Fields of POLL: The Best of Sting

ok now i'm less guilty about my secret fondness for 'russians'. see, i didn't even confess it till now. lostandfound otm iow.

How would history had differed if he'd used the Trololo melody.

How can I save my little boy from Oppenheimer's deadly trololololo?

I like my toast done on one side.

Eh? Is this considered an English affectation?

Yeah, like cooking the left half of a pizza.

Am eagerly waiting on Sting's "Disgusting Savages" song.

Yeah, like cooking the left half of a pizza.

No, we only cook the edge

But that's a Scottish thing, surely. The English do what I have described, then dunk it in tea.

In fields of barley.

Lute-fired pizzas.

no "Desert Rose", no credibility

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"If I Evah Lose My Faith in You" is a catchy little number, but I'll go with "Fields of Gold".

never got into "desert rose". half-assed vocals (ending every other line with "ay-ay-ay-ay"), super cluttered, plus cheb mami being so low in the mix makes his vox obstructive to everything else that's going on. boring melody, too.

i meant to append an "i dunno" at the end of that so as to not seem rude

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

NO VOTES FOR THIS COWBOY SONG?

outrageous.

all the time was robbed

Didn't vote, but would have added one more to "Be Still My Beating Heart." It helped, during my senior year of high school, to not know that expression, much less be aware it was literary, and I loved Andy's guitar and the beat and sound. Also, I never cared as much about lyrics as most people. Also, I was super depressed.

Been getting back into the Bring on the Night live album, which was just reissued a couple years back. it's Sting with the famous jazz band that played on Blue Turtles, and it's actually really good, much better than any of his studio albums. It's split between Police tunes and his solo stuff. The Police tunes in particular get some pretty interesting workouts. The most notable thing about it is that there's almost nothing on there that was a hit - only "Moon Over Bourbon Street" which wasn't even really a big one. Instead he focuses on stuff like "Demolition Man", "Bring on the Night", and some obscure Police tunes like "Low Life" and "I Burn For You". Some of it is quite dated - there's a ridiculous rap on the first track, and way too much clarinet overall, but this is really a great live set!!

Hard to believe he turns 60 this year!!

came here to say Englishman In New York is fantastic innit? glad it won!

ace video too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d27gTrPPAyk

hobbes

Sting is often silly, often insufferable. But for all his peaks and valleys - and each of those"silly"/"insufferable" descriptions can be assigned to both his highs and lows - I've always come back to "... Nothing Like the Sun" as a particularly melancholy bit of soft rock. Everything is so drifty and dreamy, even the Hendrix cover is slow and sad. It's got its goofy pop moments and stuff, but it's surprisingly diverse and adventurous. And sometimes playfully weird.

http://sweetserene.buzznet.com/photos/yoga30daychallenge/?id=67904481

http://sweetserene.buzznet.com/photos/yoga30daychallenge/?id=67904481

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhJK_X9SsZk

Would have voted for 'If I Ever Lose My Faith In You'.

Sting >>>>>>Family Guy.

I don't even get the joke, Sting has great diction. It's all the yoga.

u mad?

I'm more mad that Family Guy exists than I am that Sting exists, yes. Except for this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WNrx2jq184

Surfin' Bird>>>>>Radiohead>>>>>>>Sting>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Family Guy

jesus how did englishman in ny win this?

i think once you've committed to Stingism the rest comes inevitable

i like the first solo album, admittedly

actually I really like the soul cages

Soul Cages I liked at the time, but it's pretty dull compared to " ... Nothing ..." First album is just so po-faced I can't really get with it. Saw him tour behind "Ten Summoners" and he was great; dirt floor bullfighting arena in Spain! But I've seen him maybe three times since then for work, and he was soooooooo boring. Well, the most recent one was OK. But at the end he brings out his little step-stool. puts his foot up and busts out his nylon string guitar, then proceeds to fuck up "Message in a Bottle." Because it's hard, Sting. That's why you had ringers like Andy Summers play it, not you.

boy do I find "Why Should I Cry For You" affecting

I dunno man but it really is. It's his "In Your Eyes"

'If I Ever Lose My Faith In You' still remains my favourite solo Sting song, and Ten Summoner's Tales still remains the only Sting album that I would gladly listen to if I had to listen to a Sting album. 'Saint Augustine In Hell' still brings a smile to my face, particularly the part where the guy comes in playing the devil and explains the type of people that hell is full of... "Certified accountants, music critics, they're all here!" hehehehe...

Funny, that "St. Augustine" song to me is some kind of nadir, where his smugness can't be contained in song and bursts out in monologue.

Fields of Gold sounds better the older it (and he) gets.

I'm a fan of "The Soul Cages" and "Nothing Like the Sun," the latter an awesome adult contemporary work of ace session players. Don't remember much of "Ten Summoner's Tales.". Don't know anything really from the following albums except "Mercury Falling" (which he keeps playing to let his backing vocalist show off) and "I Hung My Head," which is really great by Sting and also the version by Johnny Cash.

From the looks of this set, the only two songs I don't recognize are "When We Dance" and "The Cowboy Song" (?). Want to say the only one I don't like is "Russians," and even that one I think is just a bad idea, badly written, but not really bad to listen to, as long as you barely listen to it.

Saw him this year with Peter Gabriel and he was in better form/spirits than any other time I'd seen him recently.

'ten summoner's tales' imo is an excellent album overall

I just remember it being a little too boring to be that slick, if that makes any sense. Like, "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You" and "Fields of Gold" are not bad, just sort of hermetically sealed, safe.

oddly the album i always associate it with, maybe in terms of production and even in terms of some of the pacing and atmosphere, is 'san francisco days' by chris isaak.

Huh. See, I really like "San Francisco Days," feels very loose and airy and live, vs. Sting's click-tracky early '90s CD-ready sound.

I'm with Josh re TSG but it's not that different from the others. The one about the rock critics is horrifiyng though.

to be fair i haven't heard TST in a long time but i remember the production being fairly lush and smooth in a way that didn't seem too saccharine or bland.

he can go choke on an alto sax though

The Soul Cages is one of those records I'm surprised to like. Concept album + Stingo + Stingo writing about dead dad + no rock? But its gravity and stateliness has real warmth too.

From the looks of this set, the only two songs I don't recognize are "When We Dance" and "The Cowboy Song" (?).

those two were both collector bait, though I will admit "When We Dance" is as pretty a song as Sting ever did ("This Cowboy Song" pretty much bites it though)

I dug a number of songs from TST - "Everybody Laughed But You" and "Something The Boy Said" both seemed pretty good for album tracks. But yeah it's too much of a wine n' cheese album for me. Sadly his last kinda good one though I'm willing to give Mercury Falling another shot.