Say something interesting about sting/police

oh wow that brings me back. Forgot all about it.

The new Sting album is good. I like it more than his last one...less focus on "rocking" (never what Sting was best at IMO) and closer to his early 90's/Ten Summoner's Tales style which is what I want from him anyway lol

Ooh that sounds great I didn’t know there was one out

nothing like the sun, dream of the blue turtles, summoners tales and soul cages were heavy listening in high school/college; wonder if they hold up.

mercury falling/brand new day era put me off him until now i guess

Beato's been doing more interviews, it seems. And this is a good one with Sting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efRQh2vspVc

Oh, and xpost, I think "Nothing like the Sun" is an impeccable and diverse adult contemporary album, some of it beautiful, some of it silly.

As ever.

I've heard parts of his new album. the main impression I get is that his voice sounds remarkably good for his age. he's one of the few megastar singers who actually figured out how to adapt to his new voice

This new one is quite lovely, in the mold of Fragile and Shape of My Heart:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx5moNrPKpk

It won't convince anyone who thinks he's a bore, but it has the Sting hallmarks (tricky chords, evocative melody) and the singing and lyrics sound almost like Leonard Cohen.

Roxanne takes you down
To her place near the river

Did I saw Andy Summers memoir One Train Later was really interesting. Had me wanting to hear the early days of teh police when he was still playing guitar washes and things.
Definitley would love to hear him with the Soft machine where he was supposed to be playing raga guitar but not sure anything ever got recorded. certainly never heard any.

He's in some ways still underrated, because it's kind of hard to convey all the cool things he does. Like, the Edge, it's pretty easy to distill what he does because he's so simple, but even in the early days of the Police Summers was doing some pretty sophisticated things.

Re-recommending that Sting interview, it's really perceptive.

does he have unnaturally big hands or something? I've heard those looping guitar riffs on songs like "Bring on the Night", "Message in a Bottle", and "Every Breath You Take" are really hard to play

I don't know if his hands are big but he does stretch them waaaaaay wide, and if you have smaller hands (like me) it takes a lot of pain and suffering to get there. You need to do that on at least the latter two songs. "Bring on the Night," that's some dexterous fingerpicking.

An observation my guitar teacher has made is that he really figured out just the right chords to use with a flanger/delay, creating pretty cool overtones and the like that fill up space in interesting ways.

okay what the fuck does that "deadly now for 12,000 years/is Carbon-14" line in We Work the Black Seam mean? does Sting just not understand some scientific thing?

yeah i think so

carbon-14 is a radioactive form of carbon that has a half-life of ~5700 years, but it occurs naturally in very low amounts that isn't harmful to humans, and half-life doesn't mean 'it lasts the length of two half-lives'. nuclear weapons testing in the 50s increased the levels of it in the atmosphere but still not to anything resembling dangerous levels, and is produced by nuclear power plants too. think it's just a not very good attempt to link nuclear power with the coal miners' strike?

if "Lazarus Heart" was an 80s Peter Gabriel song people would've gone gaga for it. that little jazz break is pretty dumb though and obviously something Peter Gabriel would not have done

Every day another miracle!

On the evidence of a photo I saw in the Telegraph, Sting isn’t actually very good at all at yoga - despite all those private lessons.

I suspect it’s a bit like Elvis’s karate skills.

think I've watched this 20 times straight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGi7bwu8SHM

yep, that's a classic!

This reminds me: you know how music documentaries typically leave you feeling either better about the artist, neutral / the same about the artist, or worse about the artist? I always liked The Police, but man, the documentary really bummed me out. All three of them, for various reasons, seem like people you really wouldn't want to know.

Remember this exchange from that interview with Revolver?

Copeland: Andy, since we're here, I'm going to back you up on this. You should stand up right now and say, 'I Andy want all the Puff Daddy money. Because that's not Sting's song he's using, that's my guitar riff.' Okay over to you Andy, Go for it...

