57th & 9th [Deluxe Version] [CD]

The new album from STING is a blast from the past. Taking part POLICE & part early STING from his first 2 albums or so, you will really like this album. There are a couple of tracks that are not as strong as others, but, this is a stellar album. You’ll already have heard “I Can’t Stop Thinking About You”, but, that is the most pop of the album. The following track “50,000” also is an uptempo track. It goes in & out from there. Also on this album, you get some bonus tracks of his hit, “I Can’t Stop Thinking About You”, “Inshallah”, which was a track that I did not favor, and a live version of “Next To You” with the Last Bandoleros, covering Sting’s POLICE work. It’s nice to hear Sting back in his prime form. All in all, this gets 4 out of 5 Music Guru Stars. You can check out other reviews from me at www.MusicGuruRadio.com

If you like old school ZZ Top, this is the CD for you. The sound and songs get repetitive quickly. Its not a CD you want to listen to straight through. But when youre in the mood for blues and BIlly, its a good listen.

There has been a lot of talk about this album being too mellow. It's really not all that mellow. The main problem with 57th & 9th is the sequencing. The first half of the disc, "rocks out", while the second half of is a bit 'mellow'. If the tracks were a bit more 'mixed', it could be a lot better. Just reviewing the songs on their own, I gave it 5 stars. "I Can't Stop Thinking about you" sounds like it could have been an out-take from an early "Police" album. "50,000" is a track about lost music legends. One of my favorite songs is "Pretty Little Soldier", I'll let you hear that one, and you'll know what it's about. I could only find the 'deluxe' version of this disc. It's really not necessary to buy the deluxe version, unless you are a Sting 'completest' for the rocker, "Next to You".

This is an excellent album from Sting. My only criticism of it is the sequencing. It seems the up-beat tunes are during the first half and more mellow tracks are played during the second half. The first song (and single) sounds like it could be an old Police demo. Take that as a compliment. This is a deluxe version, so there are a few live versions of studio tracks. There really isn't much difference between the studio and live versions, so if you can only find the standard version, I would buy that. Highly recommended!

At first the first couple tracks sounded way to polished and poppy, but after listening to the whole album more it has grown on me. It's cool he can still rock out a little bit, and of course he's not half bad with lyrics (except for the first song; not much substance there).

At a time when so much music is geared toward teens, it is nice to see a veteran like Sting put out an album of intelligent, well written music. These are classic Sting songs.

Sting is by far one of the greatest musicians/artists of any and all generations. His most recent album, like all previous albums, is excellent. Further, his collaboration with the greatest musicians/artists from all genres continues with this album.

As usual Sting expands his, and thus my, musical range with his latest album, titled after his studio location in NYC. He is an innovator and I thank him for it.