Diamond Life

I like her voice. Smooth Operator brings back good memories. This could have been a good R&B album if not for being over-produced; as was typical in the mid '80s. It was a great album at the time, but hasn't aged very well.

its ok, background music for me

Poorly aged pseudo-jazz for romancing yuppies. And there was I thinking "smooth jazz" was only a radio format. It's real and it's inoffensively insipid.

Cool sound to start the album, then it felt like Sade used that one cool sound and worked it to death, not trying anything else.

54. Treze horas e um minuto, aponta num rabisco que ninguém perceberá. Três mulheres com batas muito azuis e unhas de gel atrozes vão passar a folha de mão em mão, em busca de um sinal, uma letra, um tique de escrita, qualquer coisa. Uma já lhe conhece o estilo. Mas desta vez foi demais. Na sala escura por defeito, duas luzes transformam o momento mais importante da vida da Rainha num talho. Olha para as luzes até tudo lhe parecerem tiras incandescentes. O Rei está calmo por fora. É ele com a faca, a tesoura e a pinças que separam o ventre da Rainha em dois. Beep beep beep. Do balcão, os príncipes sustêm a respiração, já nem parece natural. Para aliviar a tensão, um dos bobos diverte-os. Apanha pequenas bolotas no ar e devora-as, num precário balanço entre o fantástico e o desastre. À quinta tinha de ser. A bolota embate no canto da boca, ressalta no beiral da varanda, queda livre para o ventre, plop!, ligeiro salpico. O Rei não se intimida. A sua fluidez desliza até à ponta do bisturi. MotA: Smooth Operator "He's laughing with another girl / And playing with another heart"

Kind of lame but good all at the same time. I enjoy the fusion of jazz and pop but the lyrics are really cheesy. Not something I’ll be coming back to. Makes decent inoffensive background music.

Not bad. Like a couple songs but not for me overall

Not my cup of tea

Overall: not bad - Immaculately produced, smooth jazz feel gets wearing after a few tracks Did I add to library? No Tracks I liked: Your love is king, Hang on to your love Tracks I didn’t like: Cherry Pie, Sally, disappointing version of Timmy Thomas song

A little bit boring. 6.1/10

smooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooth pretty inoffensive.

Smooth jazz, nope

Ok but not great

Saved Prior: None Off Rip: Hang on to Your Love Cutting Edge: None Overall Notes: Blech. Not for me.

It was okay, but didn't really grab me. 2/5

80's slick. Patrick Bateman would murder hookers to this music. Not for me. Best tracks: Smooth Operator, Frankie's First Affair, Cherry Pie

I was never a big Sade fan. Something about her voice makes the songs all sound a little too sappy. In hindsight, this is probably why I didn't like Everything but The Girl since their voices are similar. With Sade, it didn't help that the hits were so overplayed by the pop stations. I just don’t have time for it anymore.

Not a fan. It was groovy, but all the songs blurred together and they started getting annoying about halfway through the album. Felt like a cross between elevator music and something that would $1 at the thrift store.

Have you ever heard a band playing in an upmarket cocktail bar? They invariably sound like this. Not sure if that is a compliment or an insult though.

4, not very interesting imo

Blaaaaaaaand

Saxy! Basically fine, but I lost interest fairly quickly.

Great Pipes, but nothing about this album stood out to me unfortunately.

Just not for me. I never really liked 90s R&B / soul. That being said, I almost lasted the whole album, so that has to count for something.

She's a great singer. But it seems her music could get lost really quickly. It's not something that you'd want to sit in the car until the song ended.

Not really my thing but didn't completely hate it

Litt kjedelig

kinda boring? i liked some of the sounds and the ideas behind them but i don’t ever think it really hit for me

A couple of decent songs, not really my vibe.

Some nice tunes/sounds but not really what I'm into

Fairly boring elevator music that tends to get stuck in your head.

Not really my style... A little loung-y and cheesy. From a different time... I did listen to that Elvis record over the weekend and enjoyed it.

i remember Smooth Operator!~

smooooth... too smooth

It’s not bad music. But it’s boring and terrible and I would never choose to listen to it.

Started off well and faded off. Your love is king is a brilliant track. She's a great voice

Not for me but better than the Russian album

Not my cup of tea.

