Promise (Sade album)

Background

After studying fashion design, and later modeling briefly, Sade backup singing with British band Pride, during this time she formed a writing partnership with Pride's guitarist/saxophonist Stuart Matthewman; together, backed by Pride's rhythm section, they began doing their own sets at Pride gigs. In 1983 Sade and Matthewman split from Pride along with keyboardist Andrew Hale, bassist Paul Denman, and drummer Paul Cooke and formed Sade; later that year they got a record deal. Following this Sade released their debut album Diamond Life (1984) which became a success in the United Kingdom and later became a success in the United States following the release of its single "Smooth Operator". Diamond Life had international sales of over 6 million copies, becoming one of the top-selling debut recordings of the 1980s and the best-selling debut ever by a British female vocalist.

Recording

Between February and August 1985, the band enlisted the same team of producers they worked with on their debut, Promise was co-produced by Robin Millar, Mike Pela, Sade and Ben Rogan who played a less central role in the production. Some of the album's sessions took place during a two-week sojourn in Provence, utilising an SSL E-series console housed at the barn-shaped, concrete-built Studio Miraval, however the majority of the album was recorded at the Power Plant where the project commenced in February 1985 and ended seven months later, with the mix being done in the Gallery (Studio Three) located on the top floor, with its 44-channel Harrison MR3. Studio One is where the production team initially listened to several of the songs in demo form, although Mike Pela was at the Royal Albert Hall when he first heard one of the new tracks.

Like their debut album Promise was recorded live, however Promise featured the use of technology, sampling drums by way of an AMS with a lock-in feature. Sade Adu served as the album's arranger, with Nick Ingman. The album's live instruments were performed by a variety of people including Terry Bailey who played the trombone and trumpet Pete Beachill who also played the trombone, Carlos Bonnell who played the guitar, Paul S. Denman who provided the bass and bass guitar, Martin Ditcham provided the album's percussion along with Dave Early who provided percussion and drums and Andrew Hale who added the album's keyboards. Stuart Matthewman handled the album's guitar and saxophones and Tom Coyne remastered Promise.

The album's lead single was created in Power Plant's Studio One, where a 30 x 25 x 18-foot live area was complemented by a 36-channel Harrison Series 24 console, Urei 813B main monitors and a 24-track Studer A820 recorder running Ampex tape at 30ips. Mike Pela explained the process saying "We had Urei monitors in all of the rooms so that there was some continuity, and we also had Acoustic Research AR18Ss, which we discovered at that studio and which I've still got a pair of. They were like hi-fi speakers, they only cost about 80 quid, and once we'd started using them the company stopped making them. They were really nice and natural-sounding, not designed to carry super-low heavy frequencies, but absolutely fine."

Release and promotion

The album spawned three singles, "Is It a Crime", "Never as Good as the First Time" and "The Sweetest Taboo", the latter of which was released as the album's lead single and stayed on the US Hot 100 for six months. "The Sweetest Taboo" peaked at number five on the US Billboard Hot 100, one on the US adult Contemporary chart and number three on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks. The third single "Never as Good as the First Time" was released in 1986 peaking at number six on Adult Contemporary, number eighteen on the US Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales, number eight on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks and number twenty on the US Billboard Hot 100. Sade was so popular that some radio stations reinstated the 1970s practice of playing album tracks, adding "Is It a Crime" and "Tar Baby" to their playlists. Following radio play "Is It A Crime" peaked at number fifty five on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart.

Commercial performance

Promise became the band's first album to reach number one on the US Billboard 200, the album reached the summit in 1986 and spent two weeks at the peak position. By September 1988, Promise had sold one million copies in the United States, and went on to sell four million copies in the region and was certified four times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. In 2010 the band released their sixth studio album Soldier of Love, the album became the band's second number on the US Billboard 200, in doing so the band became the act with the longest hiatus between number one albums, the band's Promise (1986) and Soldier of Love (2010) were separated by 23 years, 10 months and 2 weeks. The album has sold 983,000 copies in the United States since the introduction of Soundscan albums.

Critical reception

In a contemporary review for Rolling Stone, Anthony DeCurtis felt that "the careful elegance of the production and instrumental settings seems little more than a strategy to conceal the limitations of Sade's vocal range and skills as a song stylist". Ron Wynn of AllMusic was more positive in his retrospective review, describing the album as the "personification of cool, laid-back singing," accompanied by "seldom extending or embellishing lyrics, registering emotion, or projecting her voice."

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Promise.