Sting

[bob_32_116]

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.

[JJ88]

'The Soul Cages' is easily his finest album as a solo artist. The one song I could do without is 'Mad About You' which is too Adult Contemporary bland for me. But 'All This Time', 'Why Should I Cry For You', 'Island Of Souls', 'The Wild Wild Sea' etc. is some of the best stuff he ever did.

I basically like the previous two, and in fact 'Fragile' is my favourite song of his. But 'Nothing Like The Sun' has several songs I skip past. Never really got into 'Ten Summoner's Tales' beyond a handful of songs, it's that Adult Contemporary sound again.

Like many, I fear (his musical recently got the axe!), I have no interest at all in what he's doing now.

[malterb]

I have seen Sting live many times (solo, Police and even the Last Ship), I like most of his catalog especially Ten Summoners Tale, The Soul Cages and The Dream of the Blue Turtles. Live, he puts on a great show. Heck once in Atlanta, Nora Jones was supposed to open the show, she was ill and did not perform. Sting comes out, apologizes and he and his guitarist do three acoustic songs.

[JKL2000]

Bob, IMO you do not have to apologize for Streaming an album that's legally being streamed.

Just sayin'.

[bob_32_116]

Bob, IMO you do not have to apologize for Streaming an album that's legally being streamed.

Just sayin'.

We apologise for the previous apology.

[Wounded Land]

His early solo stuff is great. Ten Summoners Tales is one of my favorite albums of all time. There's a lot of interesting musicianship on that album (bunch of songs in odd meters, for example) without getting in the way of the song. It's like a clinic on how to be interesting on two levels at once. Plus, I like the fact that he's playing bass on that album, as a member of a band. He's an underrated bass player, I think.

Now I'm of the opinion that Sting lost the plot afterwards, but those first crop of records are the bee's knees.

[rcarlberg]

Sting was good in "Dune."

[JKL2000]

Sting was good in "Dune."

By which you can only mean you liked his body, as that's all he was concerned with. In reality, he blows in Dune.

[bob_32_116]

Interesting interview with Sting and Paul Simon:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-1...on-730/6084414

[Scott Bails]

I heard and watched the Bring on the Night documentary and CDs before I really got into much of his other stuff, and I loved it. It's always interesting to me to see behind-the-scenes stuff, rehearsals, etc. and this one does a good job with all of that, IMO. And the live material is fantastic. What a band. I then listened to Blue Turtles all the time. I didn't appreciate Nothing Like the Sun when it was first released, hoping for the jazzy feel of Blue Turtles, but I've since grown to really like it. I didn't care for Soul Cages at all, and kinda fell off the train after that. I've always meant to "fill in the holes" with his more recent stuff. And maybe I need to revisit Soul Cages again.

[Library Jon]

As everyone knows from other threads, I am a big Sting Fan. I highly recommend the Blu Ray DVDs of Sting's "Bring On The Night" and Sting's "Live In Berlin." They are videos that a new fan and a completest would both enjoy watching. I would like to also point out that two of his more recent albums, namely Sacred Love and Brand New Day, are very good and highly recommended by me. I love songs from those albums such as "Whenever I say Your Name" and Desert Rose." I thought that both of those albums should have charted much better. I like the Broadway cast version of the music from The Last Ship, too.



Library Jon