Diamond Life

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
It could have been that Sade (collectively, the vocalist Sade Adu and her band) would have remained the darlings solely of the British underground rare-groove scene, but the sound of IDiamond Life/I proved irresistible to the mainstream, and the rest is history. Caught at the beginning of her career in 1985, Sade's cool vocals and exotic looks grabbed everyone's attention. But equally as important to IDiamond Life/I's success was the velvet muscle of the band's accompaniment, a sinewy after-hours groove, laden with minimalist funk. Eight of the nine tracks are self-penned. Straddling RB and pop, this disc lays out the hooks and sultry allure that became Sade's soulful standard--intelligent and sexy at the same time.--IDerek Rath/I

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-12-11 rating:
Missing Tracks !! ??
When When When are we gonna get a re-packaged - 24/bit re-mastered verison of this gem. To include also the two additional tracks that were on the original cassette tape release ! !! ... SNAKE BITE LOVE AFFAIR WITH LIFE..

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review by: DayDreamer0712 date: 2006-04-20 rating:
Timeless...Diamond Life...Loverboy
I have been listening to Sade's music since I was 12, and after 13 years, I still love it. Diamond Life is groovy, nostalgic and this is music you'd want to unwind to and to get in the mood for a slow session. Hits such as Smooth Operator, Hang On To Your Love, Your Love Is King are as timeless as Sade is. There are also some new ones that are growing onto me such as Cherry Pie and Frankie's First Affair. Sally reminds me a bit of Jezebel - not in the beat, but in the story of the song. This album is worth more than 5 stars, but I was a bit disappointed with the product that I received from Amazon because the lyrics were not included - and I felt that the product deserved 4 stars because of this.

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review by: not_a_real_folkie date: 2005-01-27 rating:
Not just for Eighties Dinner Parties
Sade suffered from the same lazy pigeon-holing that plagued Dire Straits' "Brothers in Arms" and countless other albums over the years. The cliche was that you put Dire on to demonstrate your new, shiny compact disc player, and you put Sade's "Diamond Life" on to show your dinner-party guests how sophisticated, yet contemporary you were.pPlaying this remastered CD just over 20 years on from the album's first release, the quality of the band's playing and the soul in the vocals comes as quite a surprise. None of these tracks are bad. Some are exceptional. "Hang on to your love" ploughs a muscular groove that is marvellously tight. "Smooth Operator" either celebrates or lampoons the yuppie male of the eighties, concluding ultimately ambiguously. "Your love is King" is allegedly about something very intimate, but I couldn't possibly comment... judge for yourself! The other tracks never really let up in terms of sheer class.pThe remaster is good in terms of quality, although the original CD certainly wasn't awful. The only minor complaint - and true of so many remastered CDs - why no extra B-side-type tracks, such as the excellent "Spirit" that I remember from the "Smooth Operator" single?pSade's next album ("Promise") was resolutely uncommercial, and pushed the soulful vibe even further. Meanwhile, however, forget the smoothie dinner-party jibes, this has got more soul than a coachload of today's chart hopefuls.

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review by: GFT date: 2003-11-27 rating:
Pure Liquid Elegance
There has never been a singer quite like Sade Adu. Although she is of Nigerian origin, and her voice is clearly that of a woman of color, she is equally influenced by her English upbringing; the resulting combination of African heat and British coolness, particularly when combined with her band's elegant mixture of American and European jazz idioms and African rythmns, is as original today as when it first appeared. Superficially cool and seemingly detached, everything about the band simmers with an underlying passion.pWhile Adu and her band have done many memorable recordings since they debuted, DIAMOND LIFE remains their single finest recording: it is pure liquid elegance every step of the way. Opening with "Smooth Operator," which makes particularly good use of Stuart Matthewman on sax, the entire collection flows effortlessly from cut to cut--some dark, some slightly dissonate, some slightly upbeat, and every one of them memorable in the most haunting way imaginable.pLike "Smooth Operator," both "Your Love Is King" and "Hang on to Your Love" actually broke into the charts as singles--a truly amazing feat for a jazz-oriented club band in the ultra-synthetic 1980s. But in truth, be it "Cherry Pie," "When Am I Gonna Make A Living," or "Sally," there isn't a bad cut on the entire CD. Everything shimmers with a sultry yet subtle beauty, pulling you into an atmosphere in which you seem to feel the pulse of a midnight lounge, the atmosphere of the club scene fromw which Sade emerged.pAs a band, Sade is sexy, cool, smart, delicately shaded, and brilliantly shaped, and the aptly titled DIAMOND LIFE is perhaps one of the best debut recordings made over the past fifty years. Mix yourself a drink, turn the lights down low, drop this on the stereo--and dream of smoke, the clink of cocktail glasses, and the murmur of voices gone suddenly silent when the band begins to play. Strongly recommended.pGFT, Amazon Reviewer


review by: date: 2001-11-04 rating:
Excellent
Sade were one of the most popular groups of the 1980s and blended subtle rock with sweet soul. They were, for the majority, overlooked by the musical press despite selling albums by the bucketload, and deemed "wallpaper" music. Diamond Life is, in my opinion, the groups finest moment. The songs grip you and caress you into a laidback haze all at the same time. The album takes a couple of listens for its brilliance to really sink in. If you just want an album to relax to when u get back from the pub or club, buy this one.

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