maxb wrote: I was 20 years old when I saw the Synchronicity tour come through San Francisco, and let me tell you, Sting and the Police were a phenomenon then. It was an amazing show that I will never forget, and Synchronicity remains my favorite Police album, along with Ghost In The Machine. I have collected some of Andy Summer's work as well as Gordon Sumner, and I think that they are both talented. Andy's work with Robert Fripp on I Advance Masked is probably my favorite of his work. Andy never got the attention that he deserved, in my opinion. maxb wrote: Well, Sting lost me way before that. He has been preachy on certain songs on Dream Of The Blue Turtle, and that turned me off, and I waited for his music to improve, and it never did for me. There are other artists who get preachy, and I like them, so it must be something about the way in which Sumner does it. I like Stevie Wonder (Talking Book was my first album) and Lou Reed, so it must be something to do with style. Anyway, I agree with many here that the style and the content are both unfortunate and slickly overproduced . Can't say why, but that's art. It's hard to define. I just don't like this song at all, and this album does nothing whatsoever for me. It's a shame really. I really want to like Sting's stuff. Maybe it's a phase? One can hope, but I have waited since the mid 80s for Sting to improve, and the wait continues. I'm not very hopeful, frankly. maxb wrote: Agreed. There was a time when "everything" he did was "magic".

funkaholic wrote: Nope. Music has been used for political purposes since bards travelled the land in medieval times. Get used to it, dude.

bluedot wrote: Don't you think we already have far too many people who think they know The Truth, trying to jam it down others' throats? Do we really need guys like Gabriel and Sting trying to "wake us up?" I thought music was entertainment. I thought music was art. I thought art is the praising of God.

What would Sting know about love? Self-absorbed, pretentious and insincere.

A poor imitation of a mockery of an impersonation of the artist formerly know as Sting.

AHHHHHHHHH. HMMMMMMMM. more to ear than meets the eye, he said cryptically. edgier is good. too poppy? not in terms of pop music in 2004. I agree that XTC Dear God would segue in after that nicely, but I wouldn't make a habit out of it. <

Sting is the biggest sell-out ever. It makes me cringe to see how far he's fallen from his Police heights, and I can't believe I used to shell out big bucks to see him live. Ugh.

I'm afraid this sounds like someone spoofing Sting

Please play XTC's "Dear God" over this... It would work perfect.

yeah..this song is STINGK-O! mega suckin' .. and i LOVE the police and much (most) of sting's solo stuff.. musically, it sounds like he has become a watered-down mockery of himself..and not his good-self. NO carefully crafted melodies..just hashed out singing in a comfortable boring style. listen to "dream of the blue turtles" and hear how the MELODIES are so well constructed..the interesting and moving intervals..the chord structures. they just make you say & feel ..ah.. ..this sounds like a musician who has gotten too comfortable to just sing whatever notes decide to fly out of his mouth..which isn't always good. i have not heard the rest of his latest album so i can't say this applies to all of his recent stuff..but this song is generic bad sting at his worst. IN MY OPINION..OF COURSE.

Woah Sting! Gettin' a little weird there.

I really like Sting a lot, but I agree with a number of you people that this is bad. I think it is great that he continues to push in different directions, however, with this song, he pushed a bit too hard.

bluedot wrote: Actually, what's bugging everyone is that this just flat out SUCKS musically. All the political awareness and humanitarian good intentions does not good music make. I appreciate his sentiments, but, my lord, just write some poetry for cryin' out loud if the accompaniment is going to be this bad.

bluedot wrote: Christ. If there's one endeavor where good intentions don't count, it's music.

well., go ahead and kick me in the teeth, but I like this song.

Can we not play this pompous shit any more ?? My god what a bunch of crap. :verymad:

He's really lost touch with reality. How bout some police

OmegaConcern wrote: ditto

OK, this is one of the better songs on this album. However, listening to "Sacred Love" on XM this morning, I've come to this conclusion: Sting is officially getting old. Perhaps I can catch him in Vegas in a few years...

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend; Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." --- Groucho Marx This song...better in the dog bowl than on RP.

