Big Dog 92-7 Music Guide

The Ultimate Collection

RELEASE
May 02, 2011
LABEL
Epic
GENRES
Rhythm & Blues, Quiet Storm, Sophisti-Pop, Adult Contemporary R&B

Album Review

An update of the 1994 compilation The Best of Sade, The Ultimate Collection contains all but two of the Sade singles -- “When Am I Going to Make a Living” and, unfortunately, “Turn My Back on You” -- released through the first six studio albums. There are six well-chosen album cuts, highlighted by the exceptionally spacious Love Deluxe ballads “Bullet Proof Soul” and “Pearls.” For some Sade followers, the one rarity (a restrained Neptunes mix of “By Your Side”) and four new songs will be enough to justify re-acquiring the old material. The best of the new songs is a cover of Thin Lizzy's anguished ballad “Still in Love with You,” a surprising but strikingly appropriate choice that is granted a hint of sweetness. On the opposite end, a remix of Soldier of Love's “The Moon and the Sky,” featuring Jay-Z, marks Sade’s first and hopefully last collaboration with an MC. The greater part of this two-hour anthology condenses a rich catalog of impeccably sophisticated and subtly stimulating pop, from 1984's seductive “Your Love Is King” to 2009's chilling “Soldier of Love.”
Andy Kellman, Rovi

Track Listing

  1. Your Love Is King
  2. Smooth Operator
  3. Hang On to Your Love
  4. The Sweetest Taboo
  5. Is It a Crime
  6. Never as Good as the First Time
  7. Jezebel
  8. Love Is Stronger Than Pride
  9. Paradise
  10. Nothing Can Come Between Us
  11. No Ordinary Love
  12. Kiss of Life
  13. Feel No Pain
  14. Bullet Proof Soul
  15. Cherish the Day
  16. Pearls
  17. By Your Side
  18. Immigrant
  19. Flow
  20. King of Sorrow
  21. The Sweetest Gift
  22. Soldier of Love
  23. The Moon and the Sky
  24. Babyfather
  25. Still in Love with You
  26. Love Is Found
  27. I Would Never Have Guessed
  28. The Moon and the Sky
  29. By Your Side [Neptunes Remix]