- Label
- Sony
- Release date
- 8th February 2010
- Genre
- MOR
- Buy this album
- Order CD
First lady of 80s jazz still operating smoothly
Once, twice and now three times a lady, Sade doesn’t seem to have aged despite being 51 years old. Absent from music for the past decade she has picked up exactly where she left off. It is little short of miraculous and surely no coincidence that the title track includes the refrain “I’m still alive”. However, it’s also just a little bit boring.
Although Soldier Of Love bears some of the hallmarks of vintage Sade - Long Hard Road has the same pining sadness as the dusky jazz ballads of Diamond Life while Be That Easy would sit well among the refined acoustics of previous comeback 2000’s Lovers Rock - the highlights are few.
With a voice that’s statuesque and sorrowful, Sade needs an interesting soundtrack or lyrics to lift her. Sadly both are far too measured, flat and predictable resulting in an album that while occasionally graceful, is also deathly flat. As a soundtrack to a dinner party it’ll upset nobody but it might send your guests to sleep.
More to try:
Amel Larrieux: Morning
Martina Topley-Bird: The Blue God
Annie Lennox: Bare
Nina Simone: The Very Best Of
