Originally Posted by
Dolemite
Let me expound on my original comment.
Loved the Police. LOVED 'EM. Own all the CDs, including the Box Set. My cousin actually found me an original nylon wall tapestry from the Ghost in the Machine album that I proudly display on my wall to this day.
Loved Sting's first 3 solo albums- Dream of the Blue Turtles, the live double CD Bring On the Night, and Nothing Like the Sun. I kept tabs on what Andy and Stewart were doing too, but I was a HUGE Sting fan...I even tracked down and watched all his movies...even really obscure stuff like Brimstone & Treacle and Julia & Julia.
Then, he took a break for a while and finally put out The Soul Cages in 1991. Something seemed different with that album...he was distancing himself from the Jazz Fusion that was the trademark on his first 2 albums. The musical arrangements were less lush and complex, the lyrics slightly less poignant. The whole thing seemed a bit more commercial and plain. Still a good album, mind you, but it had lost something compared to his earlier stuff.
Ten Summoner's Tales came out in 1993, and it continued the commercial trend, while mixing in horrific attempts at country(!) music. Actually, Sting was starting to come across more of a pop star wannabe at this point, which was an ill-fitting role for him. His lyrics likewise reflected this (de)evolution of his character...while he used to do work inspired by the writings of Carl Jung, introspective character studies, intelligent books and the worldwide human rights struggle, he was now writing goofy songs about cowboys. It was this point that he started popping up in Jaguar and Mac commercials.
The Demolition Man EP he released in the same year was decent, because it was mostly live preformances of old Police stuff and an okay cover of the Beatles' A Day in the Life, in addition to a totally shitty remake of Demolition Man for the Stallone/Snipes movie.
He released a Greatest Hits CD and some more live stuff. His next studio album was 1996's Mercury Falling. This was the album that killed it for me. The songs and lyrics were nearly braindead at this point. I really couldn't believe this was the guy that had done a song as beautiful, richly composed, and complexly layered as Children's Crusade. Everything was slow and bland sounding, but the biggest crime to me was the cliché-ridden lyrics. That man used to know how to write lyrical poetry...
I didn't pick up Brand New Day. Desert Rose was a cool song, but otherwise I ain't biting. I think he released something else recently but who knows.
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