Sade: Live 1984-09-21 Ahoy Hallen, Rotterdam (2LP) [WHP]

Why you'll love it

This 2LP set captures the full Dutch TV broadcast from Veronica's Rock Night, plus two bonus songs from London's Hammersmith Odeon on November 9, 1984. It catches the band in the year of their debut, Diamond Life.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Bonus tracks from Hammersmith Odeon, 1984
• Stereo mix

About the album

In September 1984 Sade were brand new, with one album out and a sound that already seemed to know exactly where it was going. Dutch television's Veronica's Rock Night caught them at Ahoy Hallen in Rotterdam, and this set preserves the show from first note to last.

Sade Adu is joined by Stuart Matthewman on saxophone and guitar, Andrew Hale on keyboards and Paul S. Denman on bass, and the set leans on Diamond Life: "Your Love Is King," "Hang On to Your Love," "Frankie's First Affair," "Sally," "When Am I Going to Make a Living" and "I Will Be Your Friend," with "Smooth Operator" near the close. They open with Timmy Thomas's "Why Can't We Live Together," stretch out on "Cherry Pie" and "Red Eye," and give an early airing to "Is It a Crime," a year before it appeared on Promise.

The two Hammersmith extras round off side four, so you get London as well as Rotterdam. It's a snapshot of a band about to become very famous, captured while they could still pop out for milk unbothered.

Also at Kops: more Sade on vinyl · browse 70s Soul On Up

Tracklist

Listen

On WHP (cat# WHP1465).