Hi all, I've been listening to the first seven tracks on the website, of course. At this point I don't regret that much; certainly the extended intros of almost all the album versions of these songs meant that I couldn't always be certain that I'd recognise the next notes I heard. Anyhow, this post is composed of both my initial impressions of the songs, and my thoughts once I'd finished listening to the whole album. I'm listening again to each track as I write about it: "Inside" - I was immediately struck by the lyrics. In terms of tune, instrumentation and arrangement, after being a bit anxious on hearing "Send Your Love" (of which more soon), this was a relief because it just *felt* like a Sting song. And the music's.... escalation (not sure how else to describe it; it reminds me on some level of "Nothin' 'Bout Me"'s ending) towards the end cemented this feeling, with the visceral aggression of Sting's delivery on the outro lyrics among the most powerful vocal performances of his I've heard. "Send Your Love" - As I've said, this song concerned me when I first heard it. I knew that as with his other album's, there'd likely be a blend of songs in different styles, but when you look forward to something this much, some caution/disappointment is inevitable. But as the hooks buried themselves in my brain and I began to be able to make out the lyrics, I got to the point of just playing the song over and over. The thing about it which frustrates me is that they missed the boat by not releasing it as a single sooner - whatever happened to releasing it in July? This would've been such a perfect summer tune... I mean, I know it was getting airplay during the summer, but a single release would've raised awareness ahead of time even more. It's also worth mentioning here that this song has huge potential for the tour - the "Top Of The Pops" performance was enough to convince me of that. "Whenever I Say Your Name" - I'm more ambivalent about this than about any of the songs here. I like the lyrics, and this theme of worshipful love of a partner is picked up nicely further along in the album, plus there's some nice instrumentation. The vocals of Sting and of Mary individually give me no cause for complaint, but I'm not sure they "gel" somehow. And tune-wise, it sounds like a generic ballad which could've been released by anyone. And that's a very sad thing for a Sting ballad, coming as it does from a lineage which is anything but generic. Considering how he's slipped the "We'll Be Together" lines into the outro, I'm curious as to what this will evolve into live... but that curiosity doesn't stretch to optimism. "We'll Be Together", incidently, is another of those songs which could stand to be retired from the tour line-up as far as I'm concerned. This is the track I'll be skipping most of the times I listen conciously to the album rather than just letting it play in the background. "Dead Man's Rope" - I wasn't much engaged by this when the video appeared on the site, but as soon as the finished track arrived, I was captivated by every aspect of it. It makes me feel the way I do when I hear "Ghost Story", and as a comment on this list made me realise, it seems like a relative of "Why Should I Cry For You?". I love it. And "walking in his footsteps"... one of those inspired connections Sting makes which is just asking to be explored live. "Never Coming Home" - I like the speed and the urgency of this one; it's a perfect example of music mirroring exposition. "Bring On The Night/When The World" has found a new reason to live here, and a timely one considering that for me at least, it was feeling rather tired. "Stolen Car" - I may be the only person to listen to this on Sting.com who didn't instantly fall in love with the chorus. A couple of extra listens led to my seeing what got other fans hooked, though I'm not sure that it's going to end up up there on my list with something like the (coincidentally named) chorus of "When We Dance". Nice percussion in the intro, and the vocals are impeccable as usual. But somehow I don't quite believe in the thief's portions of the lyrics (ie the ones about him as opposed to the ones about the car's owners), which is something of a new experience for me as regards Sting's writing. I can't put my finger on what it is though... *shrugs* Certainly, those lines don't seem quite as real as those of "Tomorrow We'll See", the song everyone's comparing it to. "Forget About The Future" - Mightn't this be fun as a live follow-up to "Consider Me Gone"? Enough people have been voting for that song in the "Sting Asks" section that we might get lucky on that score... heck, thematically it might be even better as a follow-up to "Brand New Day". Anyway, overall I like the feel of the song, and the lyrics are fun. The piece de resistance comes with the unexpected shift towards the end - I can't wait to hear what they do with this on the tour. And I guess you could try all sorts of interludes with different musical themes... "This War" - My god.... ever since before we knew there was another album in the works, I've been saying that I would be happy if just one song on his next album had a really cool guitar riff of the kind that made me want to play in the first place, a la "The Soul Cages". I tried not to hope too much, thinking that something acoustic along the lines of "Ghost Story" was infinitely more likely. But... well, here we are. I heard part of it on that sampler of the album that appeared a while back, and was impressed then, but having heard the whole thing, words fail me. And it isn't just the sound of Dominic getting his rocks off, it's the whole thing - the lyrics, the emotion of the vocals, which sometimes hearken back to some of the very old live Police performances I've been lucky enough to hear... wow. I hungrily await the chance to see this performed live, or indeed some guitar tabs so I can try it out myself. I cannot praise it highly enough, and consider this and "Dead Man's Rope" the finest songs on the album. "The Book Of My Life" - this is a slow-burner, beautiful in its sadness, which works in the same way as "A Thousand Years": almost reaching a point where you expect the chorus to swell more than once... but while the latter song finally gave in and provided the hook ("I still love you... I still want you"), this song gives you a few seconds lead-in, then returns to the stretched-out moments of the verse, and so never creates quite the same cathartic sense of release. But this shouldn't be taken as a fatal flaw. "Sacred Love" - very enjoyable, and striking me as a perfect fit with the arrangements of "All This Time" and "Brand New Day" born during the "...All This Time" sessions. I really hope he decides to put them together live. As someone else on the list remarked, thanks are due to whoever had the sense to make a silent break between the end of the album (I consider it such... why add the extra remixed and reworked tracks, "A Beautiful Smile", which is of course neither, excepted?) and the last few songs. I didn't get the new "Moon Over Bourbon Street" on my version of the disc, the UK limited edition release which is a hybrid SACD disc and comes in a digipack. But as for the rest: "Send Your Love - Dave Aude Remix" - It's okay. I wouldn't try to have every existing copy ceremonially destroyed, which is more than can be said for some remixes. You rarely find a song that's improved by this kind of treatment. This is not one of those rare finds. That's it. "Shape Of My Heart (live)" - Now, I can almost understand this being here. With the popularity of the Craig David reworking of the song, it's bound to be a feature of the live set. But it would have served equally well as a bonus track. As for the track itself (it's from the "...All This Time" concert), the cello and piano work beautifully; overall a beautiful version of a beautiful song. "Like A Beautiful Smile" - Shakespeare meets Sting, in a song which I can't place in terms of its sound for the life of me. The closest I can come to doing so is to say that it wouldn't have felt at all out of place in the "...Nothing Like The Sun" era. And it's really very nice. Now, why wasn't it part of the album proper? Perhaps (like "End Of The Game" on "Brand New Day") he just couldn't place it either? I'm not sure where I'd put it in the running order... Well, I'm going to mail this now, and some other stuff later. Angeline _________________________________________________________________ Tired of 56k? Get a FREE BT Broadband connection http://www.msn.co.uk/specials/btbroadband