Brand New Day [Import]

Sting | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 3, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Msi
• ASIN: B00000JYTO
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,302,307 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. A Thousand Years

2. Desert Rose

3. Big Lie Small World

4. After The Rain Has Fallen

5. Perfect Love Gone Wrong

6. Tomorrow We'll See

7. Preludo To The End Of The World (Instrumental)

8. Fill Her Up

9. Ghost Story

10. Brand New Day

11. Windmills Of Your Mind

12. Epk (Enhanced CD)

Editorial Reviews

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars His best and most satisfying solo album, August 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Brand New Day (Audio CD)

Brand New Day is Sting's sixth solo studio album, and his firstsince 1996's multi-million selling, Mercury Falling. Almost three and a half years have passed since that release and the anticipation over an album's worth of new material has had all fans tenterhooks since news that he was recording again started to filter through some 12 months ago. Mercury Falling was by no means a bad album, it just seemed to have a lack of songs with the power and hooks of Fortress Around Your Heart, Fragile, Englishman In New York, Mad About You, Fields Of Gold and If I Ever Lose My Faith In You. The songwriting was as good as ever, it sold by the shedload, but the album doesn't appear on many fans list of favourites, including ours.

Part of the problem could have been the overall feel of that album - it had everything from gospel choirs to country, from weird time signatures to bossa nova tunes, from the Celtic pipes of Valparaiso to the urgent gallop of I Hung My Head. Whilst Brand New Day actually offers an even wider range of styles and influences, in our view it manages to succeed spectacularly where Mercury Falling sometimes struggled. Despite all the songs dealing with love in one way or another, this is no concept album. Rather, it is a collection of very diverse tracks that happen to share a common theme. A combination of catchy melodies, some terrific lyrics, a little humour and the usual marvellous musicianship and guest cameos, succeed in making Brand New Day a hugely rewarding album.

The first track, A Thousand Years starts with a brooding and insistent rhythm with a heart-beat like bass-line. Don't listen to it last thing at night, as you'll be hearing it all night along it's so catchy. If you want a comparison to past material, try mixing Mad About You and Fragile. The lyric reaches back over the last millennium, recounting wars, sadness and uncertainty but with a linking theme of the strength of eternal faith and love. Desert Rose features Algerian rai singer Cheb Mami's Arabic vocals, before Sting's vocal, "I dream of rain / I dream of gardens in the desert sand / I wake in vain / I dream of love as time runs through my hand. What makes this song so spectacular are the combination of the two very different vocal styles, and Sting's phrasing at the end of certain lines (which is reminiscent of a muezzin's call summoning the faithful for prayer) and the overwhelming sense of yearning and passion that permeates the song.

The third track, Big Lie, Small World is a smooth and gentle bossa nova, which recounts the tale of a guy who posts his ex-girlfriend a letter telling her how well he is coping since they split up. Of course it's a lie, he misses her still, and the lyric tracks his exploits in trying to recover the letter. Fun lyrics, told with a sense of humour and deceptively catchy, and much better than Mercury Falling's bossa nova effort, La Belle Dame Sans Regrets. After The Rain, should definitely be a single release - instantly likeable, romantic and radio friendly. This is a lush track, with background strings and a great chorus "After the rain has fallen / After the tears have washed your eyes / You'll find that I've take nothing that / Love can't replace in the blink of an eye".

The funk of Perfect Love...Gone Wrong mixes rapping (in French), with a lyric from the perspective of a jealous dog who's owner has a new love, a puppy. It sounds horrendous when described on paper, but incredibly it works. Branford Marsalis's saxophone drives the song forwards, and the song rekindles memories of the Blue Turtles tour. You can easily imagine that band performing this song, and having a real blast doing it. Tomorrow We'll See starts deceptively, with more of Branford's saxophone work conjuring up late night, shadowy streets before a haunting bass riff kicks in, and Sting tells a moving tale of transvestite prostitution. More terrific lyrics and a super vocal, "Don't judge me / You could be me in another life / In another set of circumstances / Don't judge me / One more night I'll just have to take my chances / But tomorrow we'll see".

The next track, End Of The Game is a hunting story, told from both the perspective of the huntsmen, and then from the foxes being chased. It starts with a short piece of Northumbrian pipes by Kathryn Tickell, before cleverly recycling the chord structure from Everybody Laughed But You. Once again, Sting shows his wonderful storytelling technique in this song.

Not being a fan of country music, Fill Her Up - which features James Taylor - was approached with some trepidation, but the track springs two big surprises. Firstly, the simple tale of a gas-pump attendant dreaming of stealing his bosses' cash box and heading west with his girl, manages to be not only fun but also better than I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying. Secondly, it takes a major u-turn half way through when it suddenly becomes an uplifting gospel song...

The album ends with the first single Brand New Day. The album version is superior to the radio edit release, being a good couple of minutes longer with the use of the tabla helping give a very Indian feel for the opening and closing sections of the track, and with some additional lyrics, which are in the same vein as those on the single. The song finishes by echoing the first few bars of the A Thousand Years, neatly bringing the album full circle after an enjoyable rollercoaster ride across a world of musical styles and moods.

Also worth mentioning is Sting's voice - which has never sounded better - and the production which is crisp and clear, with the bass and vocals well presented. Congratulations to both Kipper and Sting for their efforts on this. It's early days yet of course and the album has yet to stand the test of time. In a year or two it might be possible to look back more objectively. But to these two fans, right here, right now, Sting has just delivered us his finest and most satisfying album.

4.0 out of 5 stars Sting - BRAND NEW DAY (1999), August 6, 2006

By 

Tom Benton (North Springfield, VT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Brand New Day (Audio CD)

Sting seemed to be on a roll in the early 90s, with his masterpiece THE SOUL CAGES and the outstanding TEN SUMMONER'S TALES. Unfortunately, his winning streak ended with 1996's MERCURY FALLING, a pretentious, unextraodinary addition to Sting's musical portfolio. In 1999, however, Sting made his comeback in a big way with BRAND NEW DAY. It was the ex-Police frontman's first venture into techno music, which he would continue to explore on his subsequent release, SACRED LOVE. Along with the exotic "Desert Rose", a surprise smash hit for the 50-something musician, there's a variety of delightful songs, including the hyptonic "A Thousand Years", the irresistible "After The Rain Has Fallen", and the mega-upbeat title tune. The album has a few oddities - "Tomorrow We'll See", about a transvestite hooker, redeemed by its shady bass line, and the cringeworthy, pretentious "Fill Her Up", undoubtedly the worst song of Sting's entire career - but for the most part, it's a delightful melding of jazz, alt rock and techno. Over thirty years after a band called The Police burst on to the music scene, Sting still rocks.

5.0 out of 5 stars Stings best...if that's possible, June 3, 2000

By 

Ryan Fredric Steinbeck (Porter, in) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Brand New Day (Audio CD)

It's been about 7 months or so since this album was released, and it is still my most listened to CD. I feel this is the best Sting cd to date, and this being in a collection of superb and perfect Sting recordings. I have nearly every piece of music this guy has touched, and I would recommend this album to anyone who is looking to get into his music, or who simply just wants a great album to listen to. This is his essence, and he has certainly delivered. It is hard for me to claim this album as his best, especially when his past efforts are brilliant and near flawless, but some how this pulls in at the head of the pack.

I recommend anyone with any taste in music, and respect for what is good to get this CD. If you don't like at least one song, then you don't like music.