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
The Album Leaf, “A Chorus of Storytellers” (Sub Pop)
Judging albums by their lead-off tracks is a dick move, but things get off to a legitimately frustrating start on the Album Leaf’s fifth full-length.
“Perro,” a molasses-slow track that builds from fuzzy clatter to Jimmy LaValle’s signature keyboard washes, is so thin that the been-there/done-that clip of “Blank Pages” sounds positively revelatory as a follow-up. Granted, if you already employ LaValle’s layered, ambient compositions as meditation or stoner road-trip soundtracks, you’ll find plenty to tolerate here.
But minus the pleasantly undulating “Stand Still” and some lovely string work throughout, LaValle is not only repeating himself but losing ground to his last two, far superior releases. — John Wenzel
Adam Green, “Minor Love” (Fat Possum)
Whether you like(d) the Moldy Peaches or not, at least credit the anti-folk duo’s unforced weirdness. And precious as they are, Kimya Dawson (most famous from the “Juno” soundtrack) and Adam Green present genuinely raw sentiments unencumbered by bullshit production and pandering platitudes.
On Green’s mostly self-produced “Minor Love,” that nakedness and extreme self-consciousness pays off again. The prolific songwriter — this is his seventh solo release since 2002 — certainly bears the vocal influence of his idols (Lou Reed, Jonathan Richman) and the aesthetics of his peers (The Strokes, Little Joy).
But Green’s literate, playful lyrics and figure-eight melodies bring real heft to an otherwise conventional-sounding record. Sure, itap a lot of New York/L.A. hipster poetry (which is insufferable to many), but Green’s ennui is as real, rough and charming as sandpaper origami. — John Wenzel
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Ray Mark Rinaldi is the A&E editor of The Denver Post.
Ricardo Baca is the founder and co-editor of and an award-winning critic and journalist at The Denver Post. He is also the executive director of the , Colorado’s premier indie music festival. Follow his whimsies at , his live music habit at and his iTunes addictions at .
John Wenzel is the co-editor of Reverb, editor of the blog and an A&E reporter for The Denver Post. His book was recently published by Speck Press. He also maintains a of random song titles.
