I really enjoy Sting\u2019s solo work. However, it is sometimes dispassionate, distant and remote, technically proficient but emotionally bloodless. When he breaks through that dispassion, the work that results is often spectacular. <\/p>\n
The Soul Cages<\/i> — my favorite Sting CD — is a perfect example of that breakthrough. For an hour or so of introspection, Sting\u2019s emotions are accessible, almost naked at times, and as listeners we can share in that and really touch the heart of the music.<\/p>\n
The Soul Cages<\/i> was written on the heels of Sting losing his parents, and the theme of loss and memory runs woven through the CD. Almost echoing that thread is the sound of the CD; it is deep, rich, carefully produced to catch hold of the listener without disrupting the emotional current. It manages to be smooth without being slick, retrospective without being maudlin, and in that it is brilliant.<\/p>\n
The CD opens with \u201cIsland Of Souls,\u201d a wistful and haunting tale of a father and son\u2019s parting and loss, laden with Breton pipes and other almost-Celtic instrumentation. The theme of the sea appears here for the first time, and on The Soul Cages<\/i> it is used as a constant reminder of the unknown, of loss and of the unexplored country between death and life. That same wistfulness reappears on \u201cWhy Should I Cry For You,\u201d \u201cThe Wild Wild Sea\u201d and \u201cWhen The Angels Fall\u201d — in the world of The Soul Cages<\/i>, things and people get lost and we\u2019re never really told why.<\/p>\n
The truly powerful tracks are where that wistful sadness becomes catalyzed by anger — specifically \u201cMad About You\u201d and the title song. \u201cMad About You\u201d is a dark tale of obsession and loss intermixed with witty turns of phrase and intense disturbing imagery, and \u201cThe Soul Cages\u201d is a guitar-laded retelling of the Welsh myth that tells of sailor\u2019s souls being kept under the sea by the merrow when they are lost in a shipwreck. Both are exhilarating, fierce and just powerful enough to keep The Soul Cages<\/i> from drowning in its own introspection.<\/p>\n
In summary, The Soul Cages<\/i> is a powerful CD, a work of art both in its individual songs and in being viewed as a single entity. A memorial for lost parents, it is a fitting tribute and a wonderful piece of work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":28838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6137],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-40337","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-sting","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40337"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}