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Never before has the singer infused more mainstream rock elements (prominent strummed guitars) into her music.
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The lushness of 1992's "Love Deluxe" has given way to an understatement so pronounced it's almost jarring; this LP sounds like it was recorded in zero gravity.
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The sterling set is signature Sade.
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Back with the same band that helped her notch up such smoky, smooth jazz hits as 'Your Love Is King', 'Smooth Operator' and 'The Sweetest Taboo', Sade has produced an album of class, sophistication and melancholy soul.
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Entertainment WeeklyOne pretty song melts into the next; the result is an undifferentiated dreaminess. [11/17/2000, p.126]
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If there's nothing on Lovers Rock as naggingly memorable as past triumphs Diamond Life or Your Love Is King, then the refined ache and minimalist chic of By Your Side and Somebody Already Broke My Heart are persuasive enough.
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RevolutionLovers Rock isn't a gigantic creative leap forward by any stretch.... An acceptable soul album for the adoring Sade fan, or equally, someone who's torn and in the mood to wallow contemplatively in their overstuffed pillow. [Feb 2001, p.92]
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Lovers Rock is her first in eight years, and guess what -- it sounds exactly like Sade, heavily influenced by Diamond Life with a bit of Love Deluxe thrown in. Needless to say, it's also pretty damn good, because this smooth operator shrewdly sticks to the tricks she'd already mastered before turning pro.
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Lovers' Rock ranks among the finest albums of the year, as Sade, nimbly utilizing that distinctively smoky, vulnerable instrument that is her voice, weaves gentle yet insinuating odes to love and loss.
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SpinLovers Rock is an airy album, demo-like in its simplicity. It has none of the agression of a "comeback." In fact, Sade has never put out anything quite so ephemeral. [Jan 2001, p.114]
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While Lovers Rock is not any sort of departure from the quiet ballads that marked the group's first three albums, there is an element of freshness that aligns Sade with the current electronic music insurgence while still maintaining a distinctly analog outlook on love's foibles.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 57 out of 70
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Mixed: 2 out of 70
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Negative: 11 out of 70
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May 8, 2022nothing new, but the music is still done very well. I think it's her best. It's a satisfying direction cool smooth r&b
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Dec 4, 2017
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Nov 21, 2010