Sting & Shaggy - 44/876 (2018)

They really could have put more effort into that cover photo, don't ya think? At least put Sting on the left under his name? Make no mistake, while Sting gets top billing, this is really a Shaggy CD with a few contributions from Sting. And that's fine with me because Sting hasn't put out anything consistently good since 1993. But it's exactly what you'd expect if you heard Sting and Shaggy were putting together a few tunes. I was hoping that Sting would revert to late '70s Sting "reggatta de blanc" but it isn't to be (the closest we get is the verse of track 8, Dreaming In The U.S.A.). The album isn't quite as awkward as the cover photo, but it comes close at times.

Metacritic has this rated at 49 which is close enough. But Sting doesn't play any lute and it sounds like he and Shaggy are having a good time, so I'll just accept this album for what it is: a fun, back porch, bucket of beers, summer listen. I'll probably listen to it quite a bit over the next three months, add a few tunes to a reggae playlist, then shelve it.

FWIW, I picked up an edition with 4 bonus tracks because it was there.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #40

Tracks: I'll categorize and rank them for your convenience.

Good fun:

1. Don't Make Me Wait & the Dave Audé Rhythmic Radio Remix⁺
2. Morning Is Coming (with Brandford Marsalis)
3. Dreaming In The U.S.A.

Good enough:

4. To Love and Be Loved
5. Just One Lifetime
6. 22nd Street
7. If You Can't Find Love⁺
8. Sad Trombone*
9. 44/876
10. Gotta Get Back My Baby

Skip:

11. Night Shift
12. Waiting For The Break Of Day
13. 16 Fathoms⁺
14. Crooked Tree
15. Love Changes Everything⁺ (from the 1989 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Aspects of Love. Yes, it is truly a reggae attempt at a show tune.)

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I picked this up at a local Target and promptly stuck it in my truck's CD player which was ill-equipped to handle the preponderance of bass in these mixes. Probably best heard on Beats headphones (if those are still a thing).

*(yes, that’s really the title, and no, it doesn’t get the reference)
⁺ indicates bonus track

Previously revisited for the blog:
57th & 9th (2016)
Sacred Love (2003)
Brand New Day (1999)
Roxanne 97 (Puff Daddy Remix) (1997)
Mercury Falling (1996)
The Best of Sting 1984-1994 (1994)
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)

Sting - 57th & 9th (2016)

NEW MUSIC WEEK 2016 (NOVEMBER 14-20, 2016)

First, the good news: this album is miles better than 2003's Sacred Love. The bad news is that Sacred Love was so bad the bar was set mighty low. Still, even though I'd begun to question his abilities of late, Sting hasn't lost his ability to write a good hook when he wants to. And, as Rolling Stone writes in a ★★★½ review, "57th & 9th is a no-lute zone" so we're all grateful for that. I'm glad Sting is trying to be a rocker again, even it's only for a few tunes. Now, you guys put your egos aside and give me my Police reunion album.

I'm giving the CD booklet a thumbs up: in addition to lyrics and credits, it includes a track by track breakdown by Sting.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #9

Tracks: With the three bonus tracks, this thing doesn't even last for 50 minutes. I'm going to divide the tracks into 4 separate categories below.

• Pre-1983 era Police: I Can't Stop Thinking About You, Petrol Head
• 1983-1993 era Sting: 50,000, Down Down Down,
• 1994-1999 era Sting: One Fine Day, Pretty Young Soldier
• Current balladeer/troubadour era Sting: South On the Great North Road, If You Can't Love Me, Inshallah, The Empty Chair

As for me, I'll be playing only the first half (tracks 1-6) of this one. If you've landed at this blog, you've probably figured out that I'm a CD guy, but if you've paid twice as much for the vinyl, just listen to side A and the first cut on side B (yes, Petrol Head is worth the trouble of flipping over the record).

The three bonus tracks include two alternate (read: unnecessary) versions of album tunes, but the last track is a great live take of Next To You, a track from the 1978 debut album by The Police. And even though they've smoothed off the rough edges with a conjunto vibe, thumbs up for that cut anyway. Metacritic has this rated at 67 which, if you consider the live track in the average, is the perfect number. In the whole of Sting's pop/rock œuvre, this one ranks somewhere in the middle, alongside Mercury Falling and The Soul Cages.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Sacred Love (2003)
Brand New Day (1999)
Roxanne 97 (Puff Daddy Remix) (1997)
Mercury Falling (1996)
The Best of Sting 1984-1994 (1994)
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)

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 charts).

