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

As the poster boy for VH1 stardom, Sting has a long history of working the adult contemporary market with regular album releases, whether it be new solo material, live recordings, soundtrack appearances or, in the absence of these items, a collection of previously released hits. There have been a few Police collections foisted upon us, featuring one or two new tracks on each to entice us Stingfans to purchase them, and Sting s first (and to date, his only) solo retrospective, 1994 s Fields of Gold is a similar recording.

Featuring twelve previously released songs and two completely new tunes, Fields of Gold could have been just another collection based in marketing strategy and a career anniversary, but this one has a little more to recommend it to fanatical Sting fans such as myself, and it also serves as a good introduction to Sting s early albums for his new fans. To begin with, the songs chosen for the collection are some of the major hits from his first four solo albums, The Dream of the Blue Turtles, Nothing Like The Sun, The Soul Cages and Ten Summoner s Tales. Nine of the twelve previously released songs were remastered for Fields of Gold, Why Should I Cry for You? and Fortress Around Your Heart were remixed with a few minor changes to the arrangements, and We ll Be Together is presented as an unreleased, earlier studio version of the track.

The collection encompasses most of the radio hits of Sting s first ten years as a solo artist, including chart-toppers from The Dream of the Blue Turtles, like If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free, Fortress Around Your Heart, and Russians - three songs that served to show that Sting was willing to go beyond the styles of The Police, experimenting with a new jazz/pop fusion to great success. Representing his second and greatest album Nothing Like The Sun, are hits like Be Still My Beating Heart, We ll Be Together, Englishman in New York, and They Dance Alone. (Noticeably absent from this hit list - Love is the Seventh Wave). While it was not a hit when Nothing Like The Sun was initially release, Fragile has become one of Sting s signature songs, a long time closing encore, and now achieving an even greater depth of meaning after the events of September 11, 2001.

Rounding out the collection of older hits are those from The Soul Cages, Sting s darkest work to date and a personal favorite of mine. All This Time and Why Should I Cry For You? are wonderful discussions of Sting s personal feelings regarding the death of his father, yet neither is heavy or depressing. The remix of Why Should I Cry removes the bass drum and toms from the first verse and chorus this has the effect of adding to the dynamic build-up of the song. I like the change and find this version to be better than the original.

As the most recent album released prior to this recording, Ten Summoner s Tales was still enjoying some chart success when Fields of Gold came out, and only If I Ever Lose My Faith In You and Fields of Gold were included from that album. The new songs When We Dance and This Cowboy Song are very similar in sound and feel to the songs of Ten Summoner s Tales, but in This Cowboy Song, you can hear something of what would be Sting s next solo album, Mercury Falling.

The collection is solid, all of the songs are very well written and produced, BUT

The subtitle of the album The Best of Sting is somewhat misleading. Yes, these are most of the radio hits that continued to fuel his continuing success as an adult contemporary superstar, and that is why this album is marketable give the public what they like, packaged with some interesting new material, and they will buy it all over again. The collection does have two new songs, but Sting gets bonus points by providing alternate versions of a few of the hits. But are these truly the best songs Sting created in his first ten years as a solo artist? Here are a few of my own suggestions for the songs most definitely missing from this best of Sting list:

Shadows in the Rain from The Dream of the Blue Turtles - while this is a cover of an old Police song, it is rare to find a remake that has been done so well. This is a scorching jazz version that features incredible sax licks by Branford Marsalis, and a free-wheeling keyboard solo by the late Kenny Kirkland.

The Lazarus Heart from Nothing Like The Sun - excellent opening track, full of interesting keyboard and sax instrumentation plus some wonderfully evocative lyrics.

Mad About You from The Soul Cages - an enigmatic string section provides a pulsing beat underneath one of Sting s best songs of passion and devotion for his love.

Seven Days from Ten Summoner s Tales - Sting tells the tale of another complicated relationship in this rhythmically off-kilter song Sting gets in a reference to the six foot ten character found in the Police song Can t Stand Losing You, and he improvises the ending with some lyrics from Every Little Thing She Does is Magic

Overall, Fields of Gold is a good collection of hits, making it an excellent starter album for any new Sting fan. The recording is also a must own for longtime Sting fans like myself needing new songs and alternate versions of favorite songs I m not fanatical about owning everything Sting has ever published, but he made this one interesting enough for me to want to pick up a copy. The album merely feels like a collection of songs, as it doesn t hand around a central theme or signature sound as each of the first four albums did, but there aren t any weak songs to be found here. I recommend Fields of Gold as one of the better best of collections to be found for any adult contemporary artist.

You know it s been ten years since Fields of Gold was released. Maybe it s time for another collection of Sting songs to come out the man certainly never stops harvesting in his fields of gold


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Sting Fields of Gold
Originally released November 8, 1994 by A & M Records
all quoted lyrics are the copyrighted property of Sting
Track Listing
When We Dance (previously unreleased) / If You Love Somebody Set Them Free / Fields Of Gold / All This Time / Fortress Around Your Heart (remix) / Be Still My Beating Heart / They Dance Alone (Cueca Solo) / If I Ever Lose My Faith In You / Fragile / Why Should I Cry For You? (remix version) / Englishman In New York / We'll Be Together (previously unreleased version) / Russians / This Cowboy Song (previously unreleased)

My Sting Reviews
Album - Outlandos D'Amour
Album - Synchronicity
Album - The Dream Of The Blue Turtles
Album - Nothing Like The Sun
Album - The Soul Cages
Album - Ten Summoner's Tales
Album - Mercury Falling
Album - Brand New Day
Album - Sacred Love
Single - All This Time
Single - You Still Touch Me
Single - I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying
Single - Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot
VHS - The Soul Cages Concert
DVD - All This Time...(Sept 11 concert)
DVD - Inside: The Songs of Sacred Love
Book - Broken Music: A Memoir
Concert Tour - Sacred Love, with Annie Lennox and Dominic Miller