Sade -- Is It a Crime?

 

In retrospect, I believe that going into the late 1980s, I was really getting into the classier aspects of popular music through genres such as sophisticated pop and Quiet Storm through folks like Swingout Sister and Anita Baker. Singer-songwriter Sade had already gained fame globally a few years earlier with hits including "Smooth Operator" that I've already put in as a ROY article. But then in January 1986, Sade released a single that became another heavy-rotation song on radio and had me always going up and down the dial to hear the extended version.

So for today's ROY, I have selected "Is It a Crime?". A torch song involving two former lovers reminiscing over old times which had devolved into something horrid, those first notes by the sax player grabbed my ears and never quite let go. It was like listening to an entire film noir from the 1940s although I can also hear the contemporariness in the arrangement at that time as well. The song created by Sade, Andrew Hale and Stuart Matthewman (who was that sax player) has been classified as smooth jazz but I think that feeling of old-style jazz nightclub further elevates "Is It a Crime?". I guess in a way, the song helped pave the way for me to finally watch some of those film noir flicks such as "The Maltese Falcon" years later.

So, what was hitting the top tiers of Oricon in January 1986? I have Nos. 1, 3 and 4 today.

1. Eri Nitta -- Fuyu no Opera Glass (冬のオペラグラス)

3. Shonentai -- Kamen Butokai （仮面舞踏会）

4. Akiko Kobayashi -- Koi ni Ochite (恋におちて）