It\u2019s been 13 years since Sting last delivered a pop album; while Brand New Day <\/i>brought him commercial and critical success, its follow-up Sacred Love <\/i>did neither of those things, and the former Police singer\/songwriter\/bassist turned to other forms of music (including a Police reunion) in the interim.<\/p>\n
But there are no signs of rust on the new effort, which delivers 10 pop-rock songs tailor-made for adult contemporary radio. As he always has, Sting combines love songs and political songs, set to midtempo, somewhat benign melodies, resulting in mature, slightly downcast music for middle-aged grownups. To his credit, the man seems to have lost some ego with age; there\u2019s nothing embarrassing about Russians loving their children or blue turtles or anything, and the lyrics sound sincere, as does the music.<\/p>\n
Much like latter-day Paul Simon and Paul McCartney records, 57th<\/sup> & 9th<\/sup> <\/i>is more interested in reaffirmation and the joy of music instead of breaking new ground or challenging things, the way they did when they were young men. Those expecting anything like the Police will not find it here; those who loved Brand New Day<\/i>, however, will love this too. If anything, Sting\u2019s voice has become richer and deeper with age, lending a gravity to the tunes.<\/p>\n And while there may not be many songs worthy of hitting \u201crepeat\u201d all that often, the best songs are invested with care and flair and the occasional nifty melodic line, as on the exciting pop-rocker \u201cI Can\u2019t Stop Thinking About You\u201d and the lush \u201cDown, Down, Down\u201d one of the best songs Sting has written since at least 1983. The lone exception to the Police rule is \u201cPetrol Head,\u201d which works up a head of nervy steam concerning its snarling guitars and well-worn road trip lyrics. It\u2019s fun.<\/p>\n When the album isn\u2019t working its way into your head, though, it tends to plod along, as on \u201c50,000\u201d and \u201cOne Fine Day,\u201d while the mundane \u201cPretty Young Soldier\u201d doesn\u2019t hit like it should, given the subject matter. Better is the simple folk cadence of \u201cHeading South On The Great North Road\u201d and the jittery \u201cIf You Can\u2019t Love Me,\u201d while Sting\u2019s world-music leanings and social conscience lead him to tackle the Syrian refugee crisis on \u201cInshallah.\u201d Far from being preachy, the lyrics are simply concerned commentary, and that\u2019s a welcome sight.<\/p>\n In fact, much of the disc is rather unassuming, concerned with being meaningful but approachable, thoughtful yet relatable, and it\u2019s a good look on the veteran. 57th<\/sup> & 9th<\/sup> <\/i>may not have immediate rewards or break the mold in any way, but it\u2019s as good a solo record as Sting has ever recorded, and it\u2019s worth checking out for fans of a certain age.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":32910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6137],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-44683","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-sting","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44683","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\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44683"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}