Just listening to that clip of the press conference this week and i think Prince has re-arranged many of his songs like Sting did on his 2001 tour. Basically, Sting funked up everything and added a lot of funk/soul touches to his songs. Plus they both use some pretty serious musicians on tour.

i guess it keeps in step with his new musical evolution.
[This message was edited Sat Feb 28 22:10:46 2004 by Milty]

Much love to you, but please don't mention Sting and Prince in the same sentence again. It causes involuntary convulsing.

Sting might be a bit boring but the guy is TOTALLY talented. Just because he doesnt dance around doesnt mean the guy doesnt have talent. Go buy the soul cages.

Having seen Sting in concert... I wouldn't call him boring. He's shows a lot of energy and fucks with the tunes in concert... playing them a little more funky and energetically. I'd love to see them collaborate... wouldn't that be something?

Yah i think that would be great. When i said he was a bit boring was just in comparison to prince. He really doesnt put new energy in his music though, in studio and stage.

They jammed on stage in about '86 (on the Nude tour?) along with Ron Wood. I've got a vinyl bootleg with a cover of the Stones' "Miss You" which kicks ass!

This would be a good Collaberation. Were they Ever Friends? They both liked to Frequent a certain club in the 80's.

They Performed Miss You on stage together, with Sting on Bass, Ron Wood on Guitar and Prince doing a killer Mick Jagger impersonation on the Parade Tour in Wembley Arena on 14th Aug 1985. I was there, aged 15, travelled from Dublin across the sea to see P & the Revolution. Fatabulous!

colm said:

1986.

Sting is incredibly talented, and the tone of his singing voice is so unique, why do people hate on him??

squirrelgrease said:

Too right. Sting not good.

Prince & Sting...

i always used to bring these two up when discussing where Prince went wrong in the 90s...

So i was a huge Prince fan since 80...I was also a big Police fan as well...

anyways...after the Police broke up, Sting had the opportunity to do maintain the pop star image he had become...but instead thankfully he chose to focus a little more on Sting 'the musician' instead. I loved it. That was what i had always dug about the Police & Sting...their musicianship. Sting became the acclaimed darling of many critics and he was consistently respected in most music circles in spite of not having huge flashy hits he once did. He maintained many of his fans like myself, and in many ways actually expanded his fandbase a bit. Some say he is become boring, and I'll admit he has gotten this 'mellowed adult contemporary thing' going on now with some of his records, but the CRAFT is still there. The CARE can still be felt in the music. And the energy is still there too in the live shows. I suggest folks rent the DVDs "All this Time" or "Brand New Day" to see how Sting the musician has maintained his status with respect and consistency.

This is the road that I always said I'd WISHED Prince would have gone down...'the musician' road.

But he didn't. not in the 90s. Instead, for the most part he seemed to me to be trying to recapture his POPULARITY side at the expense of the musician side...often with disasterous musically speaking. There were exceptions, but on the whole for Prince I think the 90's will be remembered as the decade he 'lost his way' as far as his official releases went. He no longer seemed to trust his own instincts. I really wish he would have become this evil genious of music and really cultivated his own musical growth...but on the whole he didn't. He actually became kinda corny and a trend chaser...so much so that even i, who had been one of his biggest defenders, had to admit that the quality and focus on the craft just wasn't there any more. In some cases it was even laughable.

now in 2004 he is speaking of bringing real musicianship back. Well I am very happy that he is trying to bring it back into his thing now...I thought TRC was indeed the best Prince record I'd heard in YEARS. It sounded alive again. But to be truthful his statement that he's bringing musicianship back...well actually he's not...it never really left (just see Meshell Ndegeocello and her 90s-present astonishingly consistent musical contributions)...musicianship, attention & respect of the craft, inspired honest creativity was always alive and well...it was Prince who choose to leave IT behind for a while...

I'm just glad it seems to me he seems to be realizing that it had been missing from HIS albums for a while...but again that was HIS choice...now that hes talking about bringing it back, well i hope he backs it up 'on record' and not just 'in words' this time...

justhemusic said:

cosign what you said about Sting but not about Prince. sure Prince had a dodgy patch in the 90s but there was in my opinion more good stuff than bad. even i don't like someof the 80s stuff.
prince never said he had missed having musicianship on his albums. when did he say that? he's just taking on his usual preachy role which he has been doing since the 80s anyway. prince is Prince, he's always the same dude.

Milty said:

Hey Milty, I guess we'll have to respectfully agree to disagree about the 90s stuff...although there are a few records in there i do truly enjoy, for me it was more bad than good in that era.



