When did Sting "lose it", in your opinion?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Panther, Oct 18, 2018.

  1. Panther

    Panther Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Tokyo, Japan
    Opinions very widely on Sting, aka Gord Sumner of Newcastle. A lot of Britons consider him the anti-Christ, and equate him with Phil Collins. North Americans have a different perception of him, but there's also a sense that he lost his way many years ago. I've lost touch with his recent recordings (I did hear the medieval album once), but here's my own impression -- first, I'll rate his LPs on the ol' five-star scale:

    Police
    **** Outlandos D'amour
    ***** Reggatta de Blanc
    **** Zenyatta Mondatta
    **** Ghost in the Machine
    **** Synchronicity

    Solo
    **** The Dream of the Blue Turtles
    ***** ...Nothing Like the Sun
    **** Bring on the Night (live)
    **** The Soul Cages
    ***** Ten Summoner's Tales
    ** Mercury Falling
    * Brand New Day

    Everything else: can't be bothered to hear it. (I did see his live DVD from a 1999 concert -- it was bad.)

    So, yeah, as far as I'm concerned Sting lost it big-time after 1993. His stuff for sixteen years up to then was almost universally great, to my ears, and both The Police and his 'solo' touring bands in 1985-86 and 1988 were superb. The bands he used after that were less interesting, and there is a touch of blandness about the style of The Soul Cages, but the songs are almost all good. Ten Summoner's Tales is non-challenging musically, but is just an incredible record of incredible songwriting, with a great deal of wit.

    I think, maybe, that last one's success, combined with Mercury Falling's (a dour record) cool reception maybe convinced the Sting-ster to make more witty, funny, in-character songs. The result was the wretched Brand New Day, an album so bad I garbaged it after a girl bought it for me as a gift.


    When/How did Sting lose it?
     
  2. Purple

    Purple Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Probably 1984. More power to him but his solo career seemed like elevator music to me.
     
  3. ynnek4

    ynnek4 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    1985-86ish
     
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  4. moople72

    moople72 Forum Resident

    Location:
    KC
    Soul Cages is a classic. Mercury Falling isn't bad....he seemed to lose the fire after that.
     
  5. paulewalnutz

    paulewalnutz Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ
    Never could get into the solo stuff but millions do.
     
  6. Psychedelic Good Trip

    Psychedelic Good Trip Beautiful Psychedelic Colors Everywhere

    Location:
    New York
    After Synchronicity. Truth is 1985's "The Dream Of The Blue Turtles" was a decent Sting solo effort and that it was released a year after Sting left the Police. Never really got into his solo material it was always like here's Sting but where are Stewart and Andy. IMHO
     
    Last edited: Oct 18, 2018
  7. HeyBullfrog

    HeyBullfrog Friend of the Forum

    Location:
    USA
    Mercury Falling was when I had the epiphany, "Why am I still buying Sting albums?" I still like a few songs on each of his earlier solo efforts, though I don't often revisit them.
     
  8. drumzNspace

    drumzNspace Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Yuck City
    Personal faves are synchronicity, dream of the blue turtles and ten summoners tales.
     
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  9. evillouie

    evillouie Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toledo
    His Christmas CD was the death knell for me. I am a huge Christmas music fan but I could only make it through the CD once.
     
  10. The minute he left the Police and went solo.
     
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  11. Holy Diver

    Holy Diver Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    I stop at The Dream of the Blue Turtles, myself.
     
  12. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic

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  13. OptimisticGoat

    OptimisticGoat Everybody's escapegoat....

    I would say he went from consistently good to erratic at about Soul Cages. There are good moments on Mercury Falling and Ten Summoner's Tales but, like Soul Cages, they are not compelling as albums. I thought the stuff before that stood as a nice counterpoint to the Police stuff.
     
  14. Dynamic Ranger

    Dynamic Ranger Forum Resident

    Location:
    Old Town, Maine
    Funnily enough, at a place were I used to work, the elevator would automatically play the intro portion of "King of Pain" every time someone would use it! :D
     
  15. Hollow Horse

    Hollow Horse To pretend to be happy could only be idiocy


    Fifteen, maybe? I know I did.
     
  16. OptimisticGoat

    OptimisticGoat Everybody's escapegoat....

    I saw him on the Summoner's Tales Tour I think and it was a yawn. There were a couple of good tracks after that but nothing more. I think Dream of the Blue Turtles (which I like) had a lot of re-worked Police era stuff and Nothing Like The Sun is terrific but his muse seems to have gradually left him after that.
     
  17. levi

    levi Can't Stand Up For Falling Down In Memoriam

    Location:
    North Carolina
    Agreed. He was pretty good in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels though.

    [​IMG]
     
  18. After The Police.
     
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  19. Chemguy

    Chemguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Western Canada
    He’s never lost it. He’s just maturing and making different music.
     
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  20. Wounded Land

    Wounded Land Forum Resident

    I’m with you 100%. TST is an amazing record, one of my favorites, but he fell off the cliff hard after that.
     
  21. Psychedelic Good Trip

    Psychedelic Good Trip Beautiful Psychedelic Colors Everywhere

    Location:
    New York


    Here you just because I don't care for Sting solo music many others are still very fond of it.
    I do like 1985's Dream Of The Blue Turtles a solid effort.
     
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  22. zen

    zen Senior Member

    When Sting burned from the second bar.
     
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  23. Chemguy

    Chemguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Western Canada
    Oh, I don’t care for it either. But some might, and I won’t insult them by saying they appreciate an artist who has lost it.
     
  24. Jim Walker

    Jim Walker Senior Member

    Location:
    southeast porttown
    I have always admired and respected Sting as a musician.
    Synchronicity to this days is a remarkable record, and though
    I never saw Police, I did see his Blue Turtles tour, and was
    taken with it--a good, entertaining show indeed, with top notch
    talent. But the drag with Sting was a 'shroud of too serious' if you
    will, not much humour that I sensed, and that collided with
    his music. Could have been a funny guy to hang with, but I
    didn't pick that up and the music became a dirgeful bore.
     
  25. tedg65

    tedg65 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Weymouth MA USA
    Panther I agree 100% on the ratings...Ten Summoners was decent but then Mercury Rising was a bag of ****e, and everything just got worse IMO....such boring commercial crap.
     
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