Lovers Live

The high priestess of 1980’s smooth groove, Nigerian-born Sade Adu defined that era’s upwardly mobile aspirations with a sophisticated and highly appealing blend of Nina Simone and Billie Holiday. Perfectly timed to coincide with the advent of CD, her velvety voice and sensuous delivery on hits like ‘Smooth Operator’ and ‘Sweetest Taboo’ provided the aural background to a million candlelit dinner parties.

This live collection recorded over two nights on last year’s US tour consists of note perfect renditions of her greatest hits. With flawless playing on the part of her impeccably restrained band, the performances here are almost indistinguishable from the recorded versions, apart from a few crowd noises here and there and a tad more reverb on the vocals.

She doesn’t say much either, her ice queen persona remaining fully intact throughout. Notable by its absence is her first hit ‘Your Love Is King’ and another early favourite ‘When Am I Gonna Make A Living’; at least a third of the tracks included are from her recent comeback album Lovers Rock. That said, the sheer quality of songs such as the aforementioned ‘Smooth Operator’ with its slick metronomic, syncopation and the breathless, ‘Is It A Crime’ makes this a compelling reminder of the erstwhile queen of cool.