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Brand New Day

Friday, February 8, 2008
Brand New Day
1999 - : *****
Including: Tomorrow We'll See, A Thousand Years, Perfect Love... Gone Wrong, and more...
Buy album: Amazon Music Store

Disc: 1

A Thousand Years
Desert Rose
Big Lie Small World
After The Rain Has Fallen
Perfect Love... Gone Wrong
Tomorrow We'll See
Prelude To End Of The Game
Fill Her Up
Ghost Story
Brand New Day

Disc: 2

Windmills Of Your Mind
A Thousand Years (Live)
Desert Rose (Live)
After The Rain Has Fallen (Live)
Desert Rose (Melodic Club Mix Radio Edit)

Sting seemed to be on a roll in the early 90s, with his masterpiece THE SOUL CAGES and the outstanding TEN SUMMONER'S TALES. Unfortunately, his winning streak ended with 1996's MERCURY FALLING, a pretentious, unextraodinary addition to Sting's musical portfolio. In 1999, however, Sting made his comeback in a big way with BRAND NEW DAY. It was the ex-Police frontman's first venture into techno music, which he would continue to explore on his subsequent release, SACRED LOVE. Along with the exotic "Desert Rose", a surprise smash hit for the 50-something musician, there's a variety of delightful songs, including the hyptonic "A Thousand Years", the irresistible "After The Rain Has Fallen", and the mega-upbeat title tune. The album has a few oddities - "Tomorrow We'll See", about a transvestite hooker, redeemed by its shady bass line, and the cringeworthy, pretentious "Fill Her Up", undoubtedly the worst song of Sting's entire career - but for the most part, it's a delightful melding of jazz, alt rock and techno. Over thirty years after a band called The Police burst on to the music scene, Sting still rocks. by Tom Benton


The Very Best of Sting And The Police

The Very Best of Sting & the Police [2002]
2002 - : *****
Including: Desert Rose, Can't Stand Losing You, Englishman in New York, and more...
Buy album: Amazon Music Store

Message In A Bottle
Can't Stand Losing You
An Englishman In New York
Every Breath You Take
Seven Days
Walking On The Moon
Fields Of Gold
Fragile
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
If You Love Somebody Set Them Free
Brand New Day
Desert Rose
If I Ever Lose My Faith In You
Don't Stand So Close To Me
Roxanne
So Lonely


"The Very Best of Sting and the Police" (18 tracks, 78 min.) is "politically correct" in that it brings an equal number of Police hits and Sting solo-hits (9 each). It has a lot of things going for it: first and foremost, much of the music is outstanding. Best of all is the inclusion of "So Lonely", a major hit which somehow was omitted from The Police's "Every Breath You Take: The Classics". This can directly be attributed to using the full extent of a single CD capacity. The sound quality is surprisingly good as well. What is very unfortunate is that all 18 songs are mixed and matched without any apparent rhyme or reason. Thus we go from the Police's "Can't Stand Losing You" directly into Sting's "An Englishman in New York. Say what? Or we go from Sting's "Seven Days" into the Police's "Walking on the Moon"! Why couldn't they simply present the songs in chronological order? That said, there IS a lot of great music on this CD. It's simply up to you to play it in an order that makes more sense and pleases the ear more. --By Paul Allaer

Fields Of Gold

Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984-1994
Why Would I Cry For You?, Englishman in New York, Fortress Around Your Heart, and more...
Buy album: Amazon Music Store

When We Dance
If You Love Somebody Set Them Free
Fields Of Gold
All This Time
Fortress Around Your Heart
Be Still My Beating Heart
They Dance Alone
If I Ever Lose My Faith In You
Fragile
Why Should I Cry For You?
Englishman In New York
We'll Be Together
Russians
This Cowboy Song

A good overview of Sting's radio hits and popular album tracks with only one major omission ("Mad About You"), Fields of Gold also offers three previously-unreleased songs. "This Cowboy Song" and "When We Dance" appear on no other album, while "We'll Be Together" is an alternate version. The import version of this collection offers a substantially different (and expanded) track listing, dropping "Fortress Around Your Heart," "Be Still My Beating Heart," and "Why Should I Cry for You"; and adding "Mad About You," "Nothing 'Bout Me," "Seven Days," "It's Probably Me," "Love is the Seventh Wave," and "Demolition Man." --Gavin McNett
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