Stronger Than Pride – Dry rooms, voice upfront

Third album, voice in a dry room

Stronger Than Pride opens with the mix pulled back on purpose. The percussion stays light, a keyboard stays low, and Sade Adu’s voice comes in as if the rest of the band has stepped back to leave her the centre of the room. Released in May 1988 on Epic, the third Sade album is the first she produced herself. There is less gloss than on Diamond Life, less of the jazz harmony of Promise, and more space around every syllable.

Songwriting ran between Spain and London. Tracking ran through France and the Bahamas, over roughly a year. Stuart Matthewman, Andrew Hale and Paul S. Denman still build that quiet group sound, but the arrangements stay out of the way of the vocal. “Love Is Stronger Than Pride” depends on patience, and on a refusal. “Paradise” moves on Denman’s bass, with a summer warmth, and later topped the US R&B chart. “Nothing Can Come Between Us”, “Haunt Me” and “Turn My Back On You” stay quiet, and the lyrics stay serious. The Spanish-tilted closer “Siempre Hay Esperanza” ends without a big final chorus.

The cover photograph, by Levon Parian, sets Adu against a pale beach horizon: lipstick, a hoop earring, a steady look. It matches the record. The earlier albums used fuller, smoother arrangements. Stronger Than Pride leaves the space bare. It peaked at number three in the UK, made the US Top Ten, and went multi-platinum. The quieter record still found that audience.