Love Deluxe

Last updated

Love Deluxe
Sade - Love Deluxe.png
Studio album by
Sade
Released26 October 1992 (1992-10-26)
Recorded1992
Studio
Genre
Length45:47
Label Epic
Producer Sade
Sade chronology
Stronger Than Pride
(1988)		Love Deluxe
(1992)		 The Best of Sade
(1994)
Singles from Love Deluxe
  1. "No Ordinary Love"
    Released: 28 September 1992
  2. "Feel No Pain"
    Released: 16 November 1992
  3. "Kiss of Life"
    Released: 26 April 1993
  4. "Cherish the Day"
    Released: 19 July 1993

Love Deluxe is the fourth studio album by English band Sade, released by Epic Records in the United Kingdom on 26 October 1992 and in the United States on 3 November 1992. [6] [7] Love Deluxe was a commercial success, charting in the top 10 in several countries worldwide, and received retrospective acclaim, appearing in all-time album rankings for Rolling Stone and Apple Music. The album was noted for being a shift in Sade's signature sound, straying from their previous live instrumentation in favour of a modernised and programmed aesthetic with "lush" production. [5] [8] [9] [10]

Contents

Background

During 1992, the members of Sade – Sade Adu, Stuart Matthewman, Paul Denman, and Andrew Hale – re-entered the studio after a break following the supporting tour for their previous album Stronger Than Pride (1988). The band worked on Love Deluxe for four months. Adu explained that the album's title comes from her concept of love: "The idea is that it's one of the few luxury things that you can't buy," she said in an interview at the time of the album's release. "You can buy any kind of love but you can't get love deluxe." On the songwriting process, she added: "I collect ideas in my head all the time. The things that most depress you are often the things that you write about." [9]

Composition

Love Deluxe was Sade's first album recorded mostly without live drumming. Pitchfork writer Ivy Nelson described the sound of Love Deluxe as swelling with "darkness", comparing the "yawn and lurch" of its programmed beats to the burgeoning trip hop genre. "The band plays with an almost fluid dynamism, audible in the oceanic churn of Matthewman's guitar on 'No Ordinary Love,' or in the way Hale's synth work tends to add long, drowsy auras to his piano chords," Nelson says. "The distance between snare hits on songs like 'No Ordinary Love' and 'Cherish the Day' seems to open a space in which lushness and dread merge." [9]

Critics noted the "menacing" and metal-like riffs on the opening track, "No Ordinary Love". Track two, "Feel No Pain", lyrically depicts unemployment woes. Notes of deep house appear on track three, "I Couldn't Love You More". Track four, "Like a Tattoo", was inspired by the story of a war veteran Adu met in a Manhattan bar. "Kiss of Life", track five, was compared to a jazzy Motown groove. Saxophone instrumentation "fills the margins" on track eight, "Bullet Proof Soul". [5] [8] [9] [11]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [4]
Entertainment Weekly B [2]
Los Angeles Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [12]
NME 7/10 [13]
Pitchfork 9.3/10 [9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [11]
Select 3/5 [14]
Uncut Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [15]
USA Today Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [16]
The Village Voice B− [17]

In a contemporary review for The Village Voice , music critic Robert Christgau felt that half of Love Deluxe cannot qualify with Sade's most memorable songs and particularly panned the lyric about a Somali woman who "hurts like brand-new shoes" in the song "Pearls". [17] Los Angeles Times journalist Dennis Hunt said that while some songs "make good romantic background music", others resemble lesser imitations of "Enya's ultra-soothing mood music." [12] Amy Linden of Entertainment Weekly stated that the album "surges with emotion, but the mostly lush ambient music on Love Deluxe is low on the oomph meter." [2] James T. Jones IV was more enthusiastic in USA Today , commenting that it "may frustrate those who want to hear something truly different" from Sade, but would satisfy fans with its "quasi-jazz moods, light Afro-Latin undercurrents and minimalist arrangements". [16] Writing for NME , David Quantick found Love Deluxe not "much different" from Sade's previous work, yet still "a fine album" having "proper tunes and neat arrangements", and "the soul of subtlety." [13] In Rolling Stone , Mark Coleman deemed Adu an "exacting" lyricist and Love Deluxe an "artfully arranged and tastefully executed album" that "repays the time it takes to grow on you." [18]

