Since September 2010, this blog has recorded the journey of this music junkie as I attempt to listen to all the music in my CD collection. CDs revisited in their entirety from start to finish - no skipping tracks, no shuffle. Compact Discs only - no vinyl, no tapes, no files.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984-1994 (1994)


The title is a misnomer - the best of Sting is Ten Summoner's Tales. Easily. This was the second Sting CD I purchased (after Ten Summoner's Tales); it contains songs from that album as well as The Soul Cages, ...Nothing Like The Sun, and The Dream of the Blue Turtles. In typical fashion, I later went back and replaced those earlier albums with CDs over time, but this was a nice starter compilation when I picked it up in 1994. Like most "best of" packages, this also contains new songs: When We Dance and This Cowboy Song. There are a couple of versions of songs on this disc that vary slightly from the original releases, but the differences aren't enough for me to care.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #7

Tracks:  Since most of these have already appeared on the blog, I'll do something a little different today and simply rank the 14 tracks in this compilation (numbers following titles are the songs' peaks on the Billboard Hot 100).
  1. If I Ever Lose My Faith In You (#17)
  2. Fortress Around Your Heart (#8)
  3. Why Should I Cry For You?
  4. Fragile
  5. If You Love Somebody Set Them Free (#3)
  6. This Cowboy Song
  7. Englishman In New York (#84)
  8. All This Time (#5)
  9. They Dance Alone (Cueca Solo)
  10. When We Dance (#38)
  11. Be Still My Beating Heart (#15)
  12. We'll Be Together (#7)
  13. Russians (#16)
  14. Fields Of Gold (#23)
Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  I bought this CD at a time when I was too broke to be buying CDs, but a music junkie just has to have his fix.

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)
The Soul Cages (1991)
...Nothing Like The Sun (1987)
Bring On The Night (1986)
The Dream of the Blue Turtles (1985)

2 comments:

  1. With his new disc set to drop in September, I've been going back and listening to his earlier albums. Not really - I did listen to most of 25 Years over the past week though. Not familiar enough with the original albums to pass judgement on the 2011 Remixes scattered throughout that set. You have any thoughts or comments on those tracks?

    Based on your reviews of Sting's other stuffs, we are in some disagreement over some songs but we do agree that Ten Summoner's Tales is the jam.

    The song you find - and I quote - "aurally painful" is actually one of my favorites by our man Sting. Guess I have a higher threshold for pain than you;)

    The CDR-765 was my first CD recorder as well. I used the crap out of that thing and it broke a few weeks outside of the one year warranty. Bought a CDR-795 to replace it - think it was an open box or floor model. Still works!

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    1. My CDR-765 is still going strong after 14 or 15 years!

      I'll give the 2011 remixes a listen, but that Desert Rose song is hard for me to stomach.

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