Track Listing

1. The Lazarus Heart
2. Be Still My Beating Heart
3. Englishman In New York - Sting, Neil Dorfsman, Hugh Padgham
4. History Will Teach Us Nothing
5. They Dance Alone
6. Fragile - Neil Dorfsman, Sting, Hugh Padgham
7. We'll Be Together - Bryan Loren, Paul Mckenna, Sting
8. Straight To My Heart
9. Rock Steady
10. Sister Moon
11. Little Wing
12. The Secret Marriage
13. Englishman In New York - Pete Smith, Sting

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12151 in Music
• Released on: 2001-06-11
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Dimensions: .24 pounds
• Running time: 67 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Sting's second and most conceptually dense solo album moved on from jazz to ideas picked up from Latin music. Even when he's not using Latin music's tricky polyrhythms, the melodies of the ballad "Be Still My Beating Heart" and the hit dance single "We'll Be Together" suggest he'd been listening to lots of salsa. If you can sting, you can cross-pollinate, too, and there are some other subtle hybrids here, notably the Gil Evans Orchestra's gliding arrangement of Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing" and the reggae-in-a-Cole Porter suit of "Englishman in New York". Of course, the former schoolteacher has some lyrical messages to deliver and the three songs that originally made up the second side of a double LP are a bitter meditation on Latin American politics and history. --Douglas Wolk

CD Description
Sting's double-length follow-up to his solo debut DREAMS OFTHE BLUE TURTLE is very much in the same sophisticated, adult pop vein, although darker and less jazzy (notwithstandinga collaboration with Miles Davis's arranger Gil Evans on a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing"). The songs are a generally varied lot, ranging from a tribute to victims of repression in Argentina ("They Dance Alone") to a tongue-in-cheek, sort-of-reggae tribute to famous eccentric Quentin Crisp ("An Englishman in New York"). The sort-of-funk "We'll Be Together"(originally written for a Japanese beer commercial) isthe most upbeat and pop-ish thing here, and was deservedly a hit single, although Sting now disdains it.

Customer Reviews

Classic Sting - every song a winner....
One of my favourite albums of all time - the songs are classic, timeless. Sting's voice is reminiscent of the sunshine on a sultry summer's day; caressing your psyche into blissful lethargy (but maybe this is just me!) :)

I love 'Little Wing' too (best rendition I've heard in a long while), and 'Secret Marriage' is brief but breathtakingly beautiful. 'Fragile' may be overplayed, but you can see why - it is moving, haunting.

"My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun..."
I've just got back into the tantric one's music having had the benefitof seeing "The Police" playing live last week. Yes Mr Sumner can do no wrong but this is probably my favourite of his solo albums. The album opens with the jazz tinged "Lazarus Heart" guitar courtesy of Mr Andrew Summers no less. This is jazz inflected genius where the tempo shifts mid song due to exceptional bass and percussion."be still my beating Heart" is excellent "Englishman in New York" is quintissentially British and a marvel to behold. "History will teach us Nothing" is okay but "Fragile" is astoundingly beautiful We'll be together is funk at its best, "sister Moon" is Languid jazzy brilliance closely followed by an astounding version of "Little Wing" and is finished with by "The Secret Marriage" which was dusted off for the four weddings soundtrack. Sting is in fine musical form and in good company. Mark knopfler and Eric Clapton pop up through the album.
The sleevenotes are highly entertaining and eloquent. Sting advocated the quotation of Shakespeare to rid oneself of inebriates. When "accosted by a drunk in Notting Hill who demanded to know how full was the moon that night Sting replied that his Mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun." A Good answer" replied the drunk who lurched on like a "listing galleon" absolutely fantastic!

Sting's finest hour
i'm not a Sting fan at all. He just doesn't reach me... which is cool; each to their own and all that. But with this album he transcended the terribly safe but strange "eco-consciousness but willing to sell luxury cars" place that he has since carved for himself, and reached a musically sublime space.

"Nothing Like the Sun" is a rich, warm and rewarding album. Being a Sting album, it's in no way challenging to the listener, but here - unlike his other work - i find myself a willing participant in the easiness of the listen.

This album goes to places that most never reach. It has real soul. If every artist made just one album this good, the world would an infinitely richer place musically. It is to Sting's credit that he succeeded where almost all fail. It is a little sad, though, that he never reached such heady heights again.