JOHN CAMERON'S MUSICOLOGY
EPISODE X: SADE (82 - 86)
by John Cameron


Pride
Diamond Life
(Your Love Is King, Hang On To Your Love,
Smooth Operator, When Am I Going To Make a Living)
Promise
(The Sweetest Taboo, Is It a Crime/ Fear,
Never As Good As The First Time, You're Not The Man)


Before we begin, lets maintain clarity - "Sade" is a band. Helen Folasade Adu (also referred to as "Sade") is the lead singer. Other members of the band include Stuart Matthewman, Andrew Hale and Paul Denman. Any album released under the name "Sade", refers to the band, not the individual.
If there was a single word used to accumulate "class, "enigma" and perhaps "sultry", it would have to be "Sade". In just a couple of years they went from a small club band to one of the most successful in the world, with their debut album and then having to almost-immediately follow it up with another exceeding its quality.
Tours would follow the releases, as would the awards. The bands mysticism (although more so its lead singer) would add to the image that people associated with the music. But the artistry is equally as engaging, despite rarely being examined.
Pride
Members of Sade would meet during 1982, after joining an already established seven-piece band, "Pride", making their way through the London scene.
Even as a back-up singer, Helen stood out. She began to write songs with other members, Stuart Matthewman and Ray St John. This would eventually lead to a more laid-back sound, that was very different from what "Pride" were performing. So much so, "Sade" became its own separate entity and eventually their manager would recommend becoming the opening act for the main band, after keyboardist Andrew Hale became a member.
EMI Studios 1982
After playing the London scene and making a few radio appearances, EMI had both "Pride" and "Sade" record a handful of songs at Electric Light Studios. The band's manager would eventually pass these recordings onto producer, Robin Miller. After meeting with the band, it was agreed that they would record two tracks together, "Your Love Is King" and an updated version of one that had been worked on during those EMI sessions.


Smooth Operator
The track most synonymous with the band, "Smooth Operator" has a bit of a checkered release history.
Firstly, dependent on which part of the world you were in, would determine which version you actually heard. There are two mixes - one that was released in America and one that was released everywhere else.
From the beginning, we can hear the differences between the two.
Here's the American version.
PLAY DRUM INTRO
And here's the other.
PLAY DRUM INTRO
Already we can hear that not only is the placement of the individual percussion dissimilar, but the sounds seem to be as well. 
Let's put the two side by side Ð American mix in the left channel and the Rest-of-world version in the right.
The rest-of-world mix runs about 2% faster, so they might fall out of sync occasionally. But, as the song begins we can hear a more clearly defined bassline in the [     ] mix, so the other may have reverb applied to it or is not sourced from the direct input. Either way, unlike the drums, the bass performance is the same on both.
Interestingly, Robin Millar recorded the drums using two overhead microphones, then overdubbed a Linn LM1 Kick Drum sound and his own sampled snare to replace the real drums in the mix. This maintained a consistent dynamic range of the beat, while keeping the reflections around it acoustic. My guess would be that one of these mixes uses the original in-tact drumming, while the other utilizes the samples.
The vocals are an interesting case. In the beginning they seem to be the same, however as the song progresses, it appears that they are actually two different performances. This is a testament to Sade's singing ability, or perhaps lack thereof.
The [which?] mix also features additional sax from Stuart Matthewman.
To add to the confusion, on a number of vinyl pressings throughout various parts of the world, the extended version of the track was used instead. This version is actually the American mix but continues into an instrumental known by the names "Snake Bite" and "Red Eye".


Diamond Life
The "Diamond Life" album was recorded from October to December of 1983. It would be released in July of 1984. Many of its songs would begin as rhythm tracks, with just bass and drums, before composition was built around them Ð which might explain how they still stood out on mid-nineteen-eighties radio. Despite the albums consistent sound, the individual tracks versatility would be apparent just from its singles.
Your Love Is King
The first single issued in the UK, "Your Love Is King", was released in February, five months before "Diamond Life". It sets the tone of expectation from the band Ð a sample of what to expect of the album, while maintaining its own individual significance.
Featuring the essential, passionate sax lines from Stuart and a maintained, seductive vocal performance from Sade, the song shows the world, even this early on, how enigma can be so revealing. Not only was it a hit, but also a fan favorite, having been performed on every one of Sade's tours.
"Your Love Is King" is such an appropriate first single for the band. While they would of course, develop and improve their lyrics and musicianship, this is where the true lineage begins.
Hang On To Your Love
While the album and its singles continued their success in the UK, it was time to penetrate the US market.
"You're Love Is King" may have put Stuart and Sade at the forefront, but this time, it was the rhythms of Paul Denman and session drummer Dave Early along with the metrical keys of Andrew Hale that initially captures the listener. "Hang On To Your Love".
This single remarkably put the mostly-white British band on the "Billboard Hot Black Singles" charts.
Interestingly, we can hear that the song doesn't differ much from its original instrumental backing track, aside from the obvious vocal additions and more succinct guitar performance.
Perhaps even more fascinating is the remix it received for the US singles. While original is pretty dry in its overall mix, the drums are different are much more reflective in their reverberation, along with the guitar and vocals, the latter of which features delay in certain sections.


When Am I Going To Make a Living (Surmise)
"Diamond Life" was a more than successful debut, charting highly all around the world, in some cases for well over a year.
It was a pop-elevation of the quiet-storm albums that had been released during the 70's and would be released in its following. It would inspire a generation of new artists and the new genres they would dominate, like Maxwell and Erykah Badu during the neo-soul movement.
Sparing little time, the band would tour Japan and Europe for the remainder of 1984, making appearances on various television shows as well as playing the Montreux Jazz Festival.
Promise
Once their travels were done, Sade returned the Power Plant Studios to begin on their follow-up. The recording sessions for what would become the "Promise" album took place from February to August of 1985, allowing Sade to not only refine the material, as they did with the previous, but also write it... Almost from scratch.
Is It A Crime/ Live Aid/ Fear
The opening song and second single from the album, "Is It A Crime" was actually tried and tested during the "Diamond Life" shows in late 1984.
Before any type of release, it would be one of three performed in front of the world during Live Aid at Wembley Stadium in July 1985. Despite debuting the song to the world, a copy wouldn't be available for at least three months, until "Promise" was released.
Sade's singing on this song is arguably some of her best, vocalizing love and heartbreak together, with such conviction and ease. She sells the lyrics she pens.
The video is charming in its own simplicity. It's actually a continuation from the video for "The Sweetest Taboo", in which she looks out her window, reminiscing about the joys she's experienced with her man. Towards the end, she writes "temor" on the window, which is Spanish for "Fear", the title of another song on Promise.
The "Is It A Crime" video continues the scenic narrative along similar lines, but this time, the flashbacks depict a much more tumultuous relationship, with the couple becoming physical during altercations. Their present expressions seem to both project regret about their actions. Sade's former man travels to the scene, where her and the band are performing, but by the time of his arrival, everyone is gone. All that's left for him is contemplation the presence of "temor" written in the fog on the window.
The track, "Fear", while not receiving a video, articulates an inner struggle, Sade waiting for her "metador", Spanish for "bullfighter" to return.
One could perhaps interpret a three-part narrative in the relationship between these tracks.
The Sweetest Taboo
Over the course of an entire week in April, the band worked on what would become the album's first single, "The Sweetest Taboo".
Like most of the songs on the album, the tracks creative process began with the rhythm. As with "Smooth Operator", the original drum track was overdubbed, but this time they sourced samples of the rim and snare from the original performance and triggered them throughout the track, to maintain dynamic consistency. A further point of interest is that the song features no hi-hat or toms. Other percussion would be sampled from an E-max Emulator II by Mike Pela, co-producer for the album, along with Robin Millar and Ben Rogan.
The bass was recorded directly from the input, producing a clear, simplistic rhythm, cutting through the scattered percussion. It was probably necessary to keep it this way during production, as the Acoustic Research AR18S monitors they were using at the Power Plant Studio, weren't ideal for low-end bass reproduction, by typical industry standards, at least.
The song was initially recorded almost as a live performance. That recording was used as the basis for what it became, as overdubs would replace many of the original stems on the multitrack. This includes Sade's vocal, which was recorded live with the band, in the control room.
It was a similar formula that gave birth to "Smooth Operator" and given that it became the group's second number one, it reaped the same results.
Never As Good As The First Time
The third single from "Promise", titled, "Never As Good As The First Time" would become one of the bands best dance tracks. Oddly, the "Extended Remix" version of the song runs the same length as the album version. However, it was remixed, adding a dramatic vocal introduction, drenched in a synth orchestration.
I'll pan the original album version in the left channel and the "Extended Remix" in the right and sync the two together. Bear in mind, the album version will start once the intro has finished.


As we begin the song itself, we're confronted with numerous changes, with the extended version full of new flourishes, like the rhythmic chant and jarring guitar licks, making the original sound almost like a demo.
Here we have a section cut out of the remix, which is essentially an elongated build-up, with some extra guitar.
The vocal mix is slightly different between the two. The reverberation in the remix is significantly muddier then the album version, featuring the double-tracked vocal slightly louder as well. This is also the situation for the bass, with its sub-frequencies enhanced, although this could also be due to the overall mastering of the track.
While the remix appears to feature a lot of new elements, the guitar lick actually features on both versions, just less prevalent in the original. The biggest highlight is the male vocal throughout.
The instrumental break is perhaps the most gleaming display of consistent difference between the two.
Here's the original.
Now here's the remix.
All in all, aside from the rhythmic chanting, everything in the original is in the latter version. Elements are just repeated and reverberated more noticeably, thus sounding fuller.
Due to the instrumental differences at the beginning, the "Extended remix" actually is slightly extended towards the end, with the recording fading out later than the album.
You're Not The Man (Surmise)
By November 1985, the band's second album, "Promise" was released. While the songs were not worked on over a couple of years like many on the previous, the quality arguably exceeds that of their debut, avoiding the usual sophomore album slump. The lyrics are more vulnerable and the compositions more daring, while still maintaining the sound they became famous for on "Diamond Life".
They would continue to exceed their quality in the late 80s and early 90s, the consistent sound of these back to back albums make them feel almost like a singular experience. This would not become a commonality for Sade, as their sound would significantly develop and they would take their time doing it...
Sade's strength lays with the combined strengths of each individual. Like the songs in their discography, whether recognized or not, they all have their place.