Sting - Brand New Day CD (1999) (CD)

With customary thoughtfulness and his usual verve, Sting is talking about Brand New Day, his sumptuous new album, a collection of songs exploring the theme of love. "I didn't set out to write lyrics just about love, yet almost all the songs have the theme of broken lives that can be mended by love. My challenge was to write a happy love song without being banal or smug. For example, 'Brand New Day,' the last song, begins with a jaundiced view and then moves toward acceptance, to diving back into love. It's basically the thought that failing in love is an act of optimism - and I think if the album has a tone, for me...it's an optimistic one." Incorporating highly rhythmic elements, echoes of Miles Davis and medieval plainsong, of Algerian pop and American Country Music, Brand New Day also ranges, with typical Sting audacity, over a world of styles - here's love in abundance of musical tongues. For every irresistible hook or melody, there's a rhythmic challenge or instrumental surprise. "Trying to write simple pop songs over a compound time is my idea of a crossword puzzle - or three-dimensional chess," Sting explains. "That's my obsession." "And," he laughs, "I think people expect that of me to throw them a few loops here and there. They'd probably be disappointed if I didn't.' Co-produced by Sting and producer/programmer Kipper and featuring Sting's customary peerless collaborators - guitarist Dominic Miller, drummers Manu Katche and Vinnie Colaiuta - and guest stars James Taylor, Stevie Wonder, Branford Marsalis, Chris Boti and Cheb Mami, Sting's seventh solo studio outing builds on the legacy of a visionary original, impatient with labels, categories.