This is kind of where I am on this. I was really hoping that playing with the guys again would jar his creative juices and get him in peak form again, musically. I have a pretty extensive Christmas music collection, and I've always liked the stuff that's not over-the-top-Christmasy. So I will probably buy this, where I didn't pick up the lute album. But it's not what I was hoping for as his next release. And, I'm kind of wondering if he's lost some drive or edge or something and this is kind of his version of early retirement? You know, a lot of high powered executives don't really retire, they work as consultants until they literally can't work anymore. Maybe this is Sting's version of being a consultant? If so, another direction that might be cool is for him to pull a Peter Gabriel and mentor lesser-known artists from around the world, producing them, promoting them, etc. Although I have to admit that I miss Peter Gabriel, he now has the built in YAY! factor when he releases even one new song (such as "Down to Earth" for the Wall-E movie.) I wonder if we'll ever get to that point with Sting, where he releases one new song every year or two and that is enough to excite all of us. Chris On Jun 22, 2009, at 10:01 AM, Angeline Adams wrote:
I like the concept of a winter album of folk songs and carols - I enjoy that kind of thing, and he does handle such material very nicely. I was initially disappointed to hear about the repackaging of familiar material, but then it occurs to me that people like us, with exhaustive Police/Sting collections, are not the target audience for this thing.
It'll be aimed at people who want some seasonal music but want something a little more sophisticated than yet another 'Do They Know It's A Winter Wonderland?' compilation - probably people of about Sting's generation and the next generation below, not necessarily Fans back in the day, but with a working knowledge and liking of his singles. And those two old songs will be unfamiliar to them, so they're not paying for anything twice. Looked at that way, it doesn't seem like such a bad idea.
Do I wish he'd have some sort of creative renaissance and come up with an album full of new stuff? Absolutely. Then again, if he's got nothing new to offer I respect his choice to do a project like this (or indeed the lute album) that interests him and which he can make something good out of rather than turn out an album of pappy original material just-because-he-can...
Angeline
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