Sting is an absolute treasure to the world of music. I love nearly everything about him. His vocal talent is undeniable, rich with character. His bass playing is sublime and incredibly emotive. His storytelling chops are world renowned. But what I love most about his approach as a songwriter is his unabashed desire to take risks and venture into the uncharted territory, especially in the pop genre. His true genius can be found in his deployment of time signatures and colorful chord choices.
Sting absolutely loves unusual time signatures– you can hear it in the incredible “I Hung My Head” (played in 9/8) which covers the story of a young kid who accidentally murders a stranger and how he deals with the guilt before eventually finding redemption. The space of that extra beat that gets filled in with a cracking snare drum is such a lovely punctuation mark on the end of each measure. You can also hear a funky time signature in “I Was Brought To My Senses” which is first played in 6/8 before transitioning to 7/4, a two-for-one type deal that only an artist like Sting can really pull off.
Sting’s colorful chord choices are also a hallmark of his playing. If you listen closely you can hear how he leverages unique voicings and plays around with major/minor keys to inject a sense of emotion into each section. There’s so many moments listening to Sting where I smash the rewind button to hear one of his little flairs. It drives my wife absolutely bonkers when I point it out (“just get through the damn song for once”) that I’ve actually stopped listening to him in front of her out of a desire to save my marriage. I love him (and her) that much to give them the space they both need with me in the room.
As a kid I played the shit out of this album and loved how much genre-breaking ground it covered. It’s an eclectic grab bag of adult contemporary songs with world-class session players absolutely crushing it on every song.
Nearly 30 years later I love it just as much. I hope you do too.
Standout Songs: “The Hounds of Winter”, “I Hung My Head”, “All Four Seasons”
