The Police (Official Thread)

METALPRIEST

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Sting Seeks Investors for Broadway Musical

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Sting is reportedly attempting to find investors willing to donate millions of dollars for his latest creative endeavor: a Broadway musical.

According to Michael Riedel’s ‘Broadway Matinee’ column in the New York Post, the reason Sting and his longtime spouse, Trudie Styler, have been in attendance for the openings of several new Broadway musicals over the course of the past few weeks is that Sting has been working on his own musical—’The Last Ship,’ inspired by his 1991 album, ‘The Soul Cages’—and has been making the rounds with his co-producer, Jeffrey Seller, in an effort to drum up the reported $15 million it will take to bring the production to the Great White Way. Riedel reports that a staged reading of the musical — music and lyrics by Sting, book originally by Brian Yorkey but now by John Logan — was held last Friday for possible investors.

Directed by Joe Mantello and starring Louise Pitre, Fred Applegate, Aaron Lazar, Jill Paice and Matthew Stocke, ‘The Last Ship’ found more praise than criticism from Riedel’s anonymous “spies,” earning comparisons with ‘Billy Elliot’ and compliments on the score, which was described by one individual as “moody and reflective” with “several haunting themes.” Based on Riedel’s column, the biggest concern seems to be whether the project will have sufficient mainstream appeal, with one potential investor quoted as saying, “It’s a very good art musical, but I think it belongs at the Public Theater.”

Although he has rarely been out of the public eye for any significant length of time, September 2013 will serve as the 10-year anniversary of the last time the former Police frontman released a new album featuring all-original material (‘Sacred Love’).
 

LG

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Missed that post about Sting's Broadway musical project...good luck with that I am not a fan of musicals no matter how much the critics rave about them.:nw:

I bought Synchronicity for "Every Breath You Take" which I thought was a really nice love song...:heheh: As it turns out it's about a stalker and his infatuation.

I much prefer "Outlandos d'amour" and "Regatta de Blanc" to Synchronicity.

Sting is one of those vocalists that wears me out really quickly so I don't play Police albums very often anymore.
 

METALPRIEST

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I'm really a fan of ALL The Police releases BUT I do like the first two the most.

Having said that, there is this piece of news....

Sting to Release First New Album in a Decade

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It’s been a decade since Sting last released a project with original material, and his upcoming album may actually stop short of being a true Sting album. ‘The Last Ship’ is scheduled for Sept. 24. It will be a collection of songs Sting helped write for a musical of the same name.

It’s not clear where or when the musical will be produced — Sting has been working to find investors to bring it to Broadway — but the plot follows action set in a shipyard in Wallsend, Eng., near a town Sting (Gordon Sumner) spent time in during his youth. The New York Times reports that the songs were written to advance the play’s plot, so each will contain a fair amount of story telling. Previously they reported the music was inspired by Sting’s 1991 ‘The Soul Cages’ album.

One song called ‘And Yet’ is a funky track sang by a sailor arriving home with thoughts of the woman he left behind. ‘Dead Man’s Boots’ is a difficult conversation between a father and his son who doesn’t want to work in the ship yard. The title-track is a waltzy folk song with Christian imagery that tells of the launching of the last ship from the yard.

The 61-year-old collaborated with John Rogan and Brian Yorkey over the last three years to write the music. “It is a homecoming story set against the backdrop of the decline of the shipbuilding industry in Newcastle during the ’80s,” the Times reports. Many of the songs were used in the musical, but some from Sting’s album have been cut from the production. Early buzz for the plot and songs has been positive, however some wonder if it has commercial appeal.

2003 marked Sting’s last full-length release of original material (‘Sacred Love’). He’s focused mostly on live albums and reworkings of his previous hits and albums since.
 

LG

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At least he's coming up with new material instead of recycling old stuff but it doesn't sound promising to me unless he writes a concept album that tells the complete story that he wants to take to Broadway as a musical production.

The last bit of news I read about Sting a few years ago was that his wife is a shopaholic she spent millions of pounds, and Sting toured to refill the bank account as much as any other reason.:heheh:
 

Khor1255

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I just heard that really kick ass song they almost never play on the radio. I'm pretty sure it is from one of the first albums and definitely before Synchronicity. Other than that live performance at that punk show featuring Devo and Lux Interior it might be my favorite Police song.
 

Hurdy Gurdy Man

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Sting's provocative writing style easily places him up among the all time best pop penners.I feel the same can be said for his captivatingly sultry vocal charm.
 

stepcousin

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Sting's provocative writing style easily places him up among the all time best pop penners.I feel the same can be said for his captivatingly sultry vocal charm.

What I like best about Sting? The bass. When I listen to The Police, Sting's bass and Copeland's drums are what I listen to the most. They are amazing.
 

METALPRIEST

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Sting, ‘The Last Ship’ – Album Review

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Sting has never hid his pretensions. In fact, he’s gone out of his way to flaunt them, going all the way back to the Police, when he casually referenced Vladimir Nabokov in the band’s first Top 10 U.S. hit and then explored Jungian philosophies on the band’s biggest-selling album. Things only got worse with his solo career.

It’s been 10 years since Sting’s last proper album, ‘Sacred Love,’ and his return may be the most pretentious and ambitious project he’s undertook: ‘The Last Ship,’ a 12-track song cycle conceived and written for the stage (it will play on Broadway in 2014) based on the singer’s childhood memories of growing up in a coastal town. And like most pop works designed specifically for the theater, ‘The Last Ship’ is somewhat showy, kinda demanding and a bit bombastic.

Sting exorcises almost all of his rock and pop demons here. Even the most accessible songs — ‘And Yet’ and ‘Practical Arrangement’ — don’t stand a chance of airplay. And Sting couldn’t care less. From the opening title track — a lilting acoustic cut that sets the scene — through the song’s reprise, ‘The Last Ship’ is filled with characters, dialects and themes that sketch a portrait of a time and place viewed from one person’s past.

Lyrically, the album is in service to whatever the stage production plans to visualize. For the most part, it’s nostalgic and sentimental. Musically, it’s pretty much what you’d expect from a story about a seaside city set some 50 years in the past. Shanties, ballads and mostly fond remembrances of a time long gone populate the shipbuilding community in the North East of England that Sting sings about.

Depending on your tolerance and perspective on such things, ‘The Last Ship’ will either bore you or give you faith in Sting’s decision to age gracefully. It was inevitable that he would eventually get around to a project like this — his excursions into jazz and classical music over the past quarter century revealed an artist who’d grown tired of being a star a long time ago. This is a grown-up career move, for better or worse.
 

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