Recorded: 1984-1994

Released: Nov. 12, 1994

Rating:

Genre: R&B

Quotable: --

Album Tracks:

1. Your Love Is King
2. Hang on to Your Love
3. Smooth Operator
4. Jezebel
5. The Sweetest Taboo
6. Is It a Crime
7. Never As Good As the First Time
8. Love Is Stronger Than Pride
9. Paradise
10. Nothing Can Come Between Us
11. No Ordinary Love
12. Like a Tattoo
13. Kiss of Life
14. Please Send Me Someone to Love
15. Cherish the Day
16. Pearls

Sales (in millions):

4.0
0.3
2.0
12.5

Peak:

9
6

Singles/Hit Songs:

• Your Love Is King (2/25/84) #54 US, #6 UK, #27a RB, #8 AC
• Smooth Operator (9/15/84) #4a US, #19 UK, #3a RB, #1 AC
• Hang on to Your Love (11/24/84) #13a RB
• The Sweetest Taboo (10/12/85) #5 US, #31 UK, #1 RB, #1 AC
• Is It a Crime (11/11/85) #49 UK, #55 RB, #32 AC
• Never As Good As the First Time (3/22/86) #20 US, #5a RB, #6 AC
• Love Is Stronger Than Pride (4/2/88) #44 UK
• Paradise (5/14/88) #16 US, #29 UK, #1 RB, #3 AC
• Nothing Can Come Between Us (8/27/88) #3 RB, #21 AC
• No Ordinary Love (10/10/92) #28 US, #14 UK, #8a RB, #14 AC
• Kiss of Life (2/20/93) #65a US, #44 UK, #9a RB, #20 AC
• Cherish the Day (7/31/93) #53 UK, #44a RB

Notes:

Awards:

“By the time this was released in 1994, something unexpected happened. Sade’s early work became classic and the later additions boasted even better vocals and songs that nicely improved on the theme.” ^JE “The Best of Sade doesn’t detract from the original albums and is a marker of time, not the end of the act. The ice-princess demeanor and detached vocals worked perfectly for the mid-‘80s singles and radio samples Smooth Operator and Your Love Is King.” ^JE

“The tracks from the make-or-break second album, Promise, seem less dolorous propped up and sequenced for a compilation. The sensual-to-a-fault The Sweetest Taboo and Never As Good As the First Time both retain their strength here.” ^JE The former “was one of her last great moments before years of mediocrity.” ^SG

Those lesser years are “chronicled here by the lifeless Love Is Stronger Than Pride and the limp Nothing Can Come Between Us.” ^SG Even so, those songs “and the great Paradise…benefit from Ian Cooper’s mastering job.” ^JE

“This set also includes tracks from Sade’s ‘comeback’ CD, Love Deluxe, including Kiss of Life and No Ordinary Love.” ^JE The latter “was a return to form with the smoky richness back in her vocals and the urban/island feel of her first release.” ^SG That album also featured “Pearls, which, remixed, became a dance floor hit.” ^SG

“The nicest surprise here is” ^SG “a rare cover of Please Send Me Someone to Love from the Philadelphia soundtrack.” ^JE Sade proves “that although her range may be limited vocally, she doesn’t suffer the same fate artistically.” ^SG

“Her voice was often criticized for being thin, yet she made it work to her advantage with songs like the haunting Jezebel, on which her delivery added the vulnerability necessary to the song. Sade sounded best when she stuck to the lower register, and there is nothing thin about her dynamic handling of her torch song Is It a Crime.” ^SG