Sade

Three years after the release of Sade's Lovers Rock album and a year after her Lovers Live video, Epic bundled the two into a nice double-disc CD/DVD package. It's definitely the full Sade package, albeit the latter-day Sade package, capturing her in the prime of her third decade running, nearly 20 years after she made her smashing debut with Diamond Life in 1984. More than anything, it's amazing to hear (and see) her perform with such grace after so many years. You could pose a really strong argument here that Sade has never sounded better than she does on beautiful new songs like "Somebody Already Broke My Heart." And her performances of classic songs like "Jezebel" on Lovers Live makes them sound as fresh as they did way back in the day. Though Lovers Rock and Lovers Live are fine releases on their own, they make for a splendid two-fer, particularly for old Sade fans who stopped following her at the turn of the decade (whether at the dusk of the '80s or '90s). It's perhaps no coincidence then that Epic released Lovers Rock/Lovers Live just in time for the 2003 holiday season. It's a perfect gift for those many old Sade fans who still associate her solely with songs like "Smooth Operator" and "The Sweetest Taboo." Those forgivably out-of-touch listeners will surely be delighted to know that Sade never fell off over the years, even if her media presence did. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide