San Jacinto is better than ANYTHING Sting ever wrote Police included.
― earlnash, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 05:26 (seven years ago) link
well duh
― akm, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 05:28 (seven years ago) link
I always thought it was clever that the album's title referenced Sting's real name, though in retrospect it couldn't mean anything else could it? What exactly is a "summoner's tale"?
but yeah, I agree that his stuff can be quite good, especially if you can get past some of the clumsy lyrics and the general Stinginess of it all. hell I'd maybe throw Mercury Falling onto that pile too. everything after that has been garbage, though to be fair what exactly has Peter Gabriel done in the last 15 years? they recently toured together (which makes this thread feel a bit prognostic) and "Dancing With the Moonlit Knight" was played, but it wasn't PG performing it, it was Sting! personally I think Gabriel-era Genesis and The Police are on about equal footing, though listening back to those Genesis albums it feels like Tony Banks is the man in charge most of the time. Gabriel was of course very important but I'm not sure I know what exactly he's bringing sometimes. even Phil had immense technical talent, back then at least. The Police on the other hand...while I do think Copeland was more responsible for the band's overall sound, Sting wrote like 80% of the tunes, and 100% of the singles. So, I don't know about this.
― frogbs, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 12:51 (seven years ago) link
"What exactly is a "summoner's tale"?"
It's a story in Canterbury Tales. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Summoner's_Tale
― akm, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 14:22 (seven years ago) link
it's the one with the farting
― akm, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 14:23 (seven years ago) link
oh wow, I stand corrected. of course Sting would know about that!!
― frogbs, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 14:26 (seven years ago) link
A decade ago, I'd have picked Gabriel easily. These days it's a closer call. Sting/The Police has arguably been more influential, and Gabriel's late output has been equally staid.
Their voices have held up surprisingly well — it sounds like they both sing their old stuff in the original keys.
― dinnerboat, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 15:04 (seven years ago) link
can't help thinking sting would have been hilarious if he'd been around to indulge his medievalist thing in the high prog era
― Benylin Ascent (NickB), Wednesday, 15 March 2017 15:14 (seven years ago) link
OTM, he was a bit of a jazz rocker at the time though, I think? Also some Gong connection or other.
― Return of the Flustered Bootle Native (Tom D.), Wednesday, 15 March 2017 16:49 (seven years ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 16:53 (seven years ago) link
that's praise!
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 15 March 2017 16:55 (seven years ago) link
actually Ive never been crazy about it, with the exception of that spooky as hell "We will walk on the land" outro with the Fairlight flutes– it's like a wolf man standing over a man's corpse.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 15 March 2017 16:56 (seven years ago) link
Prog Sting = Ian Anderson + Geddy Lee
― dinnerboat, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 17:43 (seven years ago) link
the Gong connection was Strontium 90, which was The Police + Mike Howlett. their music wasn't proggy at all but that one CD released in 1997 or whatever was pretty interesting if you're a hardcore Police fan
― frogbs, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 17:53 (seven years ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 16 March 2017 03:54 (seven years ago) link