Diamond Life

I'm always hesitant to use the phrase 'You just don't get it' to bash negative criticism of a work I enjoy, especially when the work is not exactly hard to 'get', but unfortunately I find myself in need of this argument when talking about Diamond Life. The reviews for this page are filled to the brim of complaints that this record is 'generic, 'uninspired' or 'artificial. 'Music for people that don't actually care about music' is a sentiment I see shared by people who will then give positive scores to the fucking Foo Fighters with no sense of irony. I have no issue with disliking this album of course, but if you think these descriptors apply to any part of this album you straight up don't know what makes good pop music and probably shouldn't act like an authority on the subject. This album simply epitomizes the word 'cool', everything about it is the smoothest of the smooth with its funky jazz instrumentals and Sade's sensual voice. Sade really is the perfect singer for this kind of music, she feels sort of like she's been designed in a lab to perfectly accompany this kind of easy listening jazz pop. Whilst this sounds on paper like it would create a nightmarishly bland LP the likes of which Michael Bolton and Bryan Adams could never hope to record, every track is full of soul and makes you feel like you're living an episode of Miami Vice (which is really what this kind of music should do). Rather than reveling in the artifice of many contemporary pop records, Diamond Life is a record that perfectly weaponizes subtlety to make the biggest impact on the listener it possibly can. It really makes you want to gaze across a neon cityscape, smoking a cigarette on an apartment balcony whilst reminiscing about a lost lover. Artificial is honestly the last word I would use to use to describe the music on this record, the emotion is oozing from every second of every track and quite frankly I would be surprised if anyone calling these tracks hollow was even attempting to meet them on their level. Its much more fun to sneer than give a chance to a work you happen to be apprehensive about. Therefore I have to assume the reason people attack this album is that they quite simply hear something that slightly resembles easy listening or Yacht Rock, and immediately assume it sucks without actually *listening* to how the music sounds. I hate easy listening too, but even I could tell this album rocks after just the first track! Its especially egregious to me with how obviously this genre of music crosses over with City Pop, which I can only imagine gets a free pass from people because of the perceived exoticism in listening to Japanese music (not shitting on City Pop for the record, check out Fly-day Chinatown when you get the chance) So ignore all of the screeching ignorance found in these 1 star reviews and go into this with an open mind, ideally at night and drift in Sade's world of sensuality and subtle melancholy. Then listen to everything else Sade has made. Its nothing but home runs for their entire discography, but Diamond Life is certainly a standout in that illustrious company. Highlights: Smooth Operator, Hang On To Your Love, Cherry Pie, Sally

Absolute banger. Sax for days.

Too smooth. Yuck. Like a barbie crotch.

Wow. Now I know why people love Sade. Absolute banger of an album.

I had a visceral reaction to this album, like a child revoking after touching a hot stove for the first time. I was driving faster on my way to work as if I could outrun the music. It feels like robots. It feels like lies. It’s like a nice glassy wrapped package that someone left empty. It has all the heart of the incidental music of a summertime Hallmark movie. Hopefully I won’t cross paths with this album again.

I wasn't expecting to be as into this album as I am. It's so smooth, funky, and jazzy. The musicianship is fantastic and Sade's vocals are phenomenal as well. The drums and bass are locked in and are doing really interesting lines and rhythms in the background. This is a marvelously produced album and is sequenced and mixed very well. In retrospect, it makes total sense that I love this album as I love funk and jazz. I was expecting something more dated I think.

Surprised by how much i loved it.

Generic ass middle of the road, nauseatingly smooth and uninspiring jazz sung with a boring vocal performance, what am I missing here? Best part is obviously the instrumentals, they carry Sade hard.

Like being stuck in a hotel lobby in the 1980s.

I feel an uncontrollable, visceral revulsion for almost every element of this. It's canned, bland, and impossible to stand. I can't discern any semblance of genuine human emotion from it. The sounds are flat and textureless, the songs plod along interminably, and the lyrics seem like they were written by a concussed android. Whether they're celebrating promiscuity and duplicitousness, as in 'Smooth Operator', or criticising it in 'Frankie's First Affair', (it's genuinely hard to tell), they are abject with an almost impressive uniformity.

perf combination of old and new soul and jazz. sade has been a huge influence to so many modern artists with a fresh take on this style of music. this album is so easy and nice to listen to. pretty romantic n smooth 💓💞💓💞💓truly iconic

Bloody awful. Music for people who don't actually listen to music - they just like something on while they're hosting a dinner party.

