Sting 3: Nothing Like The Sun

Sting further established himself as a solo performer with …Nothing Like The Sun, which ironed out the jazz pretensions of his last album into a more smooth approach. He carried over a few people from his last project (Kenny Kirkland, Branford Marsalis, the backing vocalists) but handled the bass himself this time out. While the first single was awful—and come to think of it, most of the first singles from his albums haven’t been the greatest—there’s enough good stuff here to make it worth several spins.

This still being the vinyl era, its 54 minutes split up into four thematic sides, yet the record company took this to justify charging an extra buck for it. (This could also have something to do with its high sales numbers, since the RIAA credits each element of a multidisc set individually.) His liner notes attempt to illuminate those themes, but it’s not always clear where he’s at. First off, side one has “The Lazarus Heart”, an allegorical rumination on his mother’s death, and a romantic song in “Be Still My Beating Heart”. Both are catchy (and also boast Andy Summers on guitar) but the “whoop” effect running through the portrait of an “Englishman In New York” gets a little grating, and the big drum break in the middle is just silly. Side two, then, would be the political side, with “History Will Teach Us Nothing”, the moving tribute to the mothers of the Chilean disappeared in “They Dance Alone” (featuring a monologue by Ruben Blades and three lead guitarists) and the gentle “Fragile”.

Side three appears to be all mindless pop, starting with the irritating “We’ll Be Together”, noted for the quote from “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free” at the end and his continuous Ricky Ricardo-style pronunciation of “things” (which comes out as “thins”). At least the video was entertaining, and we’d love to get or hands on his embroidered Tintin sweater. “Straight To My Heart” may be a companion to the similarly titled songs on side one, but here the busted meter doesn’t help. “Rock Steady” retells the story of Noah’s Ark with little uniqueness. The fourth side is where he pulls out the stops: the slightly jazzy “Sister Moon”, an excellent cover of Hendrix’s “Little Wing” arranged by Gil Evans, and “The Secret Marriage”, which added new lyrics to an obscure East German piano composition.

Taken all together, the album is nice sonic wallpaper, just substantial enough to keep from sinking out of earshot. The all-digital production and accessible content made …Nothing Like The Sun a big hit, a strong fourth-quarter item and steady seller through the next year. His activism with Amnesty International (along with the release of an EP of five of the album’s songs sung in Spanish and Portuguese) made him even more of a public figure, to which he responded by growing out his hair. (Many years later, for the album’s 35th anniversary, an expanded edition was released on digital platforms containing five period B-sides—including the strangely edited instrumental “Ghost In The Strand”, an unnecessarily extended voice-and-piano cover of “Someone To Watch Over Me”, and Hendrix’s “Up From The Skies” in a lengthy, audacious Gil Evans arrangement—as well as various remixes and alternates of three album tracks that were singles.)

Sting …Nothing Like The Sun (1987)—3