Now I’m not a big Sting fan. Not in the sense of “I don’t like him but I’m being tactful” but in the sense of “I only own two of his albums”. Namely, I own Soul Cages and Brand New Day, which I believe is his second-to-latest album. The latter I haven’t listened to much for the simple reason that it wasn’t in the CD wallet in my car. Yeah, kinda pathetic. I just slammed the jewel case in with my bags for work the other day so that I could give it a good listen.

I will now address any Sting-haters in the audience; others, you may skip this paragraph. Yes, Sting is cheesy occasionally, but I think it’s by dint of taking chances on drama that pay off elsewhere. Some people say he’s pretentious. Well, I like his eclectic world-pollinated approach to music, so that doesn’t bother me, and as for subject matter, I like hearing a song from the point of view of an ancient king, a vampire, or a puppy-dog occasionally! Genero-whiny-dumped-by-girl guy gets old, thank you very much! I like the odd subject matter he uses. And finally, some people hate his time signatures (he has a weakness for odd meters like 7/4). A) Gustav Holst has converted me to weird meters, and B) It’s a signature of his work. If you don’t like odd meters, don’t listen to Sting. If you don’t like celtic influence, don’t listen to Loreena McKennitt. See where I’m going with that? Okay, having dispensed with the Sting-haters, let’s get to content.

There are two songs on this album that I remember hearing on the radio —namely, “Desert Rose” and the title track. Obviously, I liked them, or I wouldn’t have bought it. “Desert Rose” is a great example of one of my favorite kinds of songs—songs that create a space (examples: “Gimme Shelter” by the Stones, “Where the Streets Have No Names” by U2). Between the trip-hop synth music and the soaring folk melodies, it creates a sort of dizzying expanse of shimmering heat and cool shade. I love that. Space-creating songs make my head feel like it’s suddenly relaxing and dissipating over a great distance, rather than the usual tense muscles and constricting headaches of day-to-day life. Oh, and “Desert Rose” is catchy. I’ll just be sitting at my computer and the little synth-bubbles of notes start playing in my head.

“Brand New Day”, on the other hand, is less evocative, more of a traditional pop song. It’s very upbeat, about the prospect of renewing old loves without opening old wounds. Also very catchy, but in a more finger-snappin’ sense. There’s a harmonica in it, mmkay? I like it— I often feel (correctly or not) that most pop or rock songs are downers. This is completely understandable to me—in my few efforts at composition, I’ve found that minor keys are much easier to write in well. Happy happy can grate. The reverse is also true, though—when you’ve been listening to sad, angry, edgy, or twisted songs, something like “Brand New Day” is like dusting the cobwebs out of your head and opening the windows to let the sun in. Happy is good.

The “surprise” songs, were, of course, all the ones I hadn’t heard on the radio. A short look at each:

“A Thousand Years” is an atmospheric ballad very similar in tone and content to the Sting classic “Road to Jerusalem”. While not quite as shiveringly haunting as that song, it is quite good and stands up well by itself. The two-note underlying theme is surprisingly resilient and very hummable.

“Big Lie, Small World” grew on me. The sort of jumpy backbeat and cheezy jazz touches bothered me at first, but once you listen to the lyrics, it is quite a fun song. It’s amusing enough to listen to repeatedly, even if you don’t like the tune and the chorus too much. Which, to clarify, I do not.

“After the Rain Has Fallen” is probably my favorite “surprise song” on this album. Not only does it have that “unusual content” I enjoy (it’s about a princess falling in love with a thief she finds stealing her jewelry), but it has a really gorgeous, uplifting chorus. Finally, how can you not like a song with the line “Take me for a pirate’s wife” in it? Come on!

“Perfect Love…Gone Wrong” is from the point of view of a dog. Canus Domesticus, man’s best friend, slobber-factory. At the risk of losing the respect of those of you who have heard the song, I think I didn’t notice this until the third time through the album. It’s an interesting take on the traditional “betrayed love” song—writing it about the pet-owner relationship instead of a romantic relationship. It’s worth a few laughs, and is a decent pop-rock song. However, it does include multiple interludes of French rap. Some of you may not even know such a thing exists. I, to my chagrin, know that it exists to the extent that I recognize some of the traditional word-tropes and pronunciations of the genre. It may destroy some of you, and it may make some of you stronger. Do not listen if you are weak-minded.

“Tomorrow We’ll See” is a decent sad prostitute song (is that actually a genre, or did I just make it up?) Some very nice instrumentals and a nice tune. Lyrics—slight cheese. Am I the only one whose mind bends when she hears a male voice sing “These new heels are killing me”?

“Fill Her Up”. Umm. Gosh. Uh. Well, frankly, I don’t think the rich instrumental tapestry and high production values of Sting’s style are suited to Western. Maybe it’s just something too British about him. I don’t have the objections of some Amazon reviewers that say they feel insulted hearing a grossly successful, rich star sing “Got no prospects, no education, I was lucky to get a job at this gas station”. It’s called suspension of disbelief, and I’m frightened they didn’t need it to believe a successful rock star as a widdle puppy-dog. This song has its moments of fun, and during certain parts of the month, the gospel, preachy section can make me cry, but it is at best a very guilty pleasure. Cheese a-plenty.

“Ghost Story” is a very low-key, introspective song. It’s very pretty, and I like it.

Bottom line:
Moments of cheese interspersed with stretches of great beauty, all full of pretty and intricately-detailed instrumentation. Bottom line? If you like Sting, you will like this. If you are not sure about Sting, you might be better served by something a little less eclectic, like the more thematically cohesive “Soul Cages”. 8 out of 10