Other than Smooth Operator, I wasn't really a fan. It all sounded like Smooth Operator. I'm not sure why this is such a notable album.

Not my kind of music. She‘s got a very distinctive voice. Nice background music.

A pleasant listen but not my thing

Hang on to your love var bra dock

its cool i guess. I didn't really get anything from it. Just felt really easy listening.

Dirge.

I thought this was an awful "jazz lite" record in 1984... It is. Suffered it in a million student flats and it is just banal.

Deservedly thrown at the undead in Shaun of the Dead. Absolute dross.

Shit

I had to get into the reviews to try to see why people are into this. I get that it's subtle and mixed jazz and funk and her voice is cool, but taken all together, none of the songs grabs me enough to make me want to sit with it and try to "get it."

Not quite my tempo.

I was in such a bad mood today and this made it worse.

Meh

Anodyne

Nah

Very bad

This is one of the few albums that I'm willing to acknowledge as good even if I don't like it myself. All of the reviews for this album mention how smooth it is, and they either deride or praise the album for it. And that is why I think this is an "objectively" good album; Sade had the goal of creating a smooth album, and they, the band, accomplished that goal. If a band can bring their artistic vision to life how can you not say the album is good? I'm still giving it a 1 though because I hate Sade. I will admit it's better on a re-listen though.

Her voice it's like silk!

I will never forgive her for breaking up Pride

Yep...can't do it.

Smooth r&b/soul pop. Sade’s got a kind of unemotional, cold voice for singing some love and hurt songs. Technically well-crafted (good bass, but it’s got that like 80s sophisti-pop sound), but just something that doesn’t appeal to me and I was ready to be over with. Not even in a terrible way, just a more boring one. The whole thing is a bit saccharine for my tastes.

Can only be described as elevator music

I haven't listened to this album before and-oh no. The first song is Smooth Operator. That brings me back to the trauma of the terrible training videos from my first job in an Australian Supermarket chain. As for the rest of the album, it's less traumatic but just as dull as working for below minimum wage. It's the same fucking song like 8 times. Just utter trash record.

Ugh

In the far back seat of a 1993 Dodddddddge Caravaaaaaaan!!!!!!

Not really my thing. Nice voice, but the music is pure lounge singer and very dull. Maybe in the right mood I'd get into it, but not right now. The production feels pretty dated. I had Curtis Mayfield 2 days ago, which is 9 years older but sounds much much better. Nothing on here qualifies as a favorite song, they all kind of make me cringe. Tempted to one star it, I don't care for it, but I'll bump it to 2 for her solid singing. No, finished listening and I'm going back down to 1 star. I just don't like it at all. I don't like smooth easy listening and I don't really like pop, so there we have it. An well done example of music that I happen to viscerally dislike.

Nice album

Auch viel Schmalz

From the very first notes I could tell I would not enjoy this album. Why does Kenny G get the brunt of the ridicule when this is essentially the same except with a female vocalist. Awful

Apologies in advance to those that enjoy this, but this album doesn't do it for me. I think it both sounds incredibly cheesy and the songs just don't resonate with me either. I guess "Cherry Pie" is my favorite track, but I enjoy it significantly less than the Warrant song of the same name. 1.5 stars.

Not for me

Awful.

Somehow empty. This record contains a lot of things that feel like maybe they should appeal to me. Unfortunately in this finished package, they just don't. There's something about the execution that just feels empty and shallow to me

Not for me

I just could not finish this - so boring and dated.

Didn’t do it for me

#224/1001. This is muzak for rich millionaires' paid escorts to slowly strip their clothes off to.

Has great ambiance but wouldn’t listen to it actively, more as a background

Definition of bland.

Inoffensive pop masquerading as Jazz, not as bad as modern pop for my tastes but still not worth anything more than a no. Smooth Operator is the best track and every single one is just the same song over and over, so it wins by default.

I’ll say it - never liked her voice.

Fun but I struggled to pay attention. fav = Cherry Pie

Not for me at all - sounds bland to my ears

I thought Sade is artist not a band. Learning new things every day. I also learned that this album is high quality production nonsense to me.

This operator is too smooth for me.

