{"id":41843,"date":"2010-01-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/stronger-than-pride\/"},"modified":"2010-01-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-01-10T00:00:00","slug":"stronger-than-pride","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/stronger-than-pride\/","title":{"rendered":"Stronger Than Pride"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sade is one of my all time favorite pop bands, and I was pleased to learn that they will be releasing a new album in February 2010, their first since the divine Lovers Rock <\/i>came out in mid-2000. Stronger Than Pride <\/i>was their third album of sensual, sophisticated pop songs sung by the ever-intoxicating Sade Adu. While it doesn\u2019t quite hit the highs that their exceptional debut disc did (Diamond Life <\/i>from 1984), it is a slight improvement on the mega-selling Promise<\/i>, released in 1985.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

The band turned out an album that is just as slick but shorter, and it never loses its momentum or appeal. Most of the songs revolve around love themes, but they do so in a elegant way, thanks to Adu\u2019s focused and touching lyrics. Unlike Promise<\/i>, these lyrics are more direct and not obtuse in the least, as her character studies are fully developed and each song\u2019s potential is realized. The band created a slightly more \u201cpop\u201d sound that moved from their jazzy influences to a more R&B-based record.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

The beautiful Adu again graced the cover and the band had another big seller in their bag.\u00a0 Following this record, the years between albums would increase to the now decade-long gaps that us fans have had to find ways to cope with, all the while enjoying the precious handful of releases that we have. Stronger Than Pride <\/i>is not the band\u2019s greatest album, but for reasons unknown to myself, it is the one I play most often.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Sade is a band that has always moved impressive numbers of albums but has struggled to produce the same figures for their singles. That doesn\u2019t mean they haven\u2019t had their share of hits, it\u2019s just that their singles may not be as memorable as those of their contemporaries. Just as when I\u2019m listening to their records, the singles don\u2019t really jump out and shout \u201chere I am.\u201d They more or less blend in with the rest of the material and add to the overall quality of the work as a whole.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The lead singles for this disc were the title track and a glorious song called \u201cParadise.\u201d It\u2019s one of the band\u2019s best numbers and features some of Adu\u2019s finest lyrics. The track itself is pure perfection with a seriously groovy up-tempo beat and Adu weaving her chilled vocals around it superbly. \u201cStronger Than Pride\u201d is almost depressing save for the gorgeous, intoxicating instrumentation full of synth fills and some subtle percussion to accent what is a truly sad song.\u00a0 Adu has rarely written more personal and introspective lyrics, but it\u2019s her delivery here that is the most touching.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The sexy \u201cNothing Can Come Between Us\u201d is a purely romantic pop gem that grooves easily along with a more fleshed-out track and plenty of layered vocals. \u201cKeep Looking\u201d is a sly groove that is just a chill-out song of sorts that the band obviously had some fun with. Adu explores the lower parts of her vocal range, and along with some seriously funky guitar work, it\u2019s another gem from this fabulous band.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cHaunt Me\u201d is a another sad song that could be about anything or anyone, and that\u2019s thanks to another evasive lyric from Adu. Musically, it\u2019s a simple, mainly acoustic piano ballad that is quite beautiful so I enjoy it just for the music really. More straightforward love songs in \u201cClean Heart\u201d and \u201cI Never Thought I\u2019d See The Day\u201d are given the band\u2019s unique treatment to highlight the sentiments of Adu\u2019s poignant lyrics.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cTurn My Back On You\u201d suffers because of the dreadful drum machine ticking away like the most annoying alarm clock in the world. It ruins what could have been one of the best songs on the album. \u201cGive It Up\u201d is closer to their earlier material than anything else here. It\u2019s a slick jazz-influenced percussive track that is again all about love, but this is the good stuff and the music reflects that perfectly.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

The disc closes with an instrumental piece titled \u201cSiempre Hay Esperanza,\u201d which is best remembered for being the soundtrack to a scene from Sea Of Love <\/i>where Ellen Barkin\u2019s femme fatale seduces Al Pacino\u2019s frustrated cop in a supermarket wearing nothing but a short coat and spiked heels. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Stronger Than Pride <\/i>serves as a precursor to the R&B-flavored sound the band perfected with their luxuriously sexy Love Deluxe <\/i>release, from 1992. As I said earlier, this is not one of their greatest achievements, but it is still a slick, chill, and beautiful collection of songs that never seem to age or lose their luster \u2013 much like Sade Adu herself.<\/o:p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":30197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[8260],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-41843","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-sade","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41843"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41843"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}