Sade, “Soldier of Love” (Sony)
It’s been a decade since the last full-length Sade album, a long wait for fans of those lush rhythms and melancholy vocals that come together to create the signature sound of the singer born Helen Folasade Adu 51 years ago. And to be honest, not all that much has changed.
To be sure, the 10 new cuts here, each a welcome addition to the catalog, show off an older and wiser artist. The voice is deeper and the lyrics richer. But Sade seems mostly unaffected by the things that have gone on in music since her debut 25 years ago. For example, the song “The Moon and the Sky,” with its regretful refrain and jaunty guitar strumming, would be right at home on 1985’s “Promise.”
There are a few welcome surprises. “In Another Time” is the sort of soulful ’70s ballad that Sade has avoided. It leaves the lilt behind and lets the singer have her gentle rant. The last 45 seconds of “Soldier of Love” feature an unexpected remix/dub combo that give a gimmicky single some depth. And it’s hard not to love the way “Babyfather,” a sentimental track about parenting, evolves into a catchy layered groove at its close.
With its patient bounce and supple phrasing, Sade’s music remains as smooth and jazzy as ever, and yet still the opposite of of the “smooth jazz” genre it helped propagate. The arrangements are complicated, while the album’s themes — about love, yes, but also regret, loneliness and missed opportunity — are often painfully raw. Anyone who thinks this is easy listening isn’t really listening to it. Ray Mark Rinaldi
Allison Moorer, “Crows” (Ryko)
Neo-country artist Allison Moorer wrote her latest (and seventh) record, “Crows,” on the piano instead of guitar. She wrote songs like “Easy in the Summertime” and the title track on piano because it was the first instrument she learned, and it was only fitting because these songs are “the soundtrack to my childhood,” Moorer has said.
Moorer’s scarring childhood has been well-documented, but these songs tell the sweet side of her relationships with older sister (and country star) Shelby Lynne and her mom, who was shot and killed by her husband in 1986. (After killing his wife, Moorer’s estranged father then turned the gun on himself.) But this record doesn’t sound like a silver lining. It comes off like a revelation.
“Should I Be Concerned” sounds like an elegant Rufus Wainwright song. “The Broken Girl” is sunny pop at its best. “Just Another Fool” and “Like the Rain” bring a little guitar into the mix, and what an even mix it is.
Moorer, now a New York girl enjoying her marriage to folk rebel Steve Earle, will appear Wednesday on “Late Show With David Letterman.” Ricardo Baca