Retrospectively, AllMusic's Ron Wynn wrote that Love Deluxe "marked a return to the detached cool jazz backing and even icier vocals that made her debut album a sensation" with an "urbane" sound. [4] Chris Roberts of Uncut viewed it as a culmination of Sade's increasingly minimalist musical direction, remarking that "by Love Deluxe, the understatement had attained Zen". [15] In the 2004 Rolling Stone Album Guide , Roni Sarig noted that it introduced "subtle divergences" to Sade's standard style, with "No Ordinary Love" in particular pointing to the band's later shift "toward the sleeker, more digital sound of modern British pop." [11] Ivy Nelson highlighted the "monolithic" nature and "blissful abstraction" of the album's sound, as well as its "timeless expressions of desire and heartache", in a 2017 review for Pitchfork, [9] who in 2022 listed it as the 52nd best album of the 1990s. [5] In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked Love Deluxe 247th on its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". [8] In 2024, Apple Music ranked Love Deluxe number 61 on its "100 Best Albums" list. [10]

Commercial performance

Love Deluxe peaked at number 10 on the UK Albums Chart, [19] and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 1 June 1993. [20] In the United States, the album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200, [21] and as of May 2003, it had sold 3.4 million copies. [22] The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified it four-times platinum on 9 November 1994, denoting shipments in excess of four million copies. [23] The album was also commercially successful elsewhere, reaching number one in France and the top 10 in Belgium, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. [24] [25] [26] [27] By April 1993, the album had sold three million copies worldwide, including 220,000 copies in Italy. [28]

Aftermath

Following the release of Love Deluxe, the band had a seven-year hiatus, during which Adu came under media scrutiny with rumours of depression and addiction and later gave birth to her first child. [29] During this time, Matthewman, Denman, and Hale pursued other projects and formed the band Sweetback, which released a self-titled album in 1996. Matthewman also provided instrumentation and production work for the first two albums by American R&B singer Maxwell. [30]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."No Ordinary Love"
7:20
2."Feel No Pain"
  • Adu
  • Andrew Hale
  • Matthewman
5:08
3."I Couldn't Love You More"
3:49
4."Like a Tattoo"
  • Adu
  • Hale
  • Matthewman
3:38
5."Kiss of Life"
  • Adu
  • Matthewman
  • Hale
  • Denman
5:50
6."Cherish the Day"
  • Adu
  • Hale
  • Matthewman
5:34
7."Pearls"
  • Adu
  • Hale
4:34
8."Bullet Proof Soul"
  • Adu
  • Matthewman
  • Hale
5:26
9."Mermaid"
  • Hale
  • Adu
  • Matthewman
  • Denman
4:23
Total length:45:47

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Love Deluxe. [31]

Sade

Additional musicians

Technical

Artwork

Charts

Certifications and sales

Certifications and sales for Love Deluxe
RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) [57] Platinum70,000^
Belgium (BRMA) [58] Gold25,000*
Canada (Music Canada) [59] Platinum100,000^
Denmark (IFPI Danmark) [60] Gold10,000‡
France (SNEP) [61] Platinum300,000*
Germany (BVMI) [62] Gold250,000^
Italy—220,000 [28]
Japan (RIAJ) [63] Platinum200,000^
Netherlands (NVPI) [64] Gold50,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ) [65] Gold7,500^
Spain (PROMUSICAE) [66] 2× Platinum200,000^
Sweden (GLF) [67] Gold50,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland) [68] Gold25,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [20] Gold120,000 [58]
United States (RIAA) [23] 4× Platinum3,400,000 [22]

