Part of my job is to go and visit record stores, make sure they’re carrying the product we sell. I try to time my visits so they occur on one of two days: either on Friday (because by the end of the week I have the worst cabin fever in the world) or on Tuesday (because that’s when new music comes out). This week’s major new release is the first album in 10 years from British Band Sade. This album, entitled “Soldier of Love” is as widely anticipated as Maxwell’s “BLACKsummer’snight” was last year. Actually, more so-because white people actually know who Sade is.

In an age when popular music is nowhere near as musically or lyrically sophisticated as it was when I was a kid, having a band like Sade (notice I keep saying BAND, not ARTIST) release an album is like getting a ray of sunshine when you’re buried up to your hips in dirty slush (there goes a bad weather reference). A new Sade album also means that there’ll be another few songs to add to the playlist that plays in the background when you’re doing the nasty. Some people find Sade a little depressing, and that can be the case (“Jezebel” and “Feel No Pain” come to mind), but more often than not, their songs are classily erotic.

Anyhow, with Valentine’s Day around the corner (the less said about that holiday, the better), I’m sure that “Soldier of Love” will sell like hotcakes.

You can find a complete list of this week’s new releases at Pause and Play, a valuable resource for me (and many others!).

Also of interest today: new albums by Gil-Scott Heron (which I’ll write up individually at some point this week), and Massive Attack, which I’m on the fence about. I think I might need to hear some samples first.