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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
There is a difference between being an inspired musician and an informed musician. Sting is the latter. As always, he surrounds himself with ultra-talented artists: this time around Stevie Wonder, Branford Marsalis, James Taylor, guitarist Dominic Miller and the prince of rai Cheb Mami fill the roster. Brand New Day exhibits about as many musical styles as there are tracks, all encased in dense, meticulous production. The album begins promisingly. "A Thousand Years" pulses atop a lush, two-note foundation. "A Desert Rose" folds trilling Algerian pop into trip-hop. Melodic, late-night jazz ballads dominate the middle portion of the collection. But Sting's preoccupation with odd-numbered time signatures prevents the songs from grooving, while the choruses are yawns. "Fill Her Up", a country tune, represents Sting at his most self-indulgent. Listening to one of the wealthiest musicians in pop singing "Got no money to invest/Got no prospect/Or education/I was lucky to get the job at this gas station" requires a heroic suspension of disbelief. The song morphs into this rousing gospel number where Sting and a supporting chorus chant "You gotta fill 'er up with Jesus!/You gotta fill her up with life!" Who knew unleaded could be so rousing? --Beth Massa
Product Description
STING Brand New Day (1999 UK 10-track enhanced CD album which includes the hit single Desert Rose featuring Cheb Mami picture sleeve)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
On the sleeve of 'Brand New Day',Sting stands poised to spring from a lift and whisk a bewteeful laydee away to paradise (out of shot he's probably sat on a white horse).Digitally piped through hi-fi speakers perhaps he's listening to his own back catalogue? It's easy to laugh at Sting for being an ego on a stick. He is an ex-English teacher after all, and one suspects a 'recovering catholic'(?),so it should be easy to forgive the pseudo-literary,Carl Jungy ,Tantric sex thing. The following is also true; even if he didn't have one of the most compelling voices in contemporary music (which he does)and hadn't written a handful of songs that stand comparison with the very best (which he has)he would still be amongst a handful of truly world class bass players. His lines are always coolly elegant, and precisely what the song requires, eschewing obvious technical display. 'Brand New Day' isn't Stings best album, there are songs here that could be dispensed with, without the record losing anything substantial, as I think, this is probably true of all his solo output, which puts them outside the remit for truly great records (The Police managed this with monotonous regularity - imagine taking anything off 'Outlandos d'Amour' without leaving it seriously diminished?)Alot of 'Brand New Day' is just bland, and one gets the feeling that his forays into unfamiliar musical genres, overstretch even his prodigious talents. Play 'Fill Her Up' next to something by Steve Earle at his 'trailer trash' best and it just sounds stupid. Rythming weasel with diesel- an ex-English teacher! An earlier reviewer called Sting an 'informed' rather than an 'inspired' musician. He's informed alright, but to say he's never inspired is just plain wrong. Try this;take your car onto a deserted motorway. It's 3.00am and pouring with rain. Drive the car fast, (that's 70mph -probably)and play 'Desert Rose' very, very, very loud (Cheb Mami has the voice of an Angel).If you don't get a bang from that, and can't feel the word 'inspired' hanging somewhere in the ether,you're probably dead, and shouldn't be out on such a p*** poor night.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This album is the first one of Sting I've ever bought. The more I play it the more I love it. The whole album was worth buying for the first two tracks alone. There are a couple on there that I skip, but on the whole, it is very good, and varied. It's never out of my CD player! I sent the words of 'A Thousand Years' to my boyfriend. He was knocked out by the words!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Sting's sixth studio CD is a big improvement on "Mercury Falling". The arrival of Kipper on the production side means this is certainly one of the best-produced albums in terms of its mix.
"After the Rain Has Fallen" has a standard rock chorus; but "Perfect Love Gone Wrong" has a female rap that interferes with the gentle jazz flow. "Fill Her Up" is a country & western/gospel hybrid that leaves me cold.
Far better is the philosophical love declared in the assured and well-written opening track, "A Thousand Years": "I may have lived a thousand lives, a thousand times | An endless turning stairway climbs | To a tower of souls". The electronic opening immediately declares this album to be different from all other previous ones. And in "Big Lie Small World" strings add depth to the imaginative lyrics, although these can be naively contorted in places. The track has a cool jazz feel, a trumpet floating free above the electronic beat. "Tomorrow We'll See" also has strings - and a clarinet - in the mix. Its persistent bass presages danger and add to the force of the nocturnal lyrics: "They have the money I have the time | Being pretty's my only crime". Good lyrics also appear together with a classical guitar in "Ghost Story", a ballad where a man comes to terms with his emotional past: "And now I'm thinking | That this indifference | Was my invention | When everything I did | Sought your attention". Shame about the lack of a proper climax.
