Sting and the Police Collection (Sting in general)

Member Name: polydeuces

Product:	Sting in general
Date:	10/08/08 (2 review reads)
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For a former Geordie school teacher though the boy had done well. The success of Police initially was built on a very simple formula. The excellence of Copelands drumming was augmented by Summers thoughtful considered guitar playing and the brilliant simplicity of their songs and lyrics. At the front was Sting who was one of the greatest vocalists ever. His voice had a maturity which enabled the band to appeal across a huge spectrum from young and old, male and female and crucially on both sides of the Atlantic. As Sting is 50 today it does also mean e was in his mid 20s when the band broke through in the late 70s. As punk was the popular music of time they made a few crucial adjustments to their playing to satisfy the carving for music with energy and an edge. It did not mean a compromise in musical standards though. Playing live The Police were as tight an outfit as you could wish for.
The music was a subtle sub-reggae and rock amalgam which was easy to follow. Their song subject matter usually involved love and often unrequited love or lost love. They were playing for the hearts as well as the minds of their audience. Sadly the band split and only Sting has had any meaningful commercial success as a recording artist since. He has also appeared in many films such as Dune and Quadrophenia but his contribution to motion pictures has been at best peripheral. An obvious box-office attraction based on his looks and personality he might have been but the right role never seemed to lift above bit-part stats.

His better solo works have included If You Love Somebody Set Them Free and Russians which uses some of Prokofievs music in its structure. These came from his first solo album The Dream Of The Blue Turtles and his best album has probably been Ten Summoners Tales from which came If I Ever Lose My faith In You, Fields Of Gold and Seven Days. Fields Of Gold is a lovely song but I am not sure whether this is what the fans who went to those early concerts in the late 70s want from Sting. His songs as a solo artist lack the bite, the drive or the humour of what he did in Police.
Perhaps for too long Sting took himself too seriously and spent too much time pursuing non-music causes. He remains one of the most popular recording artists whom the public still hold in their affection. Sadly that is almost all based on recordings made a comparatively long time ago.

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