I don’t have much to say on this one. It’s an album that I listened to and I forgot about it while I was listening to it. Unbelievably beige.

The whole album sounds like waiting room music.

I couldn't do it. It was just too much for me.

Adding a saxophone to yacht rock does not magically make it not yacht rock.

This is the 160th album I’m rating. I’ve heard that name before but I know nothing about her music. Adding to my Playlist - Nothing. Not Adding to my Playlist - Smooth Operator, Your Love is King, Hang on to Your Love, Frankie's First Affair, When am I going to Make a Living, Cherry Pie, Sally, I Will be Your Friend, and Why Can't we Live Together. Smooth Operator - Not as good as I was expecting it to be. Your Love is King - The past two songs have just been really boring and they've made me feel nothing. All in all I liked 0/9 songs. If Curtis Mayfield was singing this I think it would be a lot better. Either way it would be too smooth for me though.

The soundtrack to your middle school teachers wet dream. Smooth, sultry, and smug about it. Saxophones, silk sheets, and a perfectly chilled chardonnay.

Like Kenny G, It’s not for me

In no way is this enjoyable to me. Extremely pretentious, forced, and cringy.

No

Not really my kind of music. Too much "soul".

Don’t like

Off the cuff remark: Radio-friendly 80s dross pop-soul!? Standout Track: "Smooth Operator" Purely becuase of familiarity, living proof that being catchy doesn't mean great. Revisit?: I hope not. Perhaps that's a bit harsh - it's gentle and unremarkable.

Didn’t enjoy it at all

Too soft, too smooth, not the vibe I'm looking for

Oh dear. Getting the strong urge to copy and paste my Culture Club comments. Very cheapo and karaoke sounding by modern standards.

This is so dull. 80s jazz-easy listening that plods along with umpteenth sax solos and sterile production. Legit the first album where I felt like giving up after the first three songs.

So smooth it’s just dull

not my style

The one song she's known for is right at the beginning, followed by 45 minutes of the most run of the mill R&B. Pass

This is just not for me. Actively wanted to turn it off but preservered. Her vocals are great but I can't get away from the background sounding like elevator music to me.

Did not like. This was a super boring album that felt like it went nowhere and just dragged on forever. I'm sure it's great if you're into this style, there wasn't any bad musicianship or recording or anything, just very much not my taste.

Welcome to elevator hell. Hope you like the music.

I have no clue what y'all are smoking because this album is absolute shit. It's just about everything wrong with '80s music. It's lame, it's not deep at all, and the only reason people kept listening to it was because it was on the radio. I can't even describe it, but there is something completely wrong with the sound. It's bad and so so so so so cheesy.

Bad representation of hip hop females. Kind of lack luster lyricism and mediocre beats. Would have been a better album with just the saxophone…

Hated this in the 80s, upon relistening to it I hate it now. Safe has a wonderful voice but beautiful vocals over Muzak is still Muzak Someone wasted this woman's talent

Sade is music for a PG-rated implied sex montage.

I don’t really like this type of music. I get bored easily by this - Yes, I know the massive hit Smooth Operator, and I noticed that she was a huge star when I was I kid, but it’s just not for me. The quality of the music and her voice is undeniable though

Not my thing.

Elevator music to me, I'm afraid. I know Smooth Operator, but nothing here strikes me as interesting in the least.

I thought this was shite

Excruciatingly smooth. The tempo of every song was the same, it all plodded along in the most obvious direction. Bland to the point of offensive. Hard 1.

Mostly passed me by to be honest, although probably didn't find it as bad as I thought I would. Very bland and forgettable though. Smooth operator is nowt special either 1.5

Uninspired, generic, canned smooth Soul.

Now I can answer the trivia question: who sang Smooth Operator. I don't like her voice. She sounds like a female Boy George, whih confuses my genitals.

It's pretty. It's soulful. But it moves me not. Sorry Lady Sade. 1 Star.

I found zero enjoyment in this. I also cannot stand pop sax.

Smooth operator is the only slightly good song.

Was okay not my cup of tea, listened right through - background music

too slow and mellow for my liking

80s music for suburban moms with bad perms.