1. If I Ever Lose My Faith In You (#17 pop, #5 rock, #8 AC)
2. Fortress Around Your Heart (#8 pop, #1 rock, #32 AC)
3. Why Should I Cry For You? (#32 rock)
4. Fragile
5. If You Love Somebody Set Them Free (#3 pop, #1 rock, #39 AC)
6. This Cowboy Song
7. Englishman In New York (#84 pop, #32 rock, #48 AC)
8. All This Time (#5 pop, #1 rock, #9 AC)
9. They Dance Alone (Cueca Solo)
10. When We Dance (#38 pop, #12 AC)
11. Be Still My Beating Heart (#15 pop, #2 rock, #37)
12. We'll Be Together (#7 pop, #20 rock)
13. Russians (#16 pop, #34 rock)
14. Fields Of Gold (#23 pop, #24 rock, #2 AC)

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. There was once a huge, lovely house at 920 Avenue F; now torn down and replaced with a budget hotel.

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)

Sting - The Dream of the Blue Turtles (1985)

Note: this release was originally purchased as an LP, later replaced by a CD.

In which Sting attempts to merge pop and jazz in his own self-aggrandizing style of music. What he ended up with was simply pop music played by jazz musicians. Still, there was nothing else like it out there at the time, plus it was Sting's solo debut album, so I ate it up like a big bowl of ice cream. It was a perfect fit for a 19 year-old fan of pop music who was dutifully studying to be a "serious musician" (me). The band of emerging jazz musicians is top-notch and do what they can with the material. I'm sure it was fairly easy for an established rock star to attract cash-strapped jazz musicians with big promises of fame and fortune. The album gets weighed down every now and then by Sting's pomposity and seriousness, but there are some fun tunes here. Sting was always a better writer of melodies than lyrics (critic Jon Pareles wrote in his Rolling Stone review: "If Sting really believes that we can be happy with less, he can send me $500,000, care of this magazine"). I don't like the album as much now as I did in 1985.

The recording of this album was painfully documented in the movie Bring On The Night. If you love Sting as much as he loves himself, you should check it out, otherwise, don't bother. On the other hand, the 1986 Sting album of the same name is recommended and I prefer it over this album.

Press of the time:

• Billboard: "has to be admired for its strong identity and wealth of ideas."
• CashBox: "varied and tastefully commercial"
• Smash Hits (6 out of 10): "Now here's a man who can pen a good tune; what a pity he spoils most of them"
• Stereo Review: "contains no fewer than five truly moving, memorable songs that rank among Sting's best work"
• Robert Christgau (C+): "Not since Paul Simon's dangling conversations has a pop hero made such a beeline for the middlebrow cliché."
• Musician: "A good album that disappoints keenly on first hearing and gets better with repeated listening."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #2
• Billboard Pop CD: #4
• Billboard R&B: #35
• CashBox: #2
• CashBox CD: #1
• Rolling Stone: #2

Tracks: My favorite tune on the album has always been the final track, Fortress Around Your Heart (#8 pop, #1 rock, #32 AC) which is a simple pop love song with no jazz pretensions. Also good are the pseudo-reggae of Love Is The Seventh Wave (#17 pop, #19 rock, #20 AC) and the waltzing Children's Crusade, which is saved by a good chorus and fantastic sax work by Branford Marsalis. I liked the first single, If You Love Somebody Set Them Free (#3 pop, #1 rock, #39 AC, #10 dance) when it was released but now I'm indifferent to it. I usually skip We Work The Black Seam and Consider Me Gone.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Released in June of 1985, this album was in heavy rotation in my home and car throughout that summer and I returned to college that fall knowing it inside and out. In October of '85, I saw Sting touring in support of this album (sponsored by Honda scooters), a story I've already recapped here.

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)

Sting - The Soul Cages (1991)

Note: this release was originally purchased as a cassette tape, later replaced by a CD.

A concept album, I'm told (for more on that, click here). In 1991, I bought a tape of this album hoping for another Dream Of The Blue Turtles, but instead got a group of bland, melocholy, poorly-written pop songs. Of this album, The Chicago Tribune wrote, "Sting purges himself of his angst, as well as his ability to write a memorable tune." I guess if you're in just the right sullen mood for these introspective tunes, they might speak to you, but I've never been there. Thank goodness Sting came back strong in 1993 with Ten Summoner's Tales.

Press of the time:

• Rolling Stone (★★★★): "Sting's most ambitious record yet - and maybe his best."
• RPM: "a personal retrospective that is well worth the wait."
• Billboard: "an absolute smash"
• Stereo Review: "Easier to admire than enjoy, it's nevertheless an important work."
• CashBox: "an introspective and deeply personal work reflecting on self and family"
• Robert Christgau: Dud.
• Entertainment Weekly (C): "rarely have songs about feeling awful sounded so stillborn and unmoving."

