Use The Tubes
The Sting Dozen.
(First off, I'd like open with a small thanks to whoever takes the trouble to line up syndicated sitcoms to run their Halloween episodes on Halloween, etc. They don't have to, and some don't, but it's a nice gesture. Not so much because it makes Halloween twice as fun to have the Halloween Friends on TV, because it doesn't, but it does beat the heck out of running across a Halloween episode in the middle of June.)
Unfairly Targeted? So if you take a look, the Target/pharmacist/contraception item continued into comments from the last entry. Also, always in fashion and never a dumbie, Inadvertent posts an update featuring a mostly comforting letter from Target and several points to consider. You should read it if the story interests you. I'll chip in a little more to this topic yet.
Don't call The Police, this Dozen covers only Sting's solo career. Looking things over for this, I got a grip on the prodigous pile of b-sides, covers and soundtrack songs Sting has amassed over the years. I saw where he released a "movie songs" disc, but he'd have a fine covers album, including but not limited to: Tempted (live, b-side) / The Wind Cries Mary (acoustic) / Strange Fruit (from an Amnesty benefit effort I bought on vinyl in high school) / Come Down In Time (from the Elton/Bernie tribute Two Rooms, better than the original) / Ne Quitte Pas / Ain't No Sunshine (acoustic) / The Windmills Of Your Mind (a favorite elevator tune from my youth!).
Also, Sting.com has undergone a major transformation this year. There's a members section with goodies, but the rest of us can still look up descriptions, press comments, and artist comments on every song in a massive discography built for the diehard and/or the bored. Perhaps best of all, there's a Jukebox feature with its own little player on the front page. It features 17 or 18 tracks, and as of yesterday, it was composed totally of non-album tracks -- b-sides, remixes, soundtrack songs, and an interesting original demo of "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic". I'm hoping they turn over that setlist monthly; guess we'll know tomorrow. In the meantime ...
THE STING DOZEN
All This Time - Really torn between the single from The Soul Cages and the live update on ... All This Time featuring a stripped down groove that stops just short of demanding the white man's overbite.
Be Still My Beating Heart - Speaking of bridges, this one propelled the song onto the list, brief but eminently hummable.
Bring On The Night / When The World Is Running Down ... (live) - There are maybe four things I remember distinctly from my campus visit to UNC, and as I may have mentioned, the gleeful discovery and immediate purchase of Bring On The Night on LP in some store on Franklin Street is one of them. Kenny Kirkland. Yeah.
I Burn For You (live) - Worthy, even without the drum solo from the DVD.
I Miss You, Kate (b-side, instrumental) - The bridge was lifted for the bridge of "Saint Augustine In Hell", btw. And it's on that official jukebox thing, if you want to take a listen.
If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free - Not a bad way to start a solo career. Remember the video?
Jeremiah Blues (Part 1) - Another fine composition from The Soul Cages, aided by the presence of former E Streeter David Sancious on keyboards.
Seven Days - Had to realize that Ten Summoner's Tales is kinda weak toward the end, yet the highlights are high enough that it probably remains my can-only-take-one-album album. Someday, I'll pick up the 5.1 version. (Wow, there's a DTS for ... Nothing Like The Sun; I had no idea.) Has anyone written a catchier chorus in 7/4? (Ed. -- Maybe, maybe not, but it's not that important, really, since the song is actually in 5/4 ...)
Shadows In The Rain - My darkhorse favorite from the first solo disc, a successful Police remake.
The Dream Of The Blue Turtles (live) - When you have a band like that first band, you can be flip and kickass at the same time. Live version gets the edge for the extra swingin' because-we-can syncopation in the main riff.
The Hounds Of Winter - Easy to overlook most of Sting's recent work, but he knows a leadoff track when he writes it, and this is on the money, from Mercury Rising.
Why Should I Cry For You? - One more from The Soul Cages. It wasn't the most epic concert, but I think the album's stock has risen; even the slower more introspective anchor of side two sounds better than I recall. This, however, hits that fine line between pop and moody just right.
It was probably Schoolkids Records.
It probably *was* SchoolKids, thanks.