Bad smooth jazz instrumentation. Bad lyrics. Bad vocals. This is a record that would be liked by a middle aged woman with the worst taste in music that you know.

I didn't like her singles back then but I'm trying to go in open-minded. Smooth Operater isn't a good start. Too slick. Next song is better but it's like a chocolate tart. Too smooth and rich. When we get to Frankie's First Affair, which is the first unfamiliar song, I'm in the land of don't care. This is a collection of dreary songs that are making me sleepy while drinking coffee. Sade: All filler, no killer. Now I have to decide if the good musicianship gives it two stars. Nope. Those cookie-cutter songs are unforgivable.

There’s nothing like this in my collection so I guess I’ve learned about something new. But there’s also a good reason I have none of this in my collection. I can’t stand it.

I'm proud to say I've been making fun of this cheesy crap since the day it came out.

Like taking a warm, candle-lit bath in porridge.

Terrible.

Argh, this makes me wish I could go back to 1983. Smooth? Sure, it's as smooth as a whisky-drunk-hangover-post-coffee-morning-after-a-triple-shot-of-metamicil-sit-down, but nowhere near as satisfying. Shar-tay on.

uninteresting soft rock

Nope. Can’t do it.

Everything I hate about 80s neo soul. Like drowning in vat of magnolia paint.

First song is iconic. Rest doesn't go anything for me

Nee, dat is echt te smooth allemaal

Just some monotonous tunes for people who appreciate 80s cheesy music exclusively made for sex time. Not my cup of tea, actually I really disliked it, I would have given it zero if only it was possible.

This is INSANELY 80s I fucking hate that but I guess a bunch of people would love it.

Going from Throbbing Gristle to Sade, ha ha. I love this app, lol... "Smooth Operator" is an iconic track. So eighties. Feels like I'm in a taxi in New York or Chicago at night, going down an avenue lined with skyscrapers lighted like so many christmas trees. The cab driver is listening to news about Ronald Reagan on the radio, and then this hit single turns up. I'm looking through the window, and I watch all the people going in and out of buildings and subway entrances. It's beautiful... All trips down memory lane aside, let's just be honest for one second, though. What Sade performed was the worst kind of elevator music, was it not? And yes, this even includes "Smooth Operator", which I *like*. As fine as that single is, after so many clones of it in the tracklisting, I feel like it is just impossible for Sade's music to be taken seriously. Because *Diamond Life* did not age well, to say the least. All the sounds are conventional (apart from a discreet synth in "I Will Be Your Friend"), the melodies, chords and harmonies are rather unremarkable, and the rhythm section ticks all the boxes of what a band playing in a hotel lobby is supposed to do. Having a competent band and a beautiful voice is not enough: you need some sort of creative spark somewhere. And this LP doesn't have it. I also want to strangle that sax player, by the way. If I ever hear another one of those bland cheesy solos, I'm gonna go positively insane, lol. *Cherry Pie*'s groove was quite OK--one of the rare tracks that was so--and I couldn't help noticing that no saxophone was involved in it. So when said saxophone reappeared in the very first seconds of the next track, I burst out laughing. Listening to this album is like playing hide and seek with that lethal saxophone, hoping it never catches you again in your scariest nightmares. *Diamond Life* will now join that Throbbing Gristle album in my list of one-star albums, very ironically. Mark my words, such a low grading is only done for the purposes of this list of so-called "essential" albums. It equals a 6/10 grade for more general purposes: 5 for the competent songwriting, the skilled performance, and the professional production values, to which I would add 1 point for the inspiration and memorable results that are mandatory for an "essential" record. Maybe without that damn saxophone I would have added two points instead of one. Sadly, we'll never know... Next, please. Number of albums left to review: 491 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 240 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 115 Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more essential to me): 151 (including this one)

smoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooth

Smooth, bit boring

Vajoaa jazzahtavuuden ja päämäärättömyyden yöhön liian kepeän biisintekoasenteen vuoksi. (Positiivinen huomio: vaikken pidäkään laulajan äänen käyttötavasta, pidän sen luontaisista taajuuksista.)

