Sade – Stronger Than Pride [180g Vinyl LP]

Sade – Stronger Than Pride [180g Vinyl LP]

Details

• Format: Vinyl LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Half-Speed Mastered, Stereo
• Catalogue Number: ALEG 48217 / 460497 1
• Barcode: 196587848217
• Genre: Soul / Sophisti-Pop / Quiet Storm / Jazz-Pop
• Label: Legacy Recordings / Epic / Sony Music
• Originally Released: 1988
• Reissue Released: 21 June 2024
• Pressing: 180 Gram Vinyl
• Condition: New & Sealed

Description

Stronger Than Pride is Sade's third studio album, released in 1988 on Epic Records, and the record on which the band — Sade Adu, Stuart Matthewman, Paul Spencer Denman and Andrew Hale — completed their transition from the jazz-inflected pop of Diamond Life (1984) and Promise (1985) into something more lush, atmospheric and rhythmically sophisticated. Produced by Sade and Robin Millar, recorded across three studios — Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, Studio Miraval in Provence, France, and Studio Marcadet in Paris — it reached number three on the UK Albums Chart and number seven on the US Billboard 200, and was certified double Platinum in both countries. In 2018, Pitchfork placed it at number 37 on its list of the 200 Best Albums of the 1980s, describing it as the album on which Sade found the perfect balance between accessibility and depth.

The five singles the album generated are among the most distinctive pop recordings of the decade. "Love Is Stronger Than Pride" opens the record with characteristic economy — a spare, perfectly weighted arrangement built around Matthewman's guitar and Sade's vocal, finding enormous emotional resonance in restraint. "Paradise" became the band's highest-charting US single to that point, reaching number fifteen on the Billboard Hot 100; "Nothing Can Come Between Us" and "Turn My Back on You" followed, with "Haunt Me" completing the single run. The album's second half — "Keep Looking", "Clean Heart", "Give It Up", "Never Thought I'd See the Day" and the closing instrumental "Siempre Hay Esperanza" — is as strong as its first, and collectively represents some of the most elegant and unhurried pop music the 1980s produced. The album's influence on later trip-hop, neo-soul, slow disco and ambient R&B was profound and widely acknowledged: the band's precise, groove-centred arrangements, Sade Adu's detached yet deeply affecting delivery, and the album's complete indifference to fashion have ensured it sounds as contemporary now as it did on release.

This 2024 reissue on Legacy Recordings — part of the long-awaited individual catalogue releases that followed the This Far box set — presents the album on 180 gram black vinyl, with audio sourced from high resolution digital transfers of the original stereo master mixes and remastered at half-speed at Abbey Road Studios. The half-speed process — in which the lathe runs at half its normal speed, allowing the cutting head twice the time to trace each groove — produces demonstrably cleaner high-frequency detail, wider stereo imaging and improved dynamic range compared to standard-speed cutting. No additional digital limiting was applied, preserving the full dynamic range of the original mixes. The original album sleeve and packaging elements have been meticulously reproduced in exact detail using authentic paper and printing methods.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Love Is Stronger Than Pride
2. Paradise
3. Nothing Can Come Between Us
4. Haunt Me
5. Turn My Back on You

Side B

1. Keep Looking
2. Clean Heart
3. Give It Up
4. Never Thought I'd See the Day
5. Siempre Hay Esperanza

Credits

• Sade Adu – Vocals, Producer, Arranger
• Stuart Matthewman – Guitar, Saxophone
• Paul Spencer Denman – Bass
• Andrew Hale – Keyboards
• Robin Millar – Producer
• Martin Ditcham – Drums, Percussion
• James McMillan – Trumpet
• Nick Ingman – String Arrangements
• Gavyn Wright – Violin (Solo)
• Toshi Yajima – Photography
• Half-Speed Mastering – Abbey Road Studios
• Label – Legacy Recordings / Epic / Sony Music