I wanted to start a thread specifically about the artist formerly knowly as Gordon Sumner, because I am currently listening to The Soul Cages. (Yes I am streaming it. And yes I will be purchasing a physical copy.)
I haven't heard this album in its entirety before, and the only adjective that seems right for it is "magnificent".
Now I know Sting garners a fair bit of criticism, and I must say his output has been, to say the least, patchy. I was highly impressed with (most of) his debut Turtles album, and by some of the songs on the second album. The Soul Cages, however... for some reason I never followed up on it at the time. Then came his "magnum opus" (or so claim some), "Ten Summoner's Tales, which I always thought was an album of nice songs but a bit too relaxing and - well - bland. And then there is Mercury Falling, which I borrowed from the library and found it an album of rather depressing songs that mostly went into my ears and out again leaving me completely unaffected. Hence, I've not bothered with later releases, and I know his latest (The Last Ship) got some fairly negative reviews.
So... Sting probably falls into the "I like his early stuff" category.
I also like the fact that his solo work sounds completely different from that of The Police - which i also like - though there were some hints on Synchronicity of the direction he was going.
What are people's opinions? By the way, I am only interested in discussing his music and matters relevant to his music, not in debating whether he charges people too much to visit his estate and pick his crops.
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