30 years Of Sting The Great & Really Bad

I liked Sting's albums up to and including Brand New Day, and then I took a long break. The first two studio albums and Bring on the Night (album and movie) are my favorites...no doubt helped by the presence of Branford Marsalis and Kenny Kirkland.

 

I love Fields of Gold, I think it’s one of the high points of his career

 

The highlight of Sting's solo career for me was his tour with Peter Gabriel. I went to see Gabriel---not Mr. Sumner---with moderately high expectations for Peter's half of the show, and came away from one of the best concerts I've seen in 10 years. It was fabulous, and Sting was fabulous both with and without Peter.

 

I really love everything he put out on the 80s, plus a few great tracks in the early=mid 90s. Brand New Day was where he lost me. So bland I don't think it would even sound good in a dentist's office.

Also, the equally bland Puff Daddy remix of one of the Police songs on the Police/Sting best of comp...was it "Every Breath You Take"?

 

It's amazing how similar all of our stories are. Loved the police and everything he released up through Soul Cages - my favorite Sting studio album! I tried to pick up all of his b-sides and such. One of my favorite performers of all time, then he sort of just drove off a cliff musically for me and I haven't enjoyed anything of his much since.

 

I have to admit I went back looking for something special post Ten Summoners Tales, which I do enjoy, and it's really pretty slim pickings. I thought Desert Rose was a great single, but that's about it. A real shame, such a huge talent.

 

Big fan from the start and up to an including Mercury Falling.In the 20 years since one good song-Desert Rose- and a lot of lyrics that belong on greeting cards.
Jumped off the buying bus after Sacred Love.Streamed the last album once and felt no temptation to jump back on.
A great catalogue and 20 years of great music -from start of Police until Mercury Falling-but the creative spark is gone I fear.

 

The 25 comp included 9-10 new mixes of select songs.

 

The version of 'I Burn For You' you need is the one that's in the movie 'Bring On The Night'; it was recorded at a different show than the one that appears on the 'Bring On The Night' live album. Both versions are live recordings taken from different performances. The awesome version in the movie (with the ungodly Omar Hakim drum solo) is from the Mogador Theatre in Paris 5/29/85, while the one on the live album is from Rijnhal in Arnhem, Holland 12/21/85.

The movie version was only released on the B-side of the 'Russians' 12" single and has never appeared on CD:
Sting - Russians

The mix on the 12" release is slightly different/more polished than the mix that was in the movie, but it's definitely the same take. Here's a video of it where I synched the sound from a needledrop of the Russians 12" B-side with the video from the film:


PM me for more info.

 

Wow. This is fantastic info and exactly why I cling onto the belief the internet can be used for good.
PM'd you for more info.

 

Oh man thanks for posting that. I haven't seen the movie since it was in theaters but I DEFINITELY remembered Omar's solo. Amazing.

 

Glad someone else pointed that out. It is silly that the version he used on the live lp was not the one in the film/12".

 

Where Sting went wrong possibly was repeating himself so much, so you practically knew what a song would sound like after the first few notes.

He has done tracks like 'I hung my head' which have astonished me with their excellence, but they are few and far between.

I had high hopes for '57th and 9th' as a redeeming album, 'til I worked out after a few notes that 'I can't stop thinking about you' is just a Police single under his own name, without the great guitar work. Listening to the rest of the album, he repeats a lot of songwriting tricks he used with The Police and the whole thing sounds calculated.

One of the few artists who has a definite finite shelf life.

 

Saw the Police a few years ago. They were outstanding. His voice was as good as ever and the band was tight. He's a great musician and songwriter, but his solo stuff doesn't come close to the music he made with Copeland and Summers.

 

Fixed that for you

 

BTW, Amazon is giving away the 2LP Best Of 25 Years right now for $13 and change:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0065NPI5I/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I pulled Nothing Like The Sun off the shelf the other day and couldn't get through it.
I don't think it stands up today.
Used to be more of a fan of his solo career more than The Police.
Just not so much any more.
Kind of the same way I feel about Phil Collins.
Glen

 

That was more than a few years ago.

 

I play Sting less and less every year. Used to play him a lot. Have all his albums up to Brand New Day and after that he lost his way in my opinion aside from the Police reunion.

 

Festivus for the rest of us

 

A very odd "best of". Even at $13...not so exciting.

 

Would like to hear comments on this disc.

 

Lots of discussion in this thread: Sting "57th & 9th" - New Album

 

Hard to gather much impression on the new matetial. The live Blu Ray might be worth a look.

 

I like the Police and some of his solo stuff. My girlfriend and I like to joke that he is boring. We also like to joke that Vince Gill is boring.

Then this happened:



Good lord.