Beautiful. So much soul with such a unique and fresh take on soulful jazz vocals. Def right up my alley

Very beige

Timeless album. Not sure I will ever get tired of this one. First three songs are perfect, although I would prefer the US version of Smooth Operator to the UK version (on Spotify).

8/10

Un album très agréable à écouter. J'ai particulièrement apprécié le moment où Sade chante ♫ Shine bright like a diamond life, shine bright like a diamond life, We're beautiful like diamonds life in the sky ♫. Très sympa.

Really not my thing at all. Feels very corporate and slick.

smooth operator is a catchy tune. beats are pretty neat for 84, but grating cheesy lyrics won out. 2 minutes into frankie, i turned my stereo off from the toilet and finished shitting in silence.

I am fairly certain that I or at least one of my siblings was conceived to this album so I haven't really listened to it before this 🌚

I'm trying so hard to approach this album objectively and failing. British sophisti-pop is possibly the most obnoxious genre of music ever created and Sade is the epitome of the genre. I found nothing redeeming in this album. The vocals are lazy, the melodies are sleazy, the lyrics are insipid, and DEAR GOD WHY ARE THERE SO MANY SAXOPHONE SOLOS. "Diamond Life" is absolutely infested with saxophone solos and it's not good. It's not good at all. I hated literally every moment of this album.

Sade is such a phenomenal singer. This is a lovely jazz pop album.

Good strong start with the first two songs, well known. But then the rest of the album seems just… vanilla. Didn’t really inspire. Good singer though.

bland generic smooth jazz. feel like I spent the last 45 minutes in an elevator

If you like the sound of Casio keyboard and drum sounds together with alto saxophone solos and a smooth vocal then this album is for you. I've seen this described as sounding like elevator music and that's probably about right. It amazes me people actually bought this (I'm pretty sure my sister had this in her cd collection). Why, is beyond me. I guess smash hits or just 17 gave it a rave review? And I suppose the cover is quite cool in an art noir kind of way. Um, yeah, not really my bag. Is that 1000 words yet?

I tried to ignore my preconceptions about this album. Turns out they were right, utter shite.

Not a bad song on this. I could listen to this on repeat forever.

This album is fantastic. I like that I didn't' realize that it was smooth operator until halfway through. The track is that good, one of my favorite single tracks of all time. it's followed by 'Your love is King' and 'Hang onto your love' which are also fantastic and groovy and danceable. Cherry Pie is also amazing. The last three tracks are more forgettable though the final track is mostly a very cool jungle instrumental with some beautiful percussion. This whole thing is so groovy, so danceable, so cool. This is the kind of music I really like driving with. It makes me want to put my sunglasses down and walk through the streets with my hips just barely swaying to the beat. These tracks are fantastically enjoyable and really make me yearn for a time where disco and soul were more prominent. Makes me want to go to a soul club. Maybe I will

Saxy and Smooth!

Fantastic album, smooth, funky, a pining and loving masterpiece. Possibly the best album so far.

This brought me back to when my sister listenes to this on her boombox. It is of a time and place. If you were there, this is peak mid 80’s.

OK. This is just a cool album made by a cool group.

No. 97/1001 Smooth Operator 5/5 Your Love Is King 5/5 Hang On to Your Love 4/5 Frankie's First Affair 4/5 When Am I Going To Make A Living 4/5 Cherry Pie 3/5 Sally 3/5 I Will Be Your Friend 3/5 Why Can't We Live Together 3/5 Average: 3,78 Really smooth album, loved her voice. Just lacked some musical diversity and some songs were a bit too long.

Sade is the answer to the question: “What if Steely Dan was good?”

Nah, fuck this.

Utter shite. This album kicks off with the very forgettable "Smooth Operator" and gets progressively worse throughout. Shit songwriting. It's that simple. Long, poorly-crafted songs. Everything on this record - from Sade's goofy vocals, to the dull persuasion, and the soppy saxophone bollocks - is fucking terrible. This is one of those embarrassing 80s albums. 👎👎

ma'am... I'm so sorry... I wasn't aware of your game

5/5 This album is a silk robe for your brain. It’s jazz-pop with the soul of a nocturnal panther—slinky, calm, and unbothered by your chaos. Every track sounds like it was mixed inside a martini glass. Favorite Track: “Smooth Operator” The way that saxophone glides in? That’s not music, that’s emotional dry-cleaning. I aspire to this level of composed elegance. It’s what I’d play while pretending to read philosophy on a rooftop during a rainstorm. This is the music you listen to when you’re emotionally intelligent and hot, which I would be if I had unresolved father issues.

