An elegy from Sting

The last studio albums by Sting that I listened to were the Christmas release If On A Winter’s Night and Songs From The Labyrinth that featured melodies by the Elizabethan-era composer John Dowland. So, I was prepared for anything as eclectic when I got Sting’s new album The Last Ship. Would you believe I was still floored? It is even more eclectic! But what intelligence! What musicianship! What a way with words! The Last Ship is a great work of art.

Be warned though. While I can see The Last Ship being lauded as one of the best albums ever made, I am sure it will not sit well with fans who first loved Sting while he was with The Police or during his The Dream Of The Blue Turtles period. I also did not hear any potential hit single, nor do I think that these songs will get any airplay in their present forms. That is just too bad because this must be Sting’s best effort ever.

The Last Ship is an elegy. Sting is looking at the death of the ship building industry in New Castle where he was born and its effect on the people. Then using influences from various music sources he came up with this album. The Last Ship has jazz, Practical Arrangement, And Yet; sea shanties Dead Man’s Boots; a waltz The Last Ship, and mournful Celtic ballads August Winds, Language Of Birds, Ballad Of The Great Eastern. Then against arrangements enhanced with accordions, fiddles, bagpipes, whistles and other traditional folk instruments, he sings such heartfelt lyrics.

The songs in The Last Ship will be part of a musical set to premiere on Broadway in 2014. I am sure that like these songs, the show will be beautiful. 

It seemed like a natural progression. That is listening to Rod Stewart after Sting. That means getting one statesman of British pop music after another. Besides, I can certainly use some fun after all that sadness that The Last Ship evokes. And the raspy-voiced Stewart certainly delivers fun like nobody else. More so, when the music comes from his early days as Faces frontman and aspiring solo act. 

These are the songs that make up the two-CD collection Rarities. It is a wonderfully put together and well-annotated set that includes alternate takes of popular tunes, unreleased versions, B-sides of singles and original album versions of recordings that Rod did in the ’60s and ’70s for the Mercury label. Genius is evident not only in Rod but also in bandmate and future Rolling Stone Ron Wood with whom he wrote some of his hits. 

Of course, the big hits rank first, Maggie May, It’s All Over Now, Farewell. But I also do enjoy listening to Rod sing covers, Country Comforts by Elton John; Angel by Jimi Hendrix; Girl From The North Country by Bob Dylan; Pinball Wizard by The Who; You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Man by Aretha Franklin; and that lovely standard by Cole Porter, Every Time We Say Goodbye. He is such an excellent vocalist and can sing stories with the simplest of lyrics.  

Rarities also includes Seems Like A Long Time, Lost Paraguayos, Italian Girls, You Wear It Well, I’d Rather Go Blind, What’s Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made A Loser Out Of Me), Oh! No Not My Baby, Jodie, So Tired, Missed You, Think I’ll Pack My Bags, So Tired, You Put Something Better Inside Of Me and Crying Laughing Loving Lying.

Coincidentally, two of my favorite Christmas albums were recorded by Sting and Rod, and I am always happy to be able to bring them out to play again at this time of the year.

Sting’s is If On A Winter’s Night. It was here that I first encountered his wandering minstrel style. I play the CD and I imagine Sting, a lute on his shoulder, plodding through snow-covered lanes and knocking on castle doors. There he offers to share his music in exchange for some warmth and a hot meal. 

And what songs is he able to share? There is a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson that he set to music, Christmas At Sea. He has old Christmas carols like Gabriel’s Message, The Snow It Melts The Soonest and the Cherry Tree Carol. There is a Bach melody he wrote lyrics to, You Only Cross My Mind In Winter, his own composition, The Hounds Of Winter and even a song created for All Souls Day by Paul Stookey, Tracey Battcast and Elena Mezzenti titled Soul Cake.

The Rod Stewart of Merry Christmas Baby is miles and miles different from the rocker of Rarities. You can still detect hints of the devil-may-care roue from the old days, but this Rod is a pop star, sleekly packaged and utterly sophisticated. At this point in his career, he is indeed better suited to the lush arrangements of David Foster than to the bluesy music hall bands of his early days.

Sweet is his soulful duet with the jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald of What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve; powerfully moving is his We Three Kings with Mary J. Blige; he gets Rat Pack chops with Michael Bublé in Winter Wonderland; and he and Cee Lo Green seem to be up to something naughty with the girls in Merry Christmas Baby. 

I like best the solo cuts though like Silent Night, White Christmas and The Christmas Song. He has just the right Christmas vibe and I love the idea that I never thought that the Rod Stewart of Rarities would one day be singing these songs this way.