Much Adu

Today is, in addition to being Friday, the birthday of the phenomenal singer Sade Adu, who was born this day in 1959 in Ibadan, Nigeria. So pardon me if I slide by and drop off a deep hour and four minutes of what makes her the superstar she is and has been for 30+ years now.

I remember the first time I heard Sade, on MTV with the "Smooth Operator" smash just as that channel -- which was still all music videos! -- was lifting its unofficially official embargo on Black artists, thanks to Michael Jackson's Thriller making it impo$$ible for those clowns to discriminate any longer.

There isn't any way to describe this woman's singular, in-one-note-identifiable voice if you've been living on a desert island since before 1984, when her first record -- documented at its peak with this post -- dropped and she exploded across the world.

A talent too monumental to disappear after one splashy album, she has continued ever since to make records (now less frequently) and sell out huge venues (consistently) for thirty years and counting now. I remember when she debuted so clearly... gosh I feel old.

She's still just 56, only 8 years older than me! OK, now I feel better. Did I mention how I love all these songs since forever? I love the grooves her band gets into... having her embroidering her definitively sultry and intensely urbane voice over the top of their thick slinky thing (wow that sounded really naughty) makes it close to ecstasy (where else could that sentence end but with ecstasy?). This stuff packed dance floors 30 years ago like Tommy Chong packs bowls... and speaking of activities that connote (some would say unfortunately) naughtiness, I bet a lot of people turning 30 & 31 this year were conceived to this music.

The week's finally done, so pull down this luscious FM capture of Sade's debut tour at its apex and then keep pulling down (think clothing and blinds) and make some more babies, that's what I say. It is, after all, the weekend.

Sade
Veronica's Rocknight
Ahoy
Rotterdam
9.21.1984

01 Why Can't We Live Together
02 Your Love Is King
03 Hang On to Your Love
04 Frankie's First Affair
05 Spirit
06 Sally
07 Red Eye
08 Cherry Pie
09 Is It a Crime
10 Smooth Operator
11 Snake Bite
12 Love Affair with Life
13 When Am I Going to Make a Living

Total time: 1:04:01

Sade Adu – vocals
Stuart Matthewman – guitar, saxophone
Paul Spencer Denman – bass
Andrew Hale – keyboards
Dave Early - drums
Martin Ditcham - percussion
Terry Bailey - trumpet
Gordon Matthewman- trombone

FM master cassette, with opening of Smooth Operator seamlessly (OK, smoothly) patched from another tape

406 MB FLAC/January 2015 archive link

I need Sade pointing at the start of all my paragraphs... I think more people would read my blog. Anyway have a great weekend even if you don't create any children, and do enjoy this incredible concert from when I was 18 and Sade was the hugest thing this side of velour shirts and Cabbage Patch Kids! Of course we wish the beautiful Sade Adu the finest of birthdays today, that goes without saying, right?--J.