Call me generic, say I dont love music, call me tacky, but thisbis Crack. I love this shit. It was popular and still is popular because its good. One of my favorites from this challenge so far after 50. What can I say. Neo jazz and jazz in general is just really good.

LOVED. What a vibe

One of my all time favourite albums - which I very rarely listen to, so this was an absolute treat.

yeahhhh, this is so great. Sade is the epitome of cool. her voice and the endless sax are a combo I can definitely get behind. i knew smooth operator and your love is king already so my "fresh" listen of the album only really started with hang on to your love and oh boy, what a start. sally another hot fave from this album. love love love this one.

I grew up on The Quiet Storm, so this gives me nostalgia for nights headed home in the back seat of my parent’s car. Yet I’m able to connect to the sensuality of the music as an adult. Very beautiful and special. This album probably helped conceive a generation.

as soon as I saw Sade .. 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 please!! this girl !! LOVELOVELOVE her, since forever - I have all the albums etc. she can do no wrong : )

Smooth, but there's more emotion to this album than just being cool. Love the sax. Very nice.

me senti uma mulher rica e poderosa usando robe de seda enquanto tomo meu champanhe caríssimo ouvindo esse. que vibe deliciosa.

>The Beatles

I don't know if you need to declare that, before you die, you must hear music that has never gone away. It's like saying "You GOTTA breathe this atmosphere while you are here!" Pretty sure every human hears "Smooth Operator" at least once a week during the process of being alive. And it is flawless. "Your Love is King" only slightly less flawless and thereby more interesting. I wonder if they have to pay Roxy Music's holding company for style royalties. I've always kinda dug the nagging persistence of "Hang on to Your Love", a ballad from a barnacle to a Nantucket whaler of a love. "Cherry Pie" is the secret subdued disco banger hidden in here. As is the audacious conga minute opening of Timmy Thomson's minimalist classic "Why Can't We Live Together." I want to hear that gliding around a roller rink on the moon.

Music so sweet to the ears that it will instantly convert any smooth soul skeptic into a believer.

It's interesting that the group made their whole "brand" around the singer, because the rest of the instrumentals are all really equally impressive. I know smooth jazz/pop has a reputation for being corny or generic but there is some serious talent on display in this album. The saxophone and the bass stand out but the keys and drums carry the rhythm as well. I like that the songs mostly have a solo/instrumental break in them in addition to the vocal parts to showcase all that. The vocals are unique; she's got a great low voice that fits well with the overall sound of "dark lounge possibly host to crime enterprises" band. "Smooth Operator" is such a banger that I'm kind of annoyed it's the first song on the album. It's funny that it's nowhere near the amount of streams as "Your Love is King" on Spotify - the latter is not anywhere near as good of a song. "Cherry Pie" is another really good one and somehow doesn't sound as long as it's runtime would suggest. I was surprised by this. This is the precursor to the 90's wave of european trip hop which I really like so I guess it isn't too much of a surprise. You do have to get over yourself when listening to it though or it's going to sound like elevator music.

30 seconds in, I expected to hate it. It pulled through though. Not my style, but far from Bad. Rounding up to protect myself from allegations of being a crank.

Knew a couple of Sade songs before listening to the whole album. I knew what was to be expected and it didn't disappoint. The smooth and silky sound and is something you have to be in the mood for, great for a rainy evening for example. It's greatest strength is arguably also it's biggest weakness. The homogeneous sound makes the album a bit predictable and there are not a lot of songs that stand out. I guess Smooth Operator is a good summary of the album: smooth but also a bit forgettable.

Pretty good throughout, smooth, funky and jazzy with great vocals. A bit generic maybe but that’s fine, what lifts this from being too generic though is the epic saxophone. The only thing keeping this from being 4 stars is simply that there wasn’t enough sax. Favourites: smooth operator and hang on to your love. Overall, 6.5/10.

The urtext of the Acid Jazz movement. Sexy stylings but boring enough that if you didn't make your move before the end of side one you might miss out.

