I wouldn't say I'm a huge fan of Sting solo stuff in general, but I love The Soul Cages, and oddly enough, "All This Time" was the song that made me want to play bass. I was ten at the time, and for some reason, something about the simple bass line made me aware of the importance of the low end in pop music. You'd think it would've been some James Brown song or something, but, yes, ladies and gentlemen- Sting inspired me to play bass.
The Soul Cages is a great record. I love the track, "Mad About You", and the album's opener- "Island of Souls", is a pretty amazing song.
I must bring up the music video for "All This Time"- Who else is nostalgic for that short period in the late eighties-early nineties when MTV was playing videos with an artsy edge? This video, along with "Losing My Religion", "Silent All These Years", and any Bjork or Peter Gabriel video from the time all sort of fall into the same category. People still make videos like this, but you don't see them anymore. Then again- I don't remember the last time I watched Mtv, so maybe I'm assuming things?
Zack
· 1 year ago
You mean the Martha Quinn years? When 120 Minutes was actually worth staying up on a school night to watch? I remember seeing the video for The Cure's "Catepillar Girl" one night and realizing that MTV was in the midst of its golden age.
David Ragland
· 1 year ago
Exactly!
MatthewBolin
· 1 year ago
I ain't touching "This Old Heart of Mine". Nothing can be redeemed from that glossy screamfest, including the "retro" video with the scary backup singers in lime-green vinyl dresses and peach eye makeup.
And I can't believe no one mentioned the absolute "best" part of "Da Ya"...the bassist's "dancing" from the 3:15-3:25 mark. Good Lord!
FH
· 1 year ago
You putting that vile Champagne song right after George Benson is akin to baking an amazing cake and frosting it with human waste.
Damn you.
rwcass
· 1 year ago
Champaign, sir, not Champagne, although even people here in Illinois make that mistake now and again.
JonCummings
· 1 year ago
"How 'Bout Us" is not vile. It's high-class early-'80s R&B cheese, right up there with Ray, Goodman & Brown's "Special Lady" in my book. If you still disagree, check out the awesome percussive effect behind the male singer's voice as he starts the line "Or are we gonna drift and drift and drift together" at the 2:35 mark.
I love George Benson, but "Turn Your Love Around" is probably my least favorite of his big hits.
jack
· 1 year ago
When Darren says "One of my dad’s favorite songs" (re: Krytonite) I immediately imagine that he's 12. Because my father never listened to songs like this in the '90s, or the station that would have played this song.
DwDunphy
· 1 year ago
I immediately imagine Darren's dad sells propane and propane accessories, stands around drinking beers with Dale Gribble and says, "Yeah...!" a lot.
Darren
· 1 year ago
Close, he owned an auto parts store in Decatur, MI. He was also a drummer in a number of 60's rock bands right up until his passing away a few years ago. Despite being in his early 60's, suffering from congestive heart failure, he still managed to play gigs and was a huge Cheap Trick fan, going so far as to check himself out of the hospital at one point so he didn't miss one of the band's rare Michigan appearances.
In addition to digging "Kryptonite", he also had a special fondness for Bryan Adams "Everything I Do"...I know that's a hard thing to admit...yuk, yuk...but that was all part of what made my dad so great., all differences aside.
hagen
· 1 year ago
Wait a minute... Sting did a cover of Tempted, and nobody's posted a link to it? How the might have fallen!
jefito
· 1 year ago
Well, since you asked so NICELY...it's been posted.
hagen
· 1 year ago
Ah, The Powers That Be... thanks and a fine Friday to the lot of ya!
DwDunphy
· 1 year ago
You best be damn grateful we didn't repost the link to the Ethel Merman Disco Album. Damn, DAMN grateful!!
hagen
· 1 year ago
That really sounds like a dare to me... do you have said disco discombobulation?
Beau
· 1 year ago
One mild irony here: You all mock the pretension of Sting's "Soul Cages" while giving a perfect example of what happens when you don't really try at all. That would be "Kryptonite," a precursor to today's gaggle of post-grunge bands with a whiny tattooed boy posing as a lead singer and a bunch of dreary arpeggios masquerading as interesting guitar riffs.
(We interrupt this rant for a couple of notes -- I think you're not hearing a full-fledged drum roll there but just a couple of triplet patterns, and the video is no longer available.)
Honestly -- does anyone even try to write hooks any more? Or learn to sing? Or learn to play? At least Sting was infusing his music with enough artistic intent that some of us were able to use it for a class project without being embarrassed.
I am am unabashed Soul Cages fan. "Island of Souls" and the titletrack, with the unified theme of departing this mortal life reinforced by a repeating verse and those beautiful pipes, are a wonderful meditation on life and loss. "All This Time" makes something happier out of his father's death. "Jeremiah Blues" is a nice change of pace with some scorching guitar. And "The Wild Wild Sea" is simply breathtaking, particularly when the drums thunder after the final verse.
Do you think 3 Doors Down or any of these wind-up post-grunge Vedder wannabes put any such thought into turning an artistic concept into music? Or do you figure they just skate by and complain until they get laid? These jack-nuts probably keep complaining *after* they get laid.