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #2 (March 23, 1991)

Tracks: While I'm not a fan of the album, there a two decent songs here: All This Time (if you ignore the depressing lyrics which don't really fit the music) and the beautiful Why Should I Cry For You? which could be the best ballad Sting ever recorded. The last minute of Jeremiah Blues is good because Sting gets out of the way and lets his all-star band jam a bit. If I was playing in a band with Branford Marsalis, Kenny Kirkland, Dominic Miller, and David Sancious, I'd just sit back and enjoy as much as I could. The title track is interesting only because Sting took melodic and rhythmic ideas from the song, revised and improved them, and recycled them on Ten Summoner's Tales in the tunes Something The Boy Said and Heavy Cloud No Rain. Ah, well. There's nothing wrong with a little recycling, is there (Symphonicities, anyone)?

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

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  Why was I buying cassettes in 1991? I have no idea and it really doesn't matter. I wasn't looking to replace a cassette I never listened to with a CD, but this disc was $1 in a clearance rack so I picked it up, hoping I'd somehow missed something 20 years earlier. (I don't think I did.)

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)
Bring On The Night (1986)

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)

Sting - Brand New Day (1999)

Sting's attempt at world music. *Yawn* Hard to believe this is the same guy who released the excellent Ten Summoner's Tales only six years earlier. How this won a Grammy for Best Pop Album is beyond me. Evidently, the competition that year was Lou Bega. Note to Sting: while you're trying to be all things to all cultures, don't forget to write some good melodies.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #9 (Sept 2, 2000)

Tracks: Only two good tracks here: After The Rain Has Fallen and the title track (Sting was smart enough to get a harmonica solo from Stevie Wonder here). The other tracks range from boring (Ghost Story) to derivative (Big Lie Small World & Fill Her Up) to aurally painful (Desert Rose). Still, with two good songs, this album has two more good songs than its successor, Sacred Love.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Purchased around the time I bought my first CD burner (a Philips CDR 765, below), I was happy to burn the two good tracks to a mix CD and leave the rest alone.

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

Sting - ...Nothing Like The Sun (1987)

Note: this release was originally purchased as a 2 LP set, later replaced by a CD.

At the time of this release, Sting rightfully took some heat for putting 55 minutes on 2 LPs at the same time Def Leppard put 63 minutes of music on a single LP with Hysteria. Why? The list price for double album sets was more than the list price for a single album. Recently, I'm not listening to his music very much, but I have to admit there are some good tunes on this album. I don't like it as much as Dream Of The Blue Turtles, but I may be in the minority. The songwriting isn't quite as good, but at least Sting had the good sense to keep Kenny Kirkland and Branford Marsalis in his backing band. Where Dream Of The Blue Turtles was an abashed attempt at some sort of jazz-pop fusion, this lacks a true identity, not knowing if it wants to be jazz-pop, reggae, rock, world music, or Tin Pan Alley.

Press of the time:

• Rolling Stone: "represents impressive growth for Sting."
• Smash Hits (6½ out of 10)
• Stereo Review: "If it is less monumental than we expected, it is also less controlled and calculated."
• Robert Christgau (B)
• Musician: "so lithe and lovely that giving yourself over to it is like becoming enmeshed in a web of silk."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #9
• Billboard Pop CD: #1
• CashBox CD: #1
• Billboard R&B: #52
• Rolling Stone: #2

Tracks: Of the 12 tracks here, I like Englishman In New York, Fragile, the cover of Little Wing, The Secret Marriage, even the pretentious They Dance Alone and the filler track, Rock Steady. I usually skip Be Still My Beating Heart, History Will Teach Us Nothing, Sister Moon, and the first single from the album, We'll Be Together, which amazingly peaked at #7 on the charts.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I remember one of my college roommates and his girlfriend trying to dance the song Straight To My Heart, which is in 7. As they soon discovered, it is difficult to dance to a song in 7. I found their attempt entertaining, though.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Sacred Love (2003)
Roxanne 97 (Puff Daddy Remix) (1997)
Mercury Falling (1996)
Ten Summoner's Tales (1993)

Sting - Sacred Love (2003)

I was a big Police fan and thought Sting was hit-or-miss as a solo act, but his albums trended downward after 1993's fantastic Ten Summoner's Tales (I blame Kipper, whatever that is). Metacritic has the album rated at 66 and that's generous. My favorite description of this CD comes from an E! Online review:

"Rife with hyper-marketable flamenco guitars and jazz pianos, it's world music for people whose idea of adventure is a trip to Banana Republic."

