Sting - Bring On The Night (1986)

Note: this release was originally purchased as a 2 LP set, later replaced by CDs. My CD edition is the original release, not the later remastered edition.

A live album recorded in May & December, 1985 in Rome, Paris, and Arnhem, Netherlands. Sting's second solo album, this release blends songs from his Dream Of The Blue Turtles album with older solo songs and revamped Police tunes. It's a great mix of cuts. While Sting is the headliner here, it is the backing band that are the true stars. Check out this line-up:

Darryl Jones – bass guitar
Branford Marsalis – saxophones
Kenny Kirkland – keyboards
Omar Hakim – drums
Janice Pendarvis & Dolette McDonald – backing vocals

Kirkland and Marsalis were famously stolen from Wynton Marsalis' band, while Jones and Hakim had played with Miles Davis and Weather Report, respectively. Certainly the best band Sting ever put together. For the most part, they completely transform Sting's pop songs into something even better. This mostly overlooked album may be Sting at his best, being pushed creatively and artistically by a group of outstanding musicians. To Sting's credit, he wisely gets out of their way.

The album was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

Press of the time:

• Rolling Stone: "Sting finally lets his band exhale, and the resulting gales can knock you down."
• Smash Hits (7 out of 10): "[Live albums] rarely capture any of the thrills and spills of a performance, but this one is a definite exception."
• Musician: "these performances positively shame the movie music, and a lot of Blue Turtles as well."

There was also a documentary movie of the making of the album. I watched it years ago on VHS and about 2 years ago on DVD. While I recommend the album, I can't recommend the movie even though it won the Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Long Form at the 1987 Grammy Awards.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: There's a lot of hit-or-miss here. When I saw Sting on tour with this band(see below), he performed an encore with Marsalis of the Police hits Roxanne and Message in A Bottle. I wish a recording of those duets were included on this album, but they are not.

Hits: The opening medley of Bring On The Night/When The World Is Running Down You Make The Best Of What's Still Around which contains an awesome 3 minute piano solo from Kenny Kirkland and a terribly dated rap from Branford Marsalis, Low Life, Driven To Tears (when the band kicks into overdrive at the 2:41 mark), the medley of One World (Not Three)/Love Is The Seventh Wave, I Burn For You, Children's Crusade, and a blues cover of Down So Long.

Misses: Consider Me Gone and We Work The Black Seam. Not even Marsalis can save Moon Over Bourbon Street.

For more information on the brief life of the CD longbox,
go visit The Legend of the Longbox.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I saw Sting and this band on tour in Dallas. It was one of the first dates I ever had with my wife. A thorough online search couldn't produce a setlist for that gig. That's sad, since I'd like to compare that setlist to this album's track listing. I bought a concert tee shirt and promptly cut off the sleeves, because that's what you did in 1985. Somewhere around here, I've still got the tour program. If I ever come across it, I'll scan it and add some pictures to this post [updated 4/45/2016 - see tour program (Rockbill) below]. I think that was the only time I was ever in Reunion Arena, which was demolished in 2009.

click to enlarge

The summer of 1986 was rough for me in many ways, most notably for my job busing tables and washing dishes at a steakhouse. However, this album was listened to a lot and made the summer a little better. I remember sitting at at the piano and playing Low Life, which must have been disturbing to my mother because of that song's lyrics.

Finally, during my first year as a public school teacher (1989-1990), I had a 15 year old student that had an enormous crush on me and she loved Sting. At the time, I no longer had a turntable and mistakenly believed I had no more need of vinyl records, so I gave this student my LP copy of this release with the understanding that she would make me a cassette copy to listen to. She did, writing a thank you note on the tape's j-card insert. Hard to believe that student would now be in her late 30's.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Sacred Love (2003)
Brand New Day (1999)
Roxanne 97 (Puff Daddy Remix) (1997)
Mercury Falling (1996)
Ten Summoner's Tales (1993)
...Nothing Like The Sun (1987)