Phew ... that rant was a long time coming.
Oh yeah -- it's hysterical how Rod's band gets into these videos. If it's not Phil Chen chewing hay in "Hot Legs," it's Carmine Appice and his porn stache twirling the stick.
But this song was redeemed by the classic film "So I Married An Axe Murderer."
And a final note: For years, I thought Rod was singing "if you want my money ..."
jefito
· 1 year ago
The 3 Doors video should be fixed now. Stupid attorneys...
DwDunphy
· 1 year ago
Your point is well taken, however I still have to say that Sting's post-Police output was more or less laden with intent. I think the most "fun" he had up to 10 Summoner's Tales (jeez, Louise!) was on Blue Turtles with "Shadows In The Rain"... But then, that was a Police cover, so whaddya think?
3 Doors Down, like Hoobastank, like all the rest of your Vedderbees are not so different from the punk-pop jerks that litter the landscape today, each with that Chester Bennington high school squeak, capturing that last second before their voice finally matures into adulthood as if to say, "Look! Pubes!"
My point: Sting should have lightened up every now and then because he is a serious artist. Serious artists know that contrasts amplify. 3 Doors Down were just the lunkheads of the season getting their gobs swabbed by Eagle Snax while chugging from the beer bong - here today, Behind The Music fodder tomorrow.
Elaine
· 1 year ago
I'm surprised to say that I don't like this Tempted cover. For one thing, he mucks with the words..changing some, and mumbles others into unrecognizability. Unlike the "Wild Nights" cover by The Coug and Me'Shell. It rocks.
hm.
But thank you for sharing them nevertheless. :-)
Thierry
· 1 year ago
Last year, I came to the realization that George Benson was not only impossibly cool, but also a pretty amazing guitarist. How did that happen? I picked up his late-60s album of Abbey Road covers (it was recorded three weeks after the release of the Beatles' album) - The Other Side of Abbey Road. It might be the best - and only worthwhile - album of Beatles covers you'll ever hear, and a bit of an overlooked gem.
All Comments
The Soul Cages is a great record. I love the track, "Mad About You", and the album's opener- "Island of Souls", is a pretty amazing song.
I must bring up the music video for "All This Time"- Who else is nostalgic for that short period in the late eighties-early nineties when MTV was playing videos with an artsy edge? This video, along with "Losing My Religion", "Silent All These Years", and any Bjork or Peter Gabriel video from the time all sort of fall into the same category. People still make videos like this, but you don't see them anymore. Then again- I don't remember the last time I watched Mtv, so maybe I'm assuming things?
And I can't believe no one mentioned the absolute "best" part of "Da Ya"...the bassist's "dancing" from the 3:15-3:25 mark. Good Lord!
Damn you.
I love George Benson, but "Turn Your Love Around" is probably my least favorite of his big hits.
In addition to digging "Kryptonite", he also had a special fondness for Bryan Adams "Everything I Do"...I know that's a hard thing to admit...yuk, yuk...but that was all part of what made my dad so great., all differences aside.
(We interrupt this rant for a couple of notes -- I think you're not hearing a full-fledged drum roll there but just a couple of triplet patterns, and the video is no longer available.)
Honestly -- does anyone even try to write hooks any more? Or learn to sing? Or learn to play? At least Sting was infusing his music with enough artistic intent that some of us were able to use it for a class project without being embarrassed.
I am am unabashed Soul Cages fan. "Island of Souls" and the titletrack, with the unified theme of departing this mortal life reinforced by a repeating verse and those beautiful pipes, are a wonderful meditation on life and loss. "All This Time" makes something happier out of his father's death. "Jeremiah Blues" is a nice change of pace with some scorching guitar. And "The Wild Wild Sea" is simply breathtaking, particularly when the drums thunder after the final verse.
Do you think 3 Doors Down or any of these wind-up post-grunge Vedder wannabes put any such thought into turning an artistic concept into music? Or do you figure they just skate by and complain until they get laid? These jack-nuts probably keep complaining *after* they get laid.
Phew ... that rant was a long time coming.
Oh yeah -- it's hysterical how Rod's band gets into these videos. If it's not Phil Chen chewing hay in "Hot Legs," it's Carmine Appice and his porn stache twirling the stick.
But this song was redeemed by the classic film "So I Married An Axe Murderer."
And a final note: For years, I thought Rod was singing "if you want my money ..."
3 Doors Down, like Hoobastank, like all the rest of your Vedderbees are not so different from the punk-pop jerks that litter the landscape today, each with that Chester Bennington high school squeak, capturing that last second before their voice finally matures into adulthood as if to say, "Look! Pubes!"
My point: Sting should have lightened up every now and then because he is a serious artist. Serious artists know that contrasts amplify. 3 Doors Down were just the lunkheads of the season getting their gobs swabbed by Eagle Snax while chugging from the beer bong - here today, Behind The Music fodder tomorrow.
hm.
But thank you for sharing them nevertheless. :-)