I listened to this on Friday, all I remember is r&b and not much else

Boring adult contemporary music. Better than I thought it was going to be, but I'm writing this 10 minutes after I finished listening, and I remember almost nothing about it. Best track: Why Can't We Live Together

Sax-a-ma-phooone. Smooth jazz, not my favourite, but she has a nice voice. 2.5/5

I'm sure this is really well crafted and she's got a wonderful voice but it's just not for me, Clive

...meh. Not my jam.

This is more a fragrance than a record. A delightful fragrance, but thin on tunes that would sit comfortably outside the end credits of a London-set made-for-VHS gangster movie in the eighties. Simon, no prizes for guessing which of our project’s silent partners is a fan of this album.

The kind of music I expect to be playing in an empty hotel foyer at 1:30am

If you like sex, this is a good album. If you like music, not so much. Polished and smooth, but also empty and soulless. Smooth Operator is a great track, but the rest is boring and forgettable.

Maybe you had to be there in the 89s to understand why people dislike this so much. Every damn song on the radio sounded like this shit. Smooth jazz/pop. Ugh.

Smooth. Loathed this at the time, quite enjoyed it this time. One of those that is good in its field, and evokes that time in music very well without sounding particularly dated.

This album ultimately just didn't impress me. The vocals weren't very strong, the lyrics were kinda boring and the music faded into the background as "muzak" or cocktail lounge-y

Yawn with a layer of cheese

If you did the lounge-y rhythms are dated you'd be half right. Bust them out now and they'd sound pretty rote, but that doesn't mean they aren't snazzy. The downer isn't the bongos, it's the description to boilerplate ratio, which (BS statistic coming up) is something like 3:7. More Sally, less Cherry Pie.

Transcends easy listening 80's jazz to create an enveloping, soulful fog for the listener. I loved this.

Oh yeah!!!

I mean...

Gonna be honest, I thought Smooth Operator was by Steely Dan up until listening to this album. The band rips, each solo makes me want to groove. I felt like I was in a 45 min long 80's movie montage where things are going pretty well. Hang On To Your Love slippity slaps

You have lost your mind if you hate this. Simply the best. Best tracks: Smooth Operator, Sally, We Can't Live Together, Frankie's First Affair, When Am I Going to Make a Living

Great album, just not really my cup of tea. But I think it deserves to be on this list. 5 stars for that but my personal taste would rate it a 2.

This is absolute classic ❤️‍🔥

No need to ask

Would’ve rated it a 4.5, rounding up to a 5. Definition of smooth, comes out super hot with three straight bangers. Could listen to a 3 hour album of this and be happy.

Smooth Operator is a fitting track to open with. Sade is like a hot knife through warm butter. It does sound a bit like one long song. Not sure if that is a good or bad thing. 4.5 that I’m rounding to 5. It’s good!

Sounds like one long song in the best way possible, vibes are immaculate, vocals get all the attention but the band is fantastic too. No bad songs.

Another perfect debut. Toes the line between knowing its sound and having all the songs sound the same, but Sade herself is such a unique and generational singer and the music so easy to listen to that it doesn’t really matter. Love this album

Pop in the 80s was just different. Granted, I get my taste in pop from my mom, who grew up with this stuff. This album is proof that I have my mom's taste in pop. I love that really jazz/soul-inspired Pop sound and it's really fun to see bands like The Weather Station reviving it as of recent. Anyways, this album is amazing. Really smooth, really catchy, pretty much everything that makes this genre great. Also, it has Smooth Operator. Enough said on that front. Bonus points for the saxophone, of course.

Yes. Yes. Yes ♡

My only regret is that I’m too young to date Sade.

A killer voice, unique and sultry, a debut that sounds just as good today.

What a great debut album. It is a whole vibe.

Smooth

This was awesome. Don't know what else I can say.

So self-assured and confident. Creates a great vibe. Love this one.

Excellent elevator music.

An exploration into soul and rhythm that makes your body want to slow dance all night long

Sehr gut

BANGER 5/5

Видатний поп-альбом, просто хіт на хіті. Smooth like butter міг би про нього сказати Phife Dawg. Ті хто зневажливо ставляться, типу, що це музика для лоббі в готелі - не шарять)

The Queen of Smooth. Sensational smoky debut. Surely nobody could fail to love this.

Fantastico

Classic smooth jazz. Iconic voice. No need to ask, I need this album.

Always loved Sade. Great to listen to this again!

Primera vez escuchando Sade, me pareció un disco para poner de fondo mientras hago cosas (en el buen sentido)

Dam...thats fire dude

охуенно очень понравилось, крутая телка

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