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ↑ Smith, Da'Shan (23 October 2019). "The 19 Most Influential R&B Albums of '90s & the Waves it Left". Okayplayer . Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 Linden, Amy (13 November 1992). "Love Deluxe". Entertainment Weekly . No. 144. New York. ISSN   1049-0434. Archived from the original on 27 November 2024. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  3. ↑ Kylene, Jazmin; Soormally, Sabrina; Soetan, Sope; Hussain, Shahzaib; Lamond, Ana (6 August 2024). "Sade's 20 Best Songs – The CLASH Verdict". Clash . Retrieved 15 July 2025. ... the atmospheric ambient trips of magnum opus 'Love Deluxe' ...
  4. 1 2 3 Wynn, Ron. "Love Deluxe – Sade". AllMusic . Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "The 150 Best Albums of the 1990s". Pitchfork . 28 September 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2023. ... Love Deluxe functioned as a bridge between the art pop scene of the previous decade and the trip-hop of the next ... [it] prefigured the chilled-out turn the British music scene would take in the years to come.
  6. ↑ "New Releases – Albums" (PDF). Music Week . London. 24 October 1992. p. 12. ISSN   0265-1548 . Retrieved 3 November 2022– via World Radio History.
  7. ↑ McAdams, Janine (24 October 1992). "Sade's As Good As The Last Time". Billboard . Vol. 104, no. 43. New York. p. 18. ISSN   0006-2510 . Retrieved 3 November 2022– via Google Books.
  8. 1 2 3 "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone . 22 September 2020. Archived from the original on 6 October 2020. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Nelson, Ivy (9 April 2017). "Sade: Love Deluxe". Pitchfork . Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  10. 1 2 "Apple Music 100 Best Albums". Apple Music. 22 May 2024. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
  11. 1 2 3 Sarig, Roni (2004). "Sade". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. pp.  712–713. ISBN   0-7432-0169-8 . Retrieved 6 February 2019– via Google Books.
  12. 1 2 Hunt, Dennis (1 November 1992). "Sade, 'Love Deluxe,' Epic". Los Angeles Times . ISSN   0458-3035 . Retrieved 5 July 2013.
  13. 1 2 Quantick, David (28 November 1992). "Sade: Love DeLuxe". NME . London. p. 29. ISSN   0028-6362.
  14. ↑ Shaw, William (December 1992). "Sade: Love Deluxe". Select . No. 30. London. p. 79. ISSN   0959-8367.
  15. 1 2 Roberts, Chris (February 1999). "Sade: Diamond Life / Love Deluxe". Uncut . No. 21. London. p. 79. ISSN   1368-0722.
  16. 1 2 Jones, James T. IV (3 November 1992). "'Deluxe': Starkly sweet". USA Today . McLean. ISSN   0734-7456.
  17. 1 2 Christgau, Robert (23 November 1993). "Turkey Shoot". The Village Voice . New York. ISSN   0042-6180 . Retrieved 5 July 2013.
  18. ↑ Coleman, Mark (10–24 December 1992). "The Year in Records – Sade: Love Deluxe". Rolling Stone . No. 645–646. New York. p. 166. ISSN   0035-791X.
  19. 1 2 "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  20. 1 2 "British album certifications – Sade – Love Deluxe". British Phonographic Industry. 1 June 1993. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  21. 1 2 "Sade Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  22. 1 2 Caulfield, Keith (7 May 2003). "Ask Billboard: Loving Sade". Billboard. Archived from the original on 12 September 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  23. 1 2 "American album certifications – Sade – Love Deluxe". Recording Industry Association of America. 9 November 1994. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  24. 1 2 "Dutchcharts.nl – Sade – Love Deluxe" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  25. 1 2 "Top 10 Sales in Europe" (PDF). Music & Media . Vol. 9, no. 51/52. 19 December 1992. p. 43. OCLC   29800226 – via World Radio History.
  26. 1 2 3 "Top 10 Sales in Europe" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 9, no. 50. 12 December 1992. p. 22. OCLC   29800226 – via World Radio History.
  27. 1 2 "Top 10 Sales in Europe" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 9, no. 49. 5 December 1992. p. 18. OCLC   29800226 – via World Radio History.
  28. 1 2 "Sade Si Scalda e Incanta Tutti". La Stampa (in Italian). 6 April 1993. p. 49. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  29. ↑ Eshun, Ekow (Winter 2000). "Still Smooth". The Fader . No. 6. New York. pp. 126–131. ISSN   1533-5194 . Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  30. ↑ Hogan, Ed. "iTunes Preview – Sade – Biography". iTunes Store. Archived from the original on 23 December 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  31. ↑ Sade (1992). Love Deluxe (liner notes). Epic Records. 472626 2.
  32. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – Sade – Love Deluxe". Hung Medien. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  33. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Sade – Love Deluxe" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  34. ↑ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 1730". RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  35. ↑ "European Top 100 Albums" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 9, no. 50. 12 December 1992. p. 21. OCLC   29800226 – via World Radio History.
