I won't say he lost it, he's way too talented for that, but he lost ME after Ten Summoner's Tales. Nothing after that moved me anymore, but I did love and continue to love that album (and ..Nothing Like the Sun)
When he convinced Springsteen into firing the E Street Band which lead to the creation of Human Touch. Musically he lost it the minute he left The Police. With them he's a creative, brilliant genius. Solo I find his music uninteresting. I'm not sure who fell further: Sting or Rod Stewart.
There are some cringe-worthy moments in Bring On The Night (the film), which could only have been considered appropriate around 1985 to 1988, the height of third-generation rock stars' pretentiousness. Sting's cutting the umbilical cord on film, and his justification for the movie being that there are many films of bands breaking up but few of them getting together come to mind. But the most cringe-inducing moment is when (surrounded by eerie shadows and light) Sting waxes nostalgic on the moment he heard a 'man on the street' -- a window-cleaner! -- humming "Roxanne". (He then stares intensely, as if overwhelmed by the memory of this most poignant of moments in his life.) His band also suddenly look like refugees from a Lionel Richie video when the curtain opens on the concert in Paris... it's more "80s" than Bill Cosby's sweaters. So, yeah, it's a shame those cheesy moments are there, because there are some great scenes of the band rehearsing and playing.
Sting made three artsier albums and then had his pop move (Ten Summoners Tales). I have little interest in anything he did after that.
Whenever that press conference took place with him, Don Henley and that African with the plate in his lip.
I mentioned this in another Sting thread, but to me he really lost the plot when he started flogging those friggin' vacuums...
I rarely listen to any of his solo releases now but do still enjoy the Police. If anything, I like some of their material better now than in the 80's. Their material has held up better for me over the years than his the solo material. However, I will use Soul Cages as a demo disc at times . In my opinion it is an audiophile recording which the same can't be said for anything recorded by the Police .
I didn't pay much attention to anything after Ghost In The Machine really, but I loved The Soul Cages. His 'Peter & The Wolf' is one of the best ones too
I must say although being a big Police fan back in the day I have listened to Sting solo a lot more. Nothing Like The Sun, The Soul Cages and Ten Summoners Tales are top notch. The quality certainly tailed off afterwards. I think the Punk meets Reggae (rather contrived) ethic of the band hasn't dated well. Their albums in retrospect seem rather patchy including one or two duds written by the other band members. Sting solo has at least 3 albums that are solid all the way through but in a totally different musical style to his old band. Elevator music it's not. He is certainly not as lightweight MOR as Phil Collins (Face Value excepted).
Of course he denied it....but its also about sting (though perhaps not exclusively)....RT likely had sting, jimmy nail and others in mind when writing it. But i think sting was an inspiration for the song. Listen to the interview at the end of the youtube video.....also, from my personal experience...during the dream attic show here in dc i was right up front and when he introduced the song i said something about sting and he looked at me with a acknowledging smile.
Yes, when he began to take himself too seriously. Which might have been early on, but the other guys in The Police saved it,
Well said. The Police were the first band that felt like mine -- I was completely obsessed with The Police and then Sting's solo work through Ten Summoner's Tales. Around that time, my own writing and playing shifted towards roots rock/Americana, and I stopped buying his records. After digging 57th & 9th, I went back and checked out Mercury Falling and Brand New Day and like them a lot. They're in regular rotation now. And I'm still a massive Police fan. It seems that many people react to his music being less edgy and more sophisticated than the early Police work -- hence the "elevator music" barbs -- but I admire that he has evolved and done exactly what he wants to do artistically as he's aged. The easiest thing in the world would be to put The Police back together again, put up with how annoying Copeland is (my favorite musician of all time, but I can easily imagine him getting on everyone's nerves), and make gazillions of dollars. I'm not interested in the lute record but I think it's silly to think that something like that diminishes his legacy.
I don't think it would be the easiest thing at all. I think the annoying factor extends to Sting as well, or perhaps it's more of an interpersonal dynamic situation between them, in any event, I think the easiest thing in the world for Sting was going solo. The longer the Police went on, the more it became "Sting and the Police" and I thought they seemed less unique than the early albums version of the band which had more collaborative writing and more of a band dynamic. I'm guessing that after the success of their final album, Sting was of the opinion that he was the Police and he was tired of having to fight to get his way. Likely better for him, but not so much for the music in my extremely humble opinion... Some really good music came from all former Policemen over the years as did some less than really good.
You're right that it wouldn't necessarily be easy -- I didn't mean to infer that, though I see why it reads that way. My point is that Stewart and Andy have both expressed more of an interest in reuniting over the years than Sting, and if all Sting cared about is being popular and making money, he would find a way to make The Police work. Instead, he goes off an makes a lute record, surely knowing that he'll be mocked for it. I admire that over doing the more obvious thing even if I don't want to listen to lute music. ;-)
Agreed. It's understandable enough that Sting would want to be able to call the shots without having to deal with the internal conflicts of the other Police, but losing that old creative frisson ultimately led to blander music, imo.
