Album Of The Week: The 37th Anniversary Of 'Diamond Life' By Sade
Sade's debut album, 'Diamond Life', was an era defining record that sounded like nothing else at the time
Diamond Life, released on the 16th July 1984, is not only a significant album in it's own right, it's a cultural touchstone and a near perfect representation of a particular moment in time. Sade not only brought a smooth and sophisticated air of genuine quality to a bombastic pop market in the mid-eighties they also brought to the fore a largely untapped genre. Sade's jazz influenced subtle soul mix gave rise to sophisti-pop, a title befitting it's time but a little light for what Sade actually delivered. With Diamond Life Sade launched a look, a lifestyle choice and with it the soundtrack to every well-to-do, or wannabe dinner party in the land. If Smooth Operator wasn't playing at a drinks party, a soirée or on the Blaupunkt cassette player in your Porsche as you drove into The City then quite frankly what were you thinking?
When big hair and even bigger shoulder pads were beginning to define Thatcher's hedonist decade of extravagance and polarization Sade Adu arrived with restraint and style. The smoldering horns and laid back percussion of Sade's first single Your Love Is King served as a fantastic introduction to the singer and her band when it was released five months ahead of the album in February of 1984. The self-penned debut single peaked at number six on the UK chart that, at the time, was headed up by Lionel Ritchie's saccharine sweet Hello.(To give it some context, the same chart also contained entries from Alexei Sayle, Tracy Ullman, Captain Sensible and Slade)
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