Euphemism wrote:How do you know that isn't what actually happened?bluedot wrote:Listening to Sting rap about his unfathomable depth, is not my idea of music, it is, on the other hand, my idea of preaching. It takes a rather large ammount of pretension (when it comes to philisophocal matters) to say (and belive) "I am right, and you are wrong."bothanesque wrote:Probally because this sounded Really Really good "Inside" of Sting's head.

Here's the thing: This isn't a bad song. It's just a bad Sting song. Bad Sting is still better than most of the crap out there on the airwaves (RP excluded, of course). I just haven't liked this new album like I have, say, Soul Cages or Synchronicity. Probably my least favorite, actually, but not as awful as I've making it out to be. Tomorrow I'll probably say the exact opposite, but that's where I am right now.

I agree with maxb. This newer stuff isn't up to par with his work with the Police and his earlier solo work. Sting has always been a humanitarian, so that wouldn't turn me off to him now. If you doubt that, then break out some of the Police stuff and listen to his political writing with them. This shit that he's putting out today is very contrived and overproduced sounding. Why is it that artists feel the need to overproduce recordings nowdays? People were getting great recordings back in the 60's and 70's without using digital "enhancements".

Synchronicity was the very first album I ever bought. I was probably around ten years old at the time, and it had recently been released. I remained fan of Sting's work long thereafter, buying one album after another. Ten Summoner's Tales would be the last Sting recording to make it into my collection. None of his more recent work has embodied the qualities that I had found so appealing: socially conscious and confrontational treatment of important social and political issues, and good songwriting, both lyrically and musically. With this latest release, the transformation is all but complete. What a load of insipid, vacuous, commercial crap. Oh well. He had a good ride, and produced more real art than most.

Don't understand why everyone here is so hostile to sting's new sh*t. i think it's tasty. plus, he's saying important, humanitarian things. something tells me that that's actually what is buggin' everyone. we NEED to start using music to say important things. even if sting's efforts are controversial, he scores big points for having his heart in the right place and having the balls to use his bully pulpit as a rock star to move things in a positive direction. ditto, peter gabriel.

AliGator wrote: Guess he's in a position to express himself anyway he damn pleases, pleasing anyone else be damned !!! Most albums I enjoy have at least one number I don't much care for. That would be this one.

Ohhh it hurts! It hurts!!! Please god make it stop, my ears are bleeding!! :verymad:

Sting at his very worst. Honestly, I never understood what the world saw in him!

If this isn't evidence enough that Mr. Sumner needs to finally hang it up, well..... Horribly embarrassing. A career nadir!

Euphemism wrote: Hilarious! Oh, but if you only could...

When we eventually develop time travel, I hope I'm still around so I can go back and show Sting this song. "THIS is what happens if you leave the Police! DON'T! For the LOVE of GOD!"

for some reason i get the idea that, upon completion of this song, sting thought "I don't like it, but someone else might."

Wonder why he chose to name this 'Inside'?

Not sure what I think yet...this the first song from this CD I have heard. I like Sting and I think this song demonstrates what a great voice he has...although I don't need the "rap-ish" lyrics to appreciate his talents. How is the rest of the CD??

Sting needs to find another band as talented as his ex-Police cohorts to save him from the excesses of himself.

coldatlantic wrote: The first thing I thought when I heard this was "Wow!" This is one for my Christmas stocking!

Posted 20 years ago by brianlj    [ Reply ]

Schmackdown wrote: INXS was by no means the first band to use rhyming fast talking material in a pop song.

Wow this is busy. Interesting. But busy.

Schmackdown wrote: I was thinking he was doing some sort of Eminem imitation at the end! 8O

"conjugate me"? I guess that would qualify as a verbal assault. It is certainly an object lesson on the perils of rhyming dictionaries. :roll:

This sounds like a funky "dear God"

I have always enjoyed Sting and the variety that comes with him. However this song just don't click with me. Don't know what it is. The lyrics just dont seem to fit the music.

My hat's off to Sting, for being brave enough to share his aging/wisening process with the whole world, rather than trying to pump out duplicates of his popular stuff from years ago. It means that we get to hear new ideas from him as he learns more about himself and music. I can only hope to age as well as he has.

I'm a Sting fan, but I've yet to buy this CD b/c nothing has caught my ear yet. Is he paying royalties to INXS for the end of this song?

Dude... Sting just rules.