Sade - "Your Love Is King"

5-2-08 Sade – “Your Love Is King” found on "Diamond Life"

I first heard of Sade when visiting New Zealand in ’84 – probably the single “Hang On To Your Love”. I bought the gate-fold cover LP and brought it home to L.A. – and found that it was already here. I got the first CD edition of “Diamond Life”, about ’86 or ’87. I believe the re-mastered CD came along about ’99 or ’00. I recently got a copy, and found it to be slightly shorter than the original CD.

Original	Re-Master		Original	Re-Master
4:59	4:57	Smooth Operator	+ 2
3:59	3:41	Your Love Is King	+ 18
6:00	5:55	Hang On To Your Love	+ 5
4:37	4:39	Frankie's First Affair		+ 2
3:24	3:27	When Am I Going To Make A Living?		+ 3
6:18	6:20	Cherry Pie		+ 2
5:21	5:23	Sally		+ 2
4:43	4:45	I Will Be Your Friend		+ 2
5:29	5:28	Why Can't We Live Together	+ 1

So, looks like my homework is to see if the re-master of “Your Love Is King” is merely a ‘fade’. I have both 7” & 12” versions of “Your Love Is King”, from Japan:

12" YOUR LOVE IS KING EPIC/SONY JPN 12.3P-650 1984 3 TRKS

with pic sleeve

7" YOUR LOVE IS KING / LOVE AFFAIR WITH LIFE EPIC/SONY JPN 07.5P-368 1984 2 TRKS

with pic sleeve

Is Sade “Britfunk”? In 2008 there is still a considerable amount of released material by Sade that has never made it to CD – wonderful 12” mixes of “Smooth Operator” that end with different instrumentals (“Snake Bite” etc). And the +1 second or +2 seconds titles do not concern me on the re-mastered “Diamond Life” – but I bet they just faded “Your Love Is King”. “Love Affair With Life” is a non-LP/CD B-Side, as well (and reasonably minor). I believe the music video for “YLIK” made all the beta hi-fi, laser disc and DVD editions (I’ll have to check, but I think the song that was on the beta that never made the LD or DVD is “When Am I Going To Make A Living?”).

Certainly, “Your Love Is King” also made the “Best of” CD – must check the timing there. Doesn’t look like it made the “Lover’s Live” CD and I can’t find a track listing for the DVD. While I have Japanese pressings of both 7” and 12” versions of “YLIK”, I also have a neat vintage original UK 12” with picture sleeve (Epic UK 12” TA 4137). In those days, I bought every version of any Sade single that I could find, always hoping for a new B-Side, an extended mix etc. Great picture sleeve – Sade styled as a 60’s singer (wearing a wig?!?)! What a great singles album that “Diamond Life” is: “Your Love Is King”, “Hang On To Your Love” and “Smooth Operator”!

When Sade eventually got to the U.S. (December ’85) – on both “The Tonight Show” and “Saturday Night Live”, they played “Smooth Operator”, “The Sweetest Taboo” and “Is It A Crime?” – 1 song from “Diamond Life”, 2 from “Promise”, their 2^nd album.