News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed