Bleep

The sounds of Sade's scintillating Diamond Life are still captivating us 40 years later. Born from the success of playing in Latin funk fusion band Pride after years of squatting and writing lyrics on the back of cleaning tickets, the newly crowned four piece of Sade Adu, Stuart Matthewman, Andrew Hale, and Paul Denman captivated crowds upon crowds in London and New York's finest clubs. They came in at the top of their game in 1984 with their debut album becoming an instant hit, and things would only get better from there.

Diamond Life presented an alternate route to the glitzy synthpop of its day, with total synergy and clarity between its band members, and infectious danceability in its pop-structured blends of jazz, soul, and funk. ‘Smooth Operator’ enters on tropical notes of percussion, syrupy bass licks, and rattling glossy Rhodes chords. Sade's cool, breezy speaksinging trades velvet harmonies with saxophone croons, while drums swish and bustle like the busy streets and nightlight skylines the song evokes.

Sade's husky British accent comes through on ‘Sally’ (“She's doing our dirty work, she's the only one who cares”), whose narrative lyrics paired with ‘Frankie's First Affair’ are sung with a weary ache evidencing the band's prowess in painting these mood pieces. Her lowkey passages are just as powerful, as emotionally affecting as when she leaps into her belt, yet so much space is afforded to each performer: bass plucks providing effortless drive and yearning curls, keys flourishing with romantic metropolitan vibes, crisp percussion for a smoky jazz café. The expertly crafted lyrics of ‘Cherry Pie’ match instruments perfectly tuned to induce funky dance fever, with sky high gliding guitars, psychedelic decorations of harpsichord-like keys, and strums washed in wah.

It's not hard to see why Sade have such magnificent staying power; Diamond Life was poised to be a timeless classic from the day of its release.