Sade captured hearts with her band’s debut 1984 record Diamond Life, and has since released five more soulful records, which have collectively been certified platinum 24 times over. To celebrate their success, Sony Music today release a six-LP retrospective box set. Titled This Far, it will feature remastered versions of all the British band’s studio albums to date: Diamond Life (1984), Promise (1985), Stronger than Pride (1988), Love Deluxe (1992), Lovers Rock (2000), and Soldier of Love (2010). The music has been half-speed remastered at Abbey Road by mastering engineer Miles Showell and pressed onto 180-gram heavyweight black vinyl.
All four members of the group: singer Sade Adu, saxophonist/guitarist Stuart Matthewman, keyboardist Andrew Hale, and bassist Paul Spencer Denman, were involved in the remastering process at Abbey Road, alongside the band’s longtime co-producer, Mike Pela.
Revisiting the audio, the band and mastering engineer Miles Showell worked from high-resolution digital transfers of the stereo master mixes, from the original studio recordings, remastered at half-speed using Miles’ own unique restored Neumann VMS80 cutting lathe, to perform the 12 sides of vinyl lacquer cuts. The half-speed mastering process produces exceptionally clean and detailed audio whilst remaining faithful to the band’s intended sound. No additional digital limiting was used in the mastering process, so the six albums benefit from the advantage of extra clarity and pure fidelity.
The six-album sleeves have been meticulously reproduced in exact detail with authentic paper and printing methods, perfectly replicated for the first time since their original release, and assembled in the outer box which was designed by Tom Hingston Studios in London.
Over an exceptional career spanning more than three decades, Sade’s six albums have amassed over 60 million worldwide sales. Producing singles such as Your Love Is King, ‘Smooth Operator, and By Your Side, Sade have gone on to achieve Number 1 albums across the world, quietly taking their “place in the pantheon of cultural influence” [New York Times, October 2017]. Their most recent studio album, Soldier Of Love, charted at number one in 15 countries, including the US, upon release in 2010.
Reviews
“From aching soul to minimalist funk, Sade don’t make many records but their quality has never waned.” The Guardian
“A truly original type of modern British soul, a sound that has continued to mutate over the 36 years since that first record, turning sophistication into abstraction without losing the beat or destroying the melody. There is a consistency here, but only in quality, never in construction." - GQ
"The British band remain utterly sui generis - something which a new box set, This Far, encompassing all their studio albums to date, makes abundantly clear." - The Quietus
"A true testament to a body of work that through its evolution has captured hearts irrespective of age or creed, Sade’s box set delivers and celebrates the band’s legacy this far in a pure vinyl format." - Soultracks
"Sade 'This Far' - A Boxset Of Genius" - Test Pressing
The box set title, This Far, suggests that the band’s studio work may not yet be fully complete, but this new highly collectable release brings together a canon of work previously difficult to source in its original format.
