The Best of Sade by Sade (1994)

Love.

Okay lets just get that out of my system. Yes. Sade is going to sing the word "love" a lot. Love love love love love love love love love love love love. Okay. Good?

A thrift-grab for sure, mostly based on "Smooth Operator". Compilation albums make interesting beasts. One the one hand, the concept is that this is a collection that best represents the artist - no chaff, no filler. On the other hand, that also means that the selected tracks also tend to be safer picks or otherwise lean to the simpler side of an artist. I also tend to not put these on my "best albums ever" lists due to being a wholly different beast, but backlogs are backlogs!

Sade brings us to that smooth 80s R&B lounge-scene sound. It's sophisticated, sleek, with a lot of brass and bass. It tends to come a little low-energy for my taste (and for the purpose of listening to the album as a whole). I definitely miss some of the brassier elements later in the selection, it seems like the later included songs are a bit sparser and moodier. Which is fine on its own (and I think ending on "Pearls" is a striking choice", but it can make the experience a bit easy to zone out to. Which is a shame because Sade has a lovely singing voice and can really sell the romance.

Much like Duffy & Dua Lipa, the topic of love is well-explored in this collection. It usually is aiming for something more of black-tie affair or steamy ballad rather than the soulful wails or frivolous flings of those two. That doesn't keep some of the songs from feeling a bit superfluous. It also usually positions Sade in a more vulnerable position in most of the songs - taking the role of receiving love or wanting to receive love, rather than the claiming. Now, with those songs that do give her a new frame to work on, she's still selling it. "Is It a Crime?" has bursts of passion mixed with melancholy about not being over the man that was having an affair with her. And further still are songs that show a broader scope to her views. "Jezebel" reframes the titular character as a woman who survived by doing what she had do; "Like a Tattoo" recalls a run-in with a shell-shocked Vietnam vet; "Pearls" is an ode to the invisible strength of ordinary people via the framing of a Somalian woman. I feel like there's more like these in Sade's catalogue, but when Sade is the "love love love" artist in some peoples minds, I can only imagine what got left out.

Perhaps don't listen to this as an album experience. It plainly is not that - it is more like a sample platter. A charcuterie board of song. And I have some suspicions that this isn't really the Best of Sade. A fair too many songs feel disposable, and the highs serve to tantalize more than truly satisfy. I'm unsure if I'll seek out more Sade albums, but if I do, I'll be using this as a slight guide. If you like a calm and sleek sound, you'll find some nice bits to munch on. If you need a bit more pep, I think you'll be a little wanting here.

Favorite Song: Smooth Operator
Could it be anything else? So jazzy, got that groove to it, and Sade is killing it on the vocal melodies. A smoldering song about a bad man you simply can't help but admire. He's no good for you but damn he's good. It's that kind of mature angle that I think Sade is built to sell very well that other artists would flounder on. And that saxophone, my god. Absolute sucker for the sax.

Kobold's Rating: 4/5