Sting | ...NOTHING LIKE THE | CD

Personnel includes: Sting (vocals, guitar, bass); Fareed Haque (guitar); Ken Helman (piano); Kenny Kirkland (keyboards); Manu Katche, Andy Newmark, Kenwood Dennard (drums); Mino Cenelu (percussion, vocoder); Dolette McDonald, Janice Pendarvis, Vesta Williams, Renee Geyer (background vocals).
Producers include: Sting, Neil Dorfsman, Bryan Loren.
Recorded at Air Studios, Montserrat. Includes liner notes by Sting.
Personnel: Sting (vocals, guitar); Rub?n Blades, Sting International (vocals, guitar); Eric Clapton, Hiram Bullock, Mark Egan, Mark Knopfler, Andy Summers, Fareed Haque (guitar); Branford Marsalis (saxophone); Ken Helman (piano); Kenny Kirkland (keyboards); Mino Cinelu (vocoder, percussion); Kenwood Dennard, Manu Katch?, Andy Newmark (drums); Ren?e Geyer, Vesta Williams, Janice Pendarvis, Dollette McDonald (background vocals).
Audio Mixer: David Tickle.
Liner Note Author: Sting International.
Recording information: Air Studios, Montserrat.
Photographer: Brian Aris.
Unknown Contributor Role: Jeff Levison.
Arranger: Sting International.
If Dream of the Blue Turtles was an unabashedly pretentious affair, it looks positively lighthearted in comparison to Sting's sophomore effort, Nothing Like the Sun, one of the most doggedly serious pop albums ever recorded. This is an album where the only up-tempo track, the only trifle -- the cheerfully stiff white-funk "We'll Be Together" -- was added at the insistence of the label because they believed there wasn't a cut on the record that could be pulled as a single, one that would break down the doors to mainstream radio. And they were right, since everything else here is too measured, calm, and deliberately subtle to be immediate (including the intentional throwaway, "Rock Steady"). So, why is it a better album than its predecessor? Because Sting doesn't seem to be trying so hard. It flows naturally, largely because this isn't trying to explicitly be a jazz-rock record (thank the presence of a new rhythm section of Sting and drummer Manu Katche for that) and because the melodies are insinuating, slowly working their way into memory, while the entire record plays like a mood piece -- playing equally well as background music or as intensive, serious listening. Sting's words can still grate -- the stifling pompousness of "History Will Teach Us Nothing" the clearest example, yet calls of "Hey Mr. Pinochet" also strike an uneasy chord -- but his lyricism shines on "The Lazarus Heart," "Be Still My Beating Heart," "They Dance Alone," and "Fragile," a quartet of his very finest songs. If Nothing Like the Sun runs a little too long, with only his Gil Evans-assisted cover of "Little Wing" standing out in the final quarter, it still maintains its tone until the end and, since it's buoyed by those previously mentioned stunners, it's one of his better albums. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

• Format: CD
• Genre: Pop
• Released: 10/05/1987
• Released: 10/5/1987