I bought this CD upon its release, listened to it once, didn't care for it, and haven't listened to it again until today. Here we go.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #3 (Oct 18, 2003)

Tracks: Bleh. I can't believe this is the songwriting we get from the man who wrote If I Ever Lose My Faith In You and Roxanne. This CD is all about the sound, not the songs. For a minute, I thought the collaboration with Mary J. Blige, Whenever I Say Your Name, was pretty good, then I realized the song's pseudo-R&B vibe is good only when compared to the other bad songs on this release. For the most part, the songs are just boring. I guess the best parts would be the piano solo on Never Coming Home and, if you ignore the lyrics, the title track. Sting is a smart guy (just ask him), it looks like he was smart enough to know he couldn't write good music anymore; as of this writing, he hasn't released any original songs since this release.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I remember buying this CD upon its release, listening to it once, not caring for it, and not listening to it again until today.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Roxanne 97 (Puff Daddy Remix) (1997)
Mercury Falling (1996)
Ten Summoner's Tales (1993)

Sting - Ten Summoner's Tales (1993)

NUMBERS WEEK (MARCH 14-20, 2011)

Sting's last consistently good album and, overall, his best solo album. After two maudlin, downbeat releases, this was an unabashed upbeat pop release, with only a touch of Sting's usual arrogance.

Press of the time:

• Rolling Stone (★★★★): "loose and swinging; the joy in the playing is palpable"
• Billboard: "attains an enviable new plateau"
• CashBox: "does not fail to please or amaze"
• Stereo Review: "the most purely enjoyable work Sting has done since leaving the Police force"

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #2 (March 27, 1993)

Tracks: 9 of the 11 tracks are good. It also starts off with my favorite Sting single, If I Ever Lose My Faith In You. Other favorites include Heavy Cloud No Rain, She's Too Good For Me, and Seven Days. I'm usually not a fan of pop ballads, but Fields of Gold and Shape Of My Heart are well done. If you're wondering which two tracks I could do without, they're Saint Augustine In Hell and Something The Boy Said.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: in my mind, this disc is associated with Simple Minds' Glittering Prize, so they share the same memory: this reminds me of the spring of 1993. I was married, but this was before children. We were in our first house which had a large living area which had been converted from a garage. I had my stereo in there and listened to this CD while sunlight poured into that room during spring break.

Sting - Mercury Falling (1996)

The beginning of the end for Sting. He had a good run for almost 20 years. This CD has some good songs on it, but it is nowhere near as good as Sting's previous CD, 1993's Ten Summoner's Tales. The only problem is that someone needs to tell Sting that he hasn't been relevant in a while. Even if he were told would he believe it himself? But back to this CD: Sting may be unbearably pretentious, but he could write a wicked pop hook when he needed to. This release is just overly ambitious in terms of meter and lyrics and many of the songs just come off as derivative (he rips off soul music, country music, traditional Irish music, French pop music, etc...).

Press of the time:

• Stereo Review: "Sting at last seems completely irrelevant"
• Billboard: "stands up to anything he has produced in his two-decade career"
• Rolling Stone (★★★): "Sting manages to stay true to his pensive nature while injecting healthy doses of levity into the mix."
• Entertainment Weekly (A-): "tauter, more shipshape, and richer in hooks - closest thing yet to Sting’s pure pop album."

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #5 (March 30, 1996)

Tracks: The Hounds of Winter, I Hung My Head, and I Was Brought To My Senses are the best of the CD. He fails miserably with Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot, I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying, La Belle Dame Sans Regrets, Valparaiso, and Lithium Sunset.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I must have listened to this CD while wallpapering a bathroom in '96, because that's the image that is popping into my head. I was "Mr. Mom" back then (1993-97) and didn't appreciate at the time how good I had it.

Sting & The Police - Roxanne 97 (Puff Daddy Remix) (1997)

CD Single

Uh...yeah.

Tracks:

1. Roxanne '97 (Puff Daddy Remix) - About 60% Puff Daddy, 20% Sting, 10% Kool & The Gang, and 10% U.T.F.O. This is 100% awful. Diddy should be paying me to listen to it.
2. Walking On The Moon (Roger Sanchez EVA Mix) - If you like mid-'90s Drum and Bass remixes and lots of echo, then you'll like it. At least it's better than Roxanne '97.
3. Walking On the Moon (Roger Sanchez Darkside of the Moon Mix) - 8 minutes of Sting singing "On the moooooooooooooooon" over and over and over and over and over.
4. Roxanne - they had the courage to put the original Police version on this single and think that the remixes would hold up next to it. Instead, it just illustrated how useless the remixes were.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I remember listening to this once and putting on the shelf where it has remained until tonight. After listening, it will now return to the shelf for at least another 13 years.