The highlights of this album, which is full of songs about stresses in relationships - should we read anything into this? - are "Desert Rose" and the final title-track. Like "Mad About You" on the "Soul Cages" album, "Desert Rose" has through its percussion, Arabic voice, and string arrangement a middle-eastern feel. Well-arranged and produced, layers are added to a building crescendo that ends, alas, all too early. Stevie Wonder on his harmonica accompanies the ending rocker "Brand New Day". The lyrics again stand out as well-constructed (although the likes of "You're the tunnel, I'm the train" can only produce groans). Like a Bruckner symphony, the whole song and CD ends with a riff from the opening track, "A Thousand Years".
And so we hit the `repeat' button to go round willingly again.
"After the Rain Has Fallen" has a standard rock chorus; but "Perfect Love Gone Wrong" has a female rap that interferes with the gentle jazz flow. "Fill Her Up" is a country & western/gospel hybrid that leaves me cold.
Far better is the philosophical love declared in the assured and well-written opening track, "A Thousand Years": "I may have lived a thousand lives, a thousand times | An endless turning stairway climbs | To a tower of souls". The electronic opening immediately declares this album to be different from all other previous ones. And in "Big Lie Small World" strings add depth to the imaginative lyrics, although these can be naively contorted in places. The track has a cool jazz feel, a trumpet floating free above the electronic beat. "Tomorrow We'll See" also has strings - and a clarinet - in the mix. Its persistent bass presages danger and add to the force of the nocturnal lyrics: "They have the money I have the time | Being pretty's my only crime". Good lyrics also appear together with a classical guitar in "Ghost Story", a ballad where a man comes to terms with his emotional past: "And now I'm thinking | That this indifference | Was my invention | When everything I did | Sought your attention". Shame about the lack of a proper climax.
The highlights of this album, which is full of songs about stresses in relationships - should we read anything into this? - are "Desert Rose" and the final title-track. Like "Mad About You" on the "Soul Cages" album, "Desert Rose" has through its percussion, Arabic voice, and string arrangement a middle-eastern feel. Well-arranged and produced, layers are added to a building crescendo that ends, alas, all too early. Stevie Wonder on his harmonica accompanies the ending rocker "Brand New Day". The lyrics again stand out as well-constructed (although the likes of "You're the tunnel, I'm the train" can only produce groans). Like a Bruckner symphony, the whole song and CD ends with a riff from the opening track, "A Thousand Years".
And so we hit the `repeat' button to go round willingly again.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Desert Rose
Good CD although mainly bought for Desert Rose, which I love. Some of the tracks are a little disppointing but on the whole it is good.
Published 11 months ago by Mrs. Hilary Hilton
Brand New Day
I had forgotten how good this album was as I first purchased it on cassette when it first came out in 1999. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Diane
Nobody mentioned Ghost Story...?
I have had this album for over a year, and never bothered to review it. It's fantastic, but when a product already has a lot of reviews, I tend not to bother. Read more
Published on 10 Feb 2010 by E. Clarke
Nice album, pity about the poses
I like the album, but I find the 'poses' in the CD booklet a bit annoying. Essentially he is doing a lot of dominance displays, which usually consists of showing people his hands... Read more
Published on 7 Feb 2008 by D. Hopkins
high quality Sting
The man churns them out and they're beautiful. Admittedly still in the then innovative style of Blue Turtles - like all his music since really but he invented that sound and it... Read more
Published on 6 Jun 2006 by Hill Walker
Classic!!!!!!!
well, Im going to keep this entry short n sweet. This album is just amazing! Sting has had so many legend songs...this album, for me, is probably his best!!!! Read more
Published on 10 Dec 2004 by **Caroline***
Emphasis on passionate love...Yeah
This set really starts off strongly with "A Thousand Years" and "Desert Rose", tapers off a bit with "Big Lie Small World", but bounces back upward withn "After The Rain Has... Read more
Published on 6 Jan 2003 by Neal C. Reynolds
Brand New Sting!
This album, I am sure should be no stranger to anyone.
After going multi-platinum, spawning 3 singles including the monumental 'Desert Rose' with Cheb Mami and 'After the Rain... Read more
After going multi-platinum, spawning 3 singles including the monumental 'Desert Rose' with Cheb Mami and 'After the Rain... Read more
Published on 2 July 2002
zipping zingy
if you like to bomb down the motorway at wheeeee miles per hour listen to this album. I found it very uplifting, in fact I looked forward to going to work so I could listen to it... Read more
Published on 13 April 2001 by kaneria@yahoo.com
Amazingly magical.
When I first heard 'Thousand Years' a shiver ran down my spine and I was completely captured by it. Sting has excelled himself again in this album which I believe it to be one of... Read more
Published on 1 Oct 2000
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