Nothing Like The Sun [Enhanced]

There are but two extraneous songs on this album: "The Lazarus Heart" and "The Secret Marriage". Other than those two, this album is a diamond mine of excellent music, done by what has to be the most professional solo artist to appear on the scene in the last quarter century.

Sting is a better lyricist than Paul McCartney, at least as good a tunesmith as Donovan, who he bares a strong aesthetic link to, is intelligent, literate and probably just what Malcolm McDowell would be if he ever swallowed a couple of nice-nice pills and took up music! Herr Sumner takes some very diverse idioms, like Hora music, (on "Straight To My Heart",) a first person narrative, ("Englishman In New York",) storytelling, ("Rock Steady",) a mournful waltz, ("They Dance Alone", one of the most soulful songs on the album,) and Caribbean calypso, ("We'll Be Together Tonight",) and presents it all as a cohesive whole that holds your attention from beginning to end. A good selection of eighties' ascendent jazz musicians aid the former Police-man on this incredible album.

Considering that NO ONE has produced music as good as this or "Ten Summoner's Tales" in over 25 years, I hope Sting has 1) His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, 2) Is in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in a prominent spot and 3) Finally makes a good movie where he isn't playing a villain!

Highly recommended!

I have Sting's ''Brand New Day'' and ''Sacred Love''....But this one is my ultimate favorite along with another compilation titled ''Mercury Falling''.

The content here is intelligent, political, disturbing and most of all-- it's damned good quality music. Some of the songs give a warm, slightly jazzy feeling like ''Sister Moon'' and ''Fragile''. The album also takes a turn for the upbeat side when mentioning tracks like ''We'll Be Together''.

There's a wide Latin, jazz and reggae influence over this album. And as usual the man writes excellent music, just shows you how much influence this man has had over other artists. I'm not surprised he left ''The Police'' because without doubt he was the more visible part of the band.

Naturally he writes from his heart, the words are pure and intellectual...that must take some great talent.

Think carefully....there are only a few excellent artists out there today that have written the most memorable music-- (similar to this genre) only a handful of artists like Sinead O'Connor, U2, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Lenny Kravitz, Seal, Tori Amos, Michael Bolton, Bon Jovi and Annie Lennox respectively. Those are seven of the most flawless music writers today, but Oh oh....Sting still reigns the most admired and respected of all.

My favorite song on this album is ''They Dance Alone (Cueca Solo)''-- even though I'm South African I lived in Chile for 6 years, so I know the whole story about ''Los Desapercidos'' and I admire Sting so much for having the guts to stand up for those people, it's got lyrics like ''If they were to speak these words, They'd go missing like the others''. For a similar song, get U2's ''Joshua Tree'' which has the song ''Mothers Of The Disappeared''. Also if you're interested in this subject check out the movie or best-selling book called ''House Of The Spirits'' by Isabel Allende.

This is Sting at his absolute best.

EXCELLENT!

The true second solo album, after "The Dream of The Blue Turtles" and the double disc live set, "Bring On The Night", shows Sting continuing his strong pop sensibilities, but now adding more "flavors" to the mix.
"The Lazarus Heart" may be a lyric gauze, but it sure starts off the album energetically, doesn't it? The tempo just gallops along with dynamo drumming.
"Be Still My Beating Heart" hearkens back to those Police songs with instantly recognizable bass lines. I'm thinking "Walking On The Moon" or "Canary In A Coalmine."
With "Englishman In New York", he constructs another mini-movie, again using the first person. It bounces along with a melody so simple that you'll be humming it for days. The chorus is stupid-catchy, and the 'scene' where somebody walks by with a boombox (at least that's how I took it) is grin-inducing.
"History Will Teach Us Nothing" is a twitchy mess, almost melody-less, which coming from Sting says a LOT.
"They Dance Alone" is the overt political piece for this particular album; it's achingly beautiful. It's a companion song to U2's "Mothers of The Disappeared" (from "The Joshua Tree"), and both stun. Its' simple words conjure haunting images.
"Fragile" is a masterpiece, and you realize it after one listen. The melody serves the lyrics, the arrangement serves the song...it's as 'perfect' as a pop song gets.
"We'll Be Together" was the album's first single, and justifiably so. You kind of want Sting to pick up the tempo from time to time, you know? Here he does, with an irresistible melody...it's catchy as hell...and again drops in a bit of the first single from the LAST album just for kicks near the end.
'Straight To My Heart' is an uptempo love song set to an unusual beat, 7/8 or 15/8 or something. The song features more of that classic Sting vocal sound, with that airy soaring tone that irritates non-fans, but is one of the most recognizable voices in rock.
The albums descends into mediocrity at this point...it was on it's way to being one for the ages, but "Rock Steady" is "Consider Me Gone, part 2"...and just as weak. "Sister Moon" is OK if you don't pay attention. "Little Wing" is a Hendrix cover where he plays with Gil Evans. And "The Secret Marriage" takes effort to even recall.
That said, this album was by far better than 99% of what was out there in 1987, and that still holds true today.