Sony to release a Sade 6LP vinyl box set called ‘This Far’

Photo: Patrick Demarchelier

Six-LP vinyl box • Half-speed mastered • No CD set and no bonus material

Sony will next month release This Far, a Sade vinyl box set that collects the band’s six studio albums.

Diamond Life (1984), Promise (1985), Stronger Than Pride (1988), Love Deluxe (1992), Lovers Rock (2000), and Soldier Of Love (2010) have all been remastered at half-speed by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios. Showell apparently worked from hi-res digital transfers of the original stereo master mixes, taken from the original tapes. No additional digital limiting was used in the mastering process.

The band (Sade are a band, remember) consist of Sade (vocals), Stuart Matthewman (saxophone/guitar), Andrew Hale (keyboards), and Paul Spencer Denman (bass) and we are told that all four of them were “intimately” involved in the remastering process and were at Abbey Road with the band’s longtime producer Mike Pela to oversee the work.

‘This Far’ 6LP vinyl box set (click image to enlarge)

All the albums are pressed on 180g vinyl and the sleeves have been “perfectly replicated” for the first time since their original release, and collected in a white outer box which was designed by Tom Hingston Studios in London.

I’m sure these remasters will sound great, but let’s try and squeeze between the massive twin elephants in the room; the lack of any bonus material and the fact that This Far isn’t coming out on CD.

Even Kate Bush recognised there was a place for bonus albums, gathering B-sides and remixes, when she reissued her catalogue in 2018 and you really have to work hard to make Kate appear more engaged and interested in reissues than you are. There are four non-album B-sides from the first two Sade albums alone, and plenty of single edits and remixes that could have – should have – been collected on a ‘rarities’ set. As for no CD version? Not really acceptable.

This Far is due out on 9 October 2020.

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This Far - 6LP vinyl box

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DIAMOND LIFE

SIDE A

1. SMOOTH OPERATOR
2. YOUR LOVE IS KING
3. HANG ON TO YOUR LOVE
4. FRANKIE’S FIRST AFFAIR
5. WHEN AM I GOING TO MAKE A LIVING

SIDE B

1. CHERRY PIE
2. SALLY
3. I WILL BE YOUR FRIEND
4. WHY CAN’T WE LIVE TOGETHER

PROMISE

SIDE A

1. IS IT A CRIME
2. THE SWEETEST TABOO
3. WAR OF THE HEARTS
4. JEZEBEL

SIDE B

1. MR WRONG
2. NEVER AS GOOD AS THE FIRST TIME
3. FEAR
4. TAR BABY
5. MAUREEN

STRONGER THAN PRIDE

SIDE A

1. LOVE IS STRONGER THAN PRIDE
2. PARADISE
3. NOTHING CAN COME BETWEEN US
4. HAUNT ME
5. TURN MY BACK ON YOU

SIDE B

1. KEEP LOOKING
2. CLEAN HEART
3. GIVE IT UP
4. I NEVER THOUGHT I’D SEE THE DAY
5. SIEMPRE HAY ESPERANZA

LOVE DELUXE

SIDE A

1. NO ORDINARY LOVE
2. FEEL NO PAIN
3. I COULDN’T LOVE YOU MORE
4. LIKE A TATTOO

SIDE B

1. KISS OF LIFE
2. CHERISH THE DAY
3. PEARLS
4. BULLETPROOF SOUL
5. MERMAID

LOVERS ROCK

SIDE A

1. BY YOUR SIDE
2. FLOW
3. KING OF SORROW
4. SOMEBODY ALREADY BROKE MY HEART
5. ALL ABOUT OUR LOVE
6. SLAVE SONG

SIDE B

1. THE SWEETEST GIFT
2. EVERY WORD
3. IMMIGRANT
4. LOVERS ROCK
5. IT’S ONLY LOVE THAT GETS YOU THROUGH

SOLDIER OF LOVE

SIDE A

1. THE MOON AND THE SKY
2. SOLDIER OF LOVE
3. MORNING BIRD
4. BABYFATHER
5. LONG HARD ROAD

SIDE B

1. BE THAT EASY
2. BRING ME HOME
3. IN ANOTHER TIME
4. SKIN
5. THE SAFEST PLACE