The Vinyl Countdown # 1577

Sade, Diamond Life (1984)

Bam! The first three songs: Smooth Operator, Your Love Is King, Hang On To Your Love. Inescapable – and almost implausibly sublime. It was the start of the mid-80s and maybe this is the wine-cooler version of jazz-lite and R’n’B-inflected adult pop – but it was everywhere and it was flawless. Overkill on the singles (overkill ha…