  36. ↑ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. ISBN   978-951-1-21053-5.
  37. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Sade – Love Deluxe" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  38. ↑ "Top 10 Sales in Europe" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 10, no. 2. 9 January 1993. p. 12. OCLC   29800226 – via World Radio History.
  39. ↑ "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 1993. 24. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  40. ↑ シャーデーのアルバム売り上げランキング [Sade album sales ranking] (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on 31 March 2014. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  41. ↑ "Charts.nz – Sade – Love Deluxe". Hung Medien. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  42. ↑ "Hits of the World". Billboard. Vol. 104, no. 48. 28 November 1992. p. 61. ISSN   0006-2510 – via Google Books.
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  44. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Sade – Love Deluxe". Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
  45. ↑ "Sade Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  46. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Sade – Love Deluxe" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  47. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Sade – Love Deluxe" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  48. ↑ "Lista prodaje 43. tjedan 2024" (in Croatian). HDU. 14 October 2024. Archived from the original on 1 November 2024. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  49. ↑ "The RPM Top 100 Albums of 1992" (PDF). RPM. Vol. 56, no. 25. 19 December 1992. p. 13. ISSN   0033-7064 – via World Radio History.
  50. ↑ "1993 Year-End Sales Charts – Eurochart Hot 100 Albums" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 10, no. 51/52. 18 December 1993. p. 15. OCLC   29800226 – via World Radio History.
  51. ↑ "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts – 1993" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  52. ↑ "Top Selling Albums of 1993". Recorded Music NZ . Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  53. ↑ "Los 50 títulos con mayores ventas en las listas de ventas de AFYVE en 1993" (PDF) (in Spanish). Anuarios SGAE. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 August 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
  54. ↑ "Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1993". Billboard. Archived from the original on 13 January 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  55. ↑ "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums – Year-End 1993". Billboard. Archived from the original on 6 February 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  56. ↑ "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums – Year-End 1994". Billboard. Archived from the original on 6 February 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  57. ↑ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2011 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association . Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  58. 1 2 Sexton, Paul (13 February 1993). "Sade Abroad: Smooth Operations Outside the U.K." (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 105, no. 7. p. B-4. ISSN   0006-2510 – via World Radio History.
  59. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Sade – Love Deluxe". Music Canada. 18 March 1993. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  60. ↑ "Danish album certifications – Sade – Love Deluxe". IFPI Danmark . Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  61. ↑ "French album certifications – Sade – Love Deluxe" (in French). InfoDisc. Retrieved 12 May 2022.Select SADE and click OK. 
  62. ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Sade; 'Love Deluxe')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie . Retrieved 31 May 2008.
  63. ↑ "Japanese album certifications – Sade – Love Deluxe" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan . Retrieved 6 February 2019.Select 1993年11月 on the drop-down menu
  64. ↑ "Dutch album certifications – Sade – Love Deluxe" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers . Retrieved 6 February 2019.Enter Love Deluxe in the "Artiest of titel" box.
  65. ↑ "New Zealand album certifications – Sade – Love Deluxe". Recorded Music NZ. 29 August 1993. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  66. ↑ Salaverrie, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (PDF) (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Madrid: Fundación Autor/SGAE. p. 935. ISBN   84-8048-639-2 . Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  67. ↑ "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 1987−1998" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden. 10 November 1993. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 May 2011. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  68. ↑ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards ('Love Deluxe')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
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