Smooth, jazz-lite, syrupy, sweet... awful elevator music. My first one star review - and well-deserved as there's literally nothing redeeming here. Awful music that makes me feel the world would be a better place if this album didn't exist. Sounds like someone with no soul, singing with a backing band of B-rated session musicians. This is radio 2 music, the sort of music that is so bland and meaningless that it can only offend by being so incredibly cheesy and dull to listen to. This is what sad hotel bands play to fill in the time between Chris de Burgh and other lobby music that give people indigestion. I spent 45 minutes feeling that I was in a telephone queue and someone had put this hold music on to try and discourage people from waiting for their turn.

Nope

This is the music that transitions a film scene from the beach to the dinner scene in a rom com. This isn't a compliment. If you like real jazz you will hate this. If I had never heard music before I would still think this sucks. Why do people like bad things? I don't understand it.

almost literally nothing interesting to me about this record. Total snoozer. "Smooth Operator" was a recognizable track and not bad actually. The rest of the record I don't have much to say about really.

Not entirely sure it’s for me. There are a few nice tracks on there but overall too bland.

I've got a hunch that the protagonist in American Psycho would have been a huge Sade fan. If AI was asked to produce a stereotypically 80's album they'd pop this out. Man it leaves me cold, everything about it is devoid of any feel, its detached air is in itself detached from the idea of music moving you. And where's my filofax when I need it? What time is Miami Vice? Hawkie still Prime Minister? And how's about those tenor sax solos? That said, Smooth Operator and Hang Onto Your Love, I'd think Grace Jones would have been slightly and rightly peeved as to what was going on there. Oh hang on, here comes the opening sax solo on Frankie's First Affair, it's got me rolling up the sleeves on my suit jacket. And I really despise what she did to Timmy Thomas's classic, ruined it. The only thing this is missing is a duet with Stephen Stills or a Brian May lyric. Minus 10 to the max. Now to go and turn on my Amstrad green screen.

It was really boring.

1 I’m sorry, this was sooooo boring. There’s nothing interesting going on musically, vocally, or lyrically, and it just comes off sounding like lame lounge music… or even elevator music at times. I feel like every 80s pop star attempted a song like one of these on at least one of their albums, and they were never good or memorable. This is like a compilation of those. I’m trying to think of more to write about, but I really feel like there’s nothing remarkable to comment on. This was a realllllly long 44 minutes.

‘Quiet Storm’. Thanks to this process, I’m learning to put a name to that type of bland-smooth-muzaky music my ears instinctively reject. At least the Anita album had one legitimate banger I’d choose to revisit. Also, Sade is the name of a whole band?! Makes me feel less bad about dishing out a scathing review, at least. 1.5

Sounds like perfect music for a somber episode of Miami Vice, or maybe for a cheesy 80s porno. Meant for the background, not really the kind of music I want to actively listen to. I appreciate the nostalgic slick retro vibe this album gives off, but I'm not into the music

Smooth jazz from the 80s. Was this the soundtrack for a coked-up finance bro scoping out the fern bar for the woman with the biggest shoulder pads in her suit jacket while nursing his Bartles and James wine cooler in the corner? This is unappealingly bland, and every musical choice made by the band and producers seems to be the least offensive one possible. Nice job mixing the bass front and center; unfortunately the album has no groove at all. I never need to listen to this again.

I'm not the target audience. I can't do the cornball 80's sax and smooth background tracks

1.5

Never been a fan.

sm000000th operator

Insipid 80's nonsense for people who don't/didn't care.

this is shit. zero talent. nothing stands out. elevator music for a bad dentist office

Never been my thing.

Ughhhhh

I knew Smooth Operator and Your Love is King. Both inoffensive enough, if a little standard and overlong. By the third track, I'm worried that the whole album is going to be this sort of coffee table jazz inflected background music. There are occasional suggestions that there are good bits to come. A Chic sounding guitar here, some interesting percussion there. It never gets beyond the blandness. A whole album of filler - there may be some good lyrics but that's it. The cover of Why Can't We Live Together wakes me up a bit... And then I realise it's because of Hotline Bling. Bleh.

Very much not for me

I'm still too seething about Brexit from yesterday, but here goes. If this is one of the top 1001 albums of all time, then I voted remain. A complete waste of time and money - not Brexit, this album.

Not good

1984. Key Songs: Smooth Operator