Soldier of Love

by Sade

Overview

Sade's longest absence yet did not prevent their return from being an event. It at least seemed eventful whenever "Soldier of Love," released to radio a couple months prior to the album of the same title, was heard over the airwaves. Even with its brilliantly placed lyrical allusions to hip-hop past and present and its mature sound, the single stuck out on stations aimed at teens and twentysomethings, as well as points on the dial that court an older audience. It was the most musical and organic, while also the most dramatic yet least bombastic, song in rotation. Crisp snare rolls, cold guitar stabs, and at least a dozen other elements were deployed with tremendous economy, suspensefully ricocheting off one another as Sade Adu rewrote "Love Is a Battlefield" with scarred, assured defiance. While the song was an indication of its parent album's reliance upon organic instrumentation -- the band's use of synthesized textures and programming is greatly diminished -- it merely hinted at the dark, even fatalist, depth of heartache conveyed throughout the set. On "Bring Me Home," Adu is content in resignation ("Send me to slaughter/Lay me on the railway line"), while on "The Moon and the Sky," she projects a bruised and angered bewilderment ("You lay me down and left me for the lions"). The focus at least switches temporarily to a loved one on "In Another Time," in what resembles a love letter to (what is likely) a young daughter mistreated by members of both sexes ("Their whispers are hailstones in your face"; "Soon they'll mean nothing to you"). The bleakness is tempered with themes of survival and recovery, and a song that is truly sweet ("Babyfather"). Relatable most to those who are experiencing solitude created by romantic desertion, this is not your mother's Sade album. ~ Andy Kellman

Product Details

Release Date:	09/20/2024
Label:	Sony Legacy
UPC:	0196587848514

Tracks

1. The Moon and the Sky
2. Soldier of Love
3. Morning Bird
4. Babyfather
5. Long Hard Road
6. Be That Easy
7. Bring Me Home
8. In Another Time
9. Skin
10. The Safest Place

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Sade   Primary Artist
Everton Nelson   Violin,Featured Artist
Leroy Osbourne   Vocals,Featured Artist
Martin Ditcham   Drums,Percussion,Featured Artist
Peter Lewinson   Drums,Featured Artist
Sade Adu   Vocals
Ian Burdge   Cello,Featured Artist
Sophie Muller   Ukulele,Featured Artist
Gordon Matthewman   Trumpet,Featured Artist
Clay Matthewman   Vocals,Featured Artist
Juan Janes   Guitar,Featured Artist
Stuart Matthewman   Guitar,Saxophone
Noel Langley   Trumpet,Featured Artist
Tony Momrelle   Vocals,Featured Artist
Paul S. Denman   Bass
Andrew Hale   Keyboards

Technical Credits

Mark "Spike" Stent   Mixing
Sade   Producer
Mike Pela   Mixing,Engineer,Producer
Michael Brauer   Mixing
Sade Adu   Composer,Lyricist,Programming
John Davis   Mastering
Sophie Muller   Photography,Art Direction
Andrew Nicholls   Pre-Production
Stuart Matthewman   Composer,Programming
Paul S. Denman   Composer
Andrew Hale   Composer,Programming