Taking Sides: Sting vs Peter Gabriel

'Selling England By The Pound', 'Foxtrot' and 'The Lamb Dies Down...' are very decent records, at times brilliant. Barring 'So' i think Gabriel's solo career is always at least genuinely interesting in some way, if not always great.

Peter is certainly an artists' artist -- and while his latest offerings mat be getting a bit Lite, his early solo and soundtrack work puts him ahead by default ((to say nothing for the inroads that Realworld Studios has provided for more traditional artists)).

musicians' released more quality albums/songs.

But, well, what's the big deal. I mean Peter Gabriel pisses on most people anyway....

Either way, I'm going to answer Pete, because he's been far more interesting overall, even with the bland pop stuff; also, I'd argue comparison between the two with the "world" music influences is unfair, because Peter seems to be genuinely interested in this sort of thing (why else would he set up a label to release a number of albums that surely must be losing money?) whereas Sting just seems to be interested in it because it makes him seem sensitive...there doesn't seem like there's any sincerity in it.

ha ha!

Actually, one of the things about Us and Up that really strike me is how dark some of that stuff gets. "Diggin in the Dirt", fr'instance, is one of the gloomiest pieces of pop I've heard in my lifetime.

Honestly, I don't think Sting is as bad as we seem to make him out to be; it's just that PG's stuff actually hits a never with me, all of it (even goofier-lighter stuff like "Steam" and "Kiss That Frog"), whereas Sting's post-Police work (and even lots of his during-Police work) just ain't my bag, baby.

(As my mom was in labor 36 hours, I was eventually born on my dad's uncle's birthday, and therefore named in his honor rather than PG's. Which is cool, 'cause I can't imagine what my life would be like as Petealicious.)

Ever heard of Eels? :-)

Oh, totally, I'm quite the fan of E & his stuff; I think the biggest difference, though, is that even at his most dire, it seems like E/the Eels stuff has this strain of hope in it, like it's dark and dismal because he can sense the possibility of "better"ness, whereas some of Peter Gabriel's dark/dreary stuff seems to literally lack any hope.

The first time Peter Gabriel wrote a pop song better than "Mad About You" (which is a nice song anyway) was "Time Table" in 1972. Later, he has done so at least 20-30 times, I believe.

I get this image of John D. starting to claw his eyes out in frustration.

sophie's choice!!!

This is no contest. Peter Gabriel over Sting without a second thought.

go away

Yep, that's what happens when you take Viagra, buddy. I'd honestly want it to go away, too.

I know I've already answered this thread twice, but what hell, let's make it a three-peat, if only to say that the talk about Peter Gabriel's third album not dating well...total madness.

i am spending the evening reassessing Sting's solo works. Lite and not as interesting as the police for sure, but everything through 10 Summoner's Tales is quite good if you listen to it through the right, open minded lens. I haven't dug into anything past though, which is all stuff I'm pretty unfamiliar with.

San Jacinto is better than ANYTHING Sting ever wrote Police included.

well duh

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.

"What exactly is a "summoner's tale"?"

It's a story in Canterbury Tales. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Summoner's_Tale

it's the one with the farting

oh wow, I stand corrected. of course Sting would know about that!!

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.

can't help thinking sting would have been hilarious if he'd been around to indulge his medievalist thing in the high prog era

OTM, he was a bit of a jazz rocker at the time though, I think? Also some Gong connection or other.

San Jacinto is better than ANYTHING Sting ever wrote Police included.

that's praise!

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.

Prog Sting = Ian Anderson + Geddy Lee

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

that's praise!