1001 Albums Summary

Never heard of this artist before in my life but was pleasantly surprised with the first 3 songs on this. "Down to Zero" was great opener and followed by a couple of great vibes in "Help Yourself" and the funky "Water With the Wine". Then the album took a turn to the softer side which is really not my jam. "Love and Affection" is the most listened to song on this album on Spotify but I didn't enjoy it. "Join the Boys" and "People" were more up my alley but the remainder of the album wasn't my vibe. I'm sure this album speaks to many listeners out there but only about half of it was enjoyable to me.

I know of Sade through their hits "Smooth Operator" and "Sweetest Taboo" but have never listened to one of their albums since it's outside of my normal listening genres. I recognized the album cover because I have seen that image multiple times over the course of my life and know that it is an album that people adore. "Smooth Operator" - One of the Sade tracks I am familiar with. Horns, bongos, funky guitar, Latin flavor all operating smoothly together. "Your Love is King" - A modern (80's) slow jam with those quintessential blaring 80's horns and the smooth singing melds it all together. Great song "Hang On to Your Love" - Funky rhythm with a great piano jumping in later. Another Like "Frankie's First Affair" - First song on the album I didn't vibe with. I would say it is a bad song by any means but it was a let down for me after the first 3 songs were really good. "When Am I Going to Make a Living" - Another funky banger. Enjoyed it "Cherry Pie" - This starts off with a fat bass line and then a spacey and funky guitar joins in. I love the hook on this one. One of my top songs so far "Sally" - The horns at the beginning felt like a noir film. It's got interesting lyrics but the pace was too dragging for me. A dislike on this "I Will Be Your Friend" - A very similar groove to Smooth Operator with a great hook. "Why Can't We Live Together" - This song has really cool percussion and groove. The lyrics have a great message of peace but overall I found this as a very boring finale to close out the album. Overall, this was a great listen. I guess that makes me a Sade fan now. This falls just short of being a perfect score album for me. 4/5