Soldier of Love   Sade

The band did not rush. ''If you're only making an album every 10 years, it better be good,'' Sade says.  
 
Eventually, Sony Music executives did learn that Sade was working again and wanted the album released last Christmas. That deadline passed; Sade says she's happier to re-emerge in a new year and a new decade. The band finished the last mix at about 5am on the day another band had booked Real World.  
 
An album meant a cover photograph and Sade was at first reluctant to appear on it. ''Everybody around me said: 'You're mad,''' she says. The compromise was a photo with her back turned, gazing out over Mayan ruins. ''You're not looking at me,'' she says. ''You're surveying the journey ahead and the history as well.''  
 
Through a quarter of a century of recording, Sade has heard regularly about how her songs' mixture of mourning and consolation have brought her fans comfort. ''If it's like a lighthouse to guide someone past the rocks, that's a great thing,'' she says.  
 
The next round is a handful of television appearances to publicise the album. Eventually, Sade intends to gear up for a tour.  
 
''I do want to get on the stage and sing the songs,'' she says. ''But then I just want to disappear again.''  
 
The New York Times  
 
Soldier of Love is out now.