Lyrics by Sting
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Book Reviews of Lyrics
Book Review: Wonderful!
Summary: 4 Stars
Sting admits he hesitated to publish the lyrics, apart from the music. But with his brief introductions, they are quite strong, and quite beautiful on their own.Book Review: Still in the Dark
Summary: 3 Stars
It is difficult for me to admit this, since I am a big fan of Sting and his work, but this book is a real disappointment.
Granted, I'm happy enough to have it on my shelf. It's nice to have all Sting's lyrics collected in one place. It's interesting to see how I've misinterpreted some things over the years; particularly, some of the harder rocking songs of the early era of The Police, when it was more difficult to make out the words. Still, I was hoping for much more.
The biggest problem, I think, is that there's so little here beyond the lyrics themselves. I guess of was hoping for much more in terms of background, interpretation and self-criticism of the work. That would have made this volume must-have interesting. But most of the songs have nothing extra in the way of commentary by Sting and those that do are little helped by what he does have to say.
For some reason, Sting still wants to cast darkness over his years as a successful musician. His autobiography, Broken Music, is wonderful--insightful and reflective--but he stops his tale as The Police are forming. In this book he once again had an opportunity to shed some light through the lens of his lyrics and he passed it by. Hopefully, someday he'll be willing to settle down and give us his impressions of his life since the late 1970's. For now, his fans will still have to wait.
Book Review: Lyrics and Poetry...Sometimes
Summary: 3 Stars
Sting's lyrics chart his migration from inane, repetitive tunes of the 80s to a mature poet. But it isn't a surefire book in the poetic genre, and although it is comprehensive, it might've been better presented if only those lyrics that truly pass for poetry were included. I'd recommend this only for the die-hard Sting fan, but there are many lyrics, especially in the later part of the book, that are poignant and well crafted, especially: It's Probably Me, When We Dance, The Hounds Of Winter, I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying, You Will Be My Ain True Love, and All Would Envy. I'm not familiar with Sting's music, but maybe I can give it another listen after reading through this collection.Book Review: Disappointingly lightweight, even by coffee table standards
Summary: 2 Stars
I waited for considerable time for this book to appear on the shelves here in Melbourne, Australia. In hindsight that should have told me something. For several months I would look inside every bookstore I passed, to see if they had it in stock. Finally after waiting for more than six months with no luck I decided to have a specialist bookstore order this book in for me.
Now I understand why none of the bookstores had this book in stock. It's simply very lightweight, even for a coffee table book. I have read interviews by Sting where he's given more of a insight into his work than in this book. A considerable amount of songs have no background or description whatsoever - and the ones that do are deliberately vague.
Overall it feels like Sting spent no more than a couple of hours working on this book. Collecting lyrics from the songs he's written? He wouldn't have done that personally. The record companies have that on file. So what's in this book that you can't already get from looking on the CD sleeves of his music? Not a lot.
One of the few positive things I can say about this book is that it is well presented, and the photos are good. But otherwise it does have a lazy cynical marketing feel to it - given the depth of his lyrics Sting quite simply could and should have done SO much more.
And let's face it, at this stage of his career, why does Sting need to do anything for the sake of making a few quick bucks? Deliberately keeping fans in the dark regarding the basis/meaning of his lyrics, in a book specifically devoted to the lyrics, is at best misguided, and at worst lazy and unprofessional.
While I don't regret purchasing this book, it's certainly not what I'd hoped for.
Book Review: A Study in Psthological Narcissism
Summary: 2 Stars
Sting is a tremendous singer/songwriter. I have every album he ever recorded. I have also been to his concerts; the most recently being The Police 2007 reunion tour; which was extraordinarily good. With that said, he is quite possibly the worst lyricist in the history of rock. For a guy who is so well-read, articulate and bright, his lyrics are almost laughable. I wish he hadn't published what is sure to be an absolute catastrophe for an otherwise stellar career. I guess it just goes to show how blinding self-absorption and narcissism can be...