Summers: (meekly) Ok, I want all of the Puff Daddy Money.

Copeland: There you go, you feel better now don't you?

Sting: Okay Andy here's all the money. [pours some change on the table] Unfortunately, I've spent the rest of it.

Summers: I'll tell you what, Stewart, I'll take your share, I know Stings' not going to let me have his.

Copeland: So Sting's making out like a bankrobber here, while Andy and I have gone unrewarded and unloved for our efforts and contributions.

Sting: Life... is... f***ing... tough. Here I am in Tuscany.

Copeland: And don't we know it! You're in Tuscany in your palace with wine being poured down your throat and grapes being peeled for you. Sting can you buy me a castle in Italy too? With the proceeds from the longest running hit single in the history of radio? Just a little chateau somewhere?

Sting: We don't have f***ing chateaus in Italy, They're called palazzos. I'll lend you a room. (laughs)

I guess Andy really did carry a grudge over that.

Andy is 80. Probably a bit late to start hinting.

The Shend finds him a great imaginary foil. Continual point of humour on his FB feed.

He appears to be a lousy dancer if Quadrophenia is anything to go by. For a bassist does he have a sense of rhythm?

John Constantine came out of wanting to depict someone that looked like him in a couple of panels.

Sting: Life... is... f***ing... tough. Here I am in Tuscany.

looooool

I’d be interested to know how Summers could possibly have a claim after all this time has passed.

He should talk to Matthew Fisher of Procol Harum:

In 2006, the High Court found Fisher to be joint-author and co-owner of Procol Harum's song "A Whiter Shade of Pale" by virtue of his contribution to the song in the form of his organ solo, despite waiting nearly 40 years since its release to make a claim. Fisher won the case on 20 December 2006 but was awarded 40% of the composers' share of the music copyright, rather than the 50% he was seeking and was not granted royalties prior to 2005.

Huh, wild… well there you go. Maybe he can get a piece of those sweet ongoing royalties.

Does anyone find it wild that the Police are all in their 70s or 80s? Boo hiss time

Well, they did do a song called "Born in the 50's," so they have been preparing you for this realization.

I'm in tears at that video

think I've watched this 20 times straight

Well, they did do a song called "Born in the 50's," so they have been preparing you for this realization.

Except Andy Summers was born in the (early) 40s!

Stink must have known he would be filmed during the performance. I guess the stink was too strong to deny

dunno if I want to admit this but "They Dance Alone" is really pretty and nearly brings me to tears in light of current world events. I guess it's easy to mock him for this stuff but sometimes he does hit it out of the park

"Fragile" on that album works too.

love “be still my beating heart”

still love 'lazarus heart' which sounds like a cross between wayne shorter and paul simon

yeah I posted about it upthread, its probably my favorite Sting deep cut. pretty crazy lyrics too.

I'd always considered Blue Turtles the only worthwhile Sting solo album but I'm rethinking that now. the second half is pretty rough though. I give "We'll Be Together" a pass knowing that Sting didn't want to write it but "Rock Steady" is one of the worst songs I've ever heard in my life. and the last 3 songs are all really dull. manages to wring all the life out of "Little Wing" somehow. I guess "Straight To My Heart" is pretty fun?

"They Dance Alone" made me cry alone in the car recently!!!!

"Rock Steady" is one of the worst songs I've ever heard in my life too!!!

what was the last great song that sting wrote?

Why Should I Cry for You

I guess it's easy to mock him for this stuff but sometimes he does hit it out of the park

otm

If I Ever Lose My Faith in You is a pretty undeniable pop song I think. but yeah idk if he's ever hit the emotional depth of Why Should I Cry For You since

The Soul Cages has several bangers. I'm impressed he got a single as resigned as "All This Time" into the top five.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI8khooPyJk

undeniable

where he mastered those Simon-influenced talk-singing cadences.

Xpost