Love Deluxe is the fourth studio album by English band Sade, released by Epic Records in the United Kingdom on 26 October 1992 and in the United States on 3 November 1992.[5][6]
Love Deluxe | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 26 October 1992 | |||
Recorded | 1992 | |||
Studio |
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Genre | ||||
Length | 45:47 | |||
Label | Epic | |||
Producer | Sade | |||
Sade chronology | ||||
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Singles from Love Deluxe | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [3] |
Calgary Herald | B+[7] |
The Daily Vault | A−[8] |
Entertainment Weekly | B[2] |
Los Angeles Times | [9] |
NME | 7/10[10] |
Pitchfork | 9.3/10[11] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [12] |
The Village Voice | B−[13] |
In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, music critic Robert Christgau felt that half of the album cannot qualify with Sade's most memorable songs and particularly panned the lyric about a Somali woman who has a life that "hurts like brand-new shoes" on the song "Pearls".[13] Amy Linden of Entertainment Weekly stated that the album "surges with emotion, but the mostly lush ambient music on Love Deluxe is low on the oomph meter."[2] In a retrospective review, AllMusic's Ron Wynn wrote that it "marked a return to the detached cool jazz backing and even icier vocals that made her debut album a sensation" with an "urbane sound."[3]
In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked the album 247th on its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[14] In September 2022, Pitchfork ranked Love Deluxe as the 52nd best album of the 1990s.[15]
Love Deluxe peaked at number 10 on the UK Albums Chart,[16] and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 1 June 1993.[17] In the United States, the album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200,[18] and as of May 2003, it had sold 3.4 million copies.[19] The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified it four-times platinum on 9 November 1994, denoting shipments in excess of four million copies.[20] The album was also commercially successful elsewhere, reaching number one in France and the top 10 in Belgium, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.[21][22][23][24] By April 1993, the album had sold three million copies worldwide, including 220,000 copies in Italy.[25]
Following the release of Love Deluxe, the band had a seven-year hiatus, during which Sade Adu came under media scrutiny with rumours of depression and addiction and later gave birth to her first child.[26] During this time, the other members of the band, Matthewman, Denman, and Hale, went on to other projects, including Sweetback, which released a self-titled album in 1996. Matthewman also played a major role in the development of Maxwell's career, providing instrumentation and production work for the R&B singer's first two albums.[27]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "No Ordinary Love" | 7:20 | |
2. | "Feel No Pain" |
| 5:08 |
3. | "I Couldn't Love You More" |
| 3:49 |
4. | "Like a Tattoo" |
| 3:38 |
5. | "Kiss of Life" |
| 5:50 |
6. | "Cherish the Day" |
| 5:34 |
7. | "Pearls" |
| 4:34 |
8. | "Bullet Proof Soul" |
| 5:26 |
9. | "Mermaid" |
| 4:23 |
Total length: | 45:47 |
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Love Deluxe.[28]
Weekly charts edit
|
Year-end charts edit
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA)[51] | Platinum | 70,000^ |
Belgium (BEA)[52] | Gold | 25,000* |
Canada (Music Canada)[53] | Platinum | 100,000^ |
France (SNEP)[54] | Platinum | 300,000* |
Germany (BVMI)[55] | Gold | 250,000^ |
Italy | — | 220,000[25] |
Japan (RIAJ)[56] | Platinum | 200,000^ |
Netherlands (NVPI)[57] | Gold | 50,000^ |
New Zealand (RMNZ)[58] | Gold | 7,500^ |
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[59] | 2× Platinum | 200,000^ |
Sweden (GLF)[60] | Gold | 50,000^ |
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[61] | Gold | 25,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI)[17] | Gold | 120,000[52] |
United States (RIAA)[20] | 4× Platinum | 3,400,000[19] |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
...Love Deluxe functioned as a bridge between the art pop scene of the previous decade and the trip-hop of the next...[it] prefigured the chilled-out turn the British music scene would take in the years to come.