taboo you

Time to get back on top of things, kittens. Much has been happening around So Hip It Hurts HQ. Apologies for the short respite from the blogosphere. I assure you it wasn't intended.

Now that I've been spending loadsatime in London, I have had the good fortune to hang out with many of my friends there. Many of them are as music obsessed as I am. This makes me endlessly happy. Of course, we turn each other on to lots of music.

So, I decided to post this lovely slice of springtime. Swedish swizzlers, Drop Out Orchestra, have taken Sade's 1985 snare drum serenade, "The Sweetest Taboo", and turned it into a blissed out, dubbed up groover. Mostly instrumental, they've added some soulful flute interludes and electronic noodling. Heady stuff, ladies and gents.



This will forever remind me of London in the spring, enjoying delicious meals with good friends, sipping a hearty glass of vino - merlot, if you must know - staring out over a lush, green park and thinking endless possibilities about life, love and the pursuit of happiness.

Yes, this little reworking, creatively titled "The Swedish Taboo", sets my romantic mood in motion. Kisses to you, my lovelies!

Sade collected

We're back online, mes chattons! After our brief sojourn to the UK, we've returned to find out that the ever elusive Sade will return with new material just over a year after her last studio longplayer, "Soldier Of Love".

"The Ultimate Collection", released on May 9 to coincide with her world tour, collects 29 soulful gems from across the Sade oeuvre. No word on weather the much sought after single versions will appear on the compilation. However, the double disc will feature three new recordings - "Still In Love With You", "Love Is Found" and "I Would Have Never Guessed" - plus a jacked up remix of "The Moon And The Sky" with dubious rap mogul Jay-Z. Yawn.

If they wanted some serious attention to this collection, the Ben Watt remix of "By Your Side" should have been slotted into the tracklisting at some point.

One of the tracks, "Still In Love With You", is a rather understated cover of a Thin Lizzy tune.



The following is the official tracklisting for "The Ultimate Collection".

CD 1

1. Your Love Is King
2. Smooth Operator
3. Hang On To Your Love
4. The Sweetest Taboo
5. Is It A Crime
6. Never As Good As The First Time
7. Jezebel
8. Love Is Stronger Than Pride
9. Paradise
10. Nothing Can Come Between Us
11. No Ordinary Love
12. Kiss Of Life
13. Feel No Pain
14. Bullet Proof Soul


CD 2

1. Cherish The Day
2. Pearls
3. By Your Side
4. Immigrant
5. Flow
6. King Of Sorrow
7. The Sweetest Gift
8. Solider Of Love
9. The Moon And The Sky
10. Babyfather
11. Still In Love With You
12. Love Is Found
13. I Would Never Have Guessed
14. The Moon And The Sky (Remix featuring Jay-Z)
15. By Your Side (Neptunes Remix)

Take a look at the cover art. Ms. Sade has never looked more sultry. All that time away from the studio has been kind to her.

Sade in the sunshine

I'm back from the sunny climes of LA just in time for Sade to release "Babyfather", the second single from their best selling, critically acclaimed elpee, "Soldier Of Love".

It's a breezy, summery song with a bit of a dub reggae lilt to it. Always a fan favorite from the beginning, Sade has been hocking her wares and performing the tune on the US television chat show circuit. Strangely, there hasn't been a peep about a concert tour.

The video for "Babyfather" looks as if it was lensed in the side streets and alleyways around the City Of Angels and features Sade with her hair down for a more casual look. Hair pulled back is always a more serious affair.

Sade makes everyday, household chores look so damned glamorous! Loving the lime green number with the rubber gloves. A stylish ensemble! Now that I'm back from LA, it's time to dust and vacuum around the abode. Perhaps I should pull out some couture and get cleaning.

Sade on the inside

In a career stretching back more than 25 years, Sade hasn't exactly been prolific nor terribly visible. There were always short windows of opportunity to catch a glimpse of her whether it was a new video that might get some late night airplay in the US or in one of very few interviews.

Interviews have been rare at best. Other than seeing her on tour, you almost had to come across a piece of her humanity by accident. That's part of what has made her somewhat enigmatic.

You can imagine my delight at seeing a full, ten minute clip of Sade and her oft hidden band mates talking about their recollections regardging the making of "Soldier Of Love", their tenth longplayer.



There's a certain thrill at watching Sade in her element. The rain. The dark, cavernous studio. Her deep, seductive voice. She has this timeless, goddess like quality about her. Almost frozen in time. She hasn't aged a day. And she's in fine fettle. Her yearning, honey soaked voice still conjures up images of Nina Simone and Billie Holiday but still remains individual, the slight melancholy enhanced by her singing just a fraction of a tone under the note.

It's almost too much to absorb in one viewing. Even her band mates, the stuff of legend, make numerous appearances and speak! It's as if the veil has been lifted after 25 years and we are able to catch a sliver of the real Sade. Needless to say, there probably won't be many more of these clips made available online.

A few things struck me as I watched the behind-the-scenes footage. Sade seems right at home in the studio even though it's an arduous process for the band. I love the shots of her with the wrap on her head. Very cozy and unassuming even in moments of creative seclusion. Interesting to know that they don't see each other or write any material before they enter the sanctuary of the studio.

At 3.34, when Sade, in deep and husky tones, says, "I'm on a boat.", she pauses briefly and I feel like I want her to finish the thought with "I'm on a motherfuckin' boat!". You'd never expect that from her. The thought of it makes me giggle.

Right around 4.12, I feel like she's revisiting the intro to the video for "The Sweetest Taboo". She certainly has a connection with the wet weather.

Just when you think she's going to fade into the background after such invasive camera work we get a fly on the way look at the making of the video for the title track.



I totally love her Mother Earth, equestrian disco look most of all. There's something unexpected and sensual about her dance moves, too. Her aura is real. Her personality is an unusual cocktail of warmth, cool confidence, intensity, joy and slight brooding.

After my first listen to the full album, I have to say there are a few monolithic tracks. They are epic in their subdued grace. A few more spins and I'll unleash my thoughts.

Sade of the apocalypse

Today, Sade premiered the glorious, new video for "Soldier Of Love", the first single from the forthcoming longplayer of the same name.

She looks sexy and stoic as she commands her platoon of hip hop hotties to dance in formation in the middle of the desert as the apocalypse descends on the world. Their form is a tad sloppy, though. But Sade saves the day with her magic, Wonder Woman lasso. All is right with the world. Apologies for the ratty video quality.

The tracklisting for "Soldier Of Love" is ten songs strong.

1. The Moon And The Sky
2. Soldier Of Love
3. Morning Bird
4. Baby Father
5. Long Hard Road
6. Be That Easy
7. Bring Me Home
8. In Another Time
9. Skin
10. The Safest Place

love is a battlefield

After nearly a decade in the wilderness, Sade is starting to show up on the radar once more like a celestial body making a rare, return visit to the Earth's orbit.

"Soldier Of Love", the title track from Sade's forthcoming album, is scheduled as the first single to be lifted from it. In fact, you can listen to it on Sade's official website. You gotta love the expediency of the interwebs.

The artwork is very simple and understated, but it's a stunner. Does this woman ever age? She looks as regal and elegant as the day she first graced our MTV riddled television screens back in 1984. Look at her, people. She's a goddess!

But what about the song? I can confirm that the song is not a cover of Donny Osmond's hit from 1989 which reached #2 in the US and the dizzying heights of #29 in the UK. You can breathe a sigh of relief.

The song doesn't sound like anything Sade has released previously. Sparse and rhythmic with a chunky, metal guitar flicking its tongue about, it's a muscular, six minute number set to a martial beat over a hip-hop underpinning. Light touches of a somewhat middle eastern figure is repeated from the middle of the song through to the end.

I couldn't help notice that Sade sings in a deeper, richer tone, especially toward the front end of the song. Her more familiar voice soon appears and instantly captivates. Hearing her reference "Wild Wild West" by Kool Moe Dee (also used featured heavily in Will Smith's single of the same name) in the opening lyrics certainly took me by surprise.

Her more defiant delivery is further enforced by military imagery. Apparently, our heroine has been done wrong by her man.

"Soldier Of Love", Sade's sixth longplayer, will hit the "shops" on February 8, 2010.

next year's love

It has been ten years since Sade released her last, studio album, "Lovers Rock".

Six albums in 25 years is hardly what I would call prolific. But something new from Sade is always heralded as an event much like the return of a comet. So, let the countdown to February 8, 2010 begin. That's the release date for "Soldier Of Love", Sade's forthcoming longplayer.

As much as I love the more languid moments, I'd really love to hear one of those slinky, funked out numbers Sade pulls out every now and then like "Never As Good As The First Time" or "Sweetest Taboo".