No you are right, he didn't say that specifically...but you have to admit, until TRC, most of his 90's-now records didn't really SHOW that did they?.

I think what Prince said essentially was that he was gonna bring back true musicianship 'in general'...to which i say more power to him. All I was saying was that it had actually never completely left in the first place (Meshell, Sting, Dangelo, Maxwell, Sade, The Roots, etc, etc...) and that rather it was HE, Prince, who had apparently chosen to put it on the backburner in his OWN records for a period of time for whatever reason.

Prince = the BEST MUSIC EVER WRITTEN.

Sting = the BEST LYRICS EVER WRITTEN.

'nuff said.
[This message was edited Sun Feb 29 8:26:05 2004 by chookalana]

Just making sure you were paying attention! 86' (shit!!!)
Anyway, Sting is a twat! You can always measure an artists mediocrity by the number of Grammies they have won. Sting has a LOT!

Sting and Prince. Hmm. Well I love the Police but Stings solo stuff seems a little to bland. But both of them are definitely not what they used to be. I guess age does that to people. Mellows them out, makes their music crappy. Maybe we should all die at the age of thirty.

rialb said:

Logan's Run.

I used to make fun of Sting. I thought he was pretentious (that "Dune" character), that he faked the funk and was a blond poser encroaching on R&B territory with songs like "We'll Be Together Tonight" and "If You Love Somebody." That was back in the 1980s, when I, too, thought everybody was inferior to Prince. And, how dare Sting go by one name -- he must be a Prince copycat!!!!

Then, I noticed that I was bobbing my head, tapping my foot and trying to play along to Sting's song on my guitar. And, in the '90s, I finally broke down and started checking him out -- thanks to a friend who hipped me to the brilliance of "Ten Summoner's Tales."

Folks trippin' on Sting and his success, out of some misguided loyalty to Prince, is pretty laughable. Sting has an amazing gift for songwriting -- not just lyrics. During a period where Prince was releasing mediocre albums, Sting was releasing some solid works of art, promoting them well and giving great concerts in support of the projects. He plays the game well, does good work, and is rewarded accordingly.

and, as others have stated already, the man has a knack for breathing new life into familiar hits by rearranging them. Pick up his "All This Time," and you'll see what I mean. His musicians are killer, too. Here's someone who's worked with everyone from Vesta Williams to Dominic Miller to Bradford Marsalis and Cheb Mami to bring about some stellar music.

ThreadBare said:

firstly prince and sting r my 2 fave artists i got in2 the police 1978 and prince 1984.i'm still a fan of both 2day.

i'll probably get a bit o stick 4 theses comments.... but here goes i cant understand this sting is boring shit the guy is a genius how many grammy awards ????

fields of gold,roxanne,fragile,every breath,when we dance,shape of my heart,i hung my head,let your soul be your pilot,mad about you,they dance alone,fill her up,desert rose

just listen u never kno, open ur mind.... i love sting for all the same reasons i love prince these 2 guy's r great musicians thay work with great musicians they write unbelievable lyrics they r both complete artists !!! sting boring ...sorry ure not listening !!!!

danielboon said:

my reply was meant 2 b 2 the thread , not u threadbare !

Sting is by no means boring. he is a very talented musician. and very sexy.

as a song writer, sting is excellent and one of my favourites.

as a musician-instrumentalist he is not hot at all. his bass playing has been described by recording engineers as sloppy, and his keyboard playing and guitar is not hot either.

as a singer, yup, he's great, like it, but wish he wouldn't push the higher registers.

he's not half the musician prince is.

but!! he writes some of the best songs and the best lyrics i've ever heard, and his brand new day album is one of my all time favourites.

justhemusic said:[quote]Prince & Sting...

i always used to bring these two up when discussing where Prince went wrong in the 90s...

So i was a huge Prince fan since 80...I was also a big Police fan as well...

anyways...after the Police broke up, Sting had the opportunity to do maintain the pop star image he had become...but instead thankfully he chose to focus a little more on Sting 'the musician' instead. I loved it. That was what i had always dug about the Police & Sting...their musicianship. Sting became the acclaimed darling of many critics and he was consistently respected in most music circles in spite of not having huge flashy hits he once did. He maintained many of his fans like myself, and in many ways actually expanded his fandbase a bit. Some say he is become boring, and I'll admit he has gotten this 'mellowed adult contemporary thing' going on now with some of his records, but the CRAFT is still there. The CARE can still be felt in the music. And the energy is still there too in the live shows. I suggest folks rent the DVDs "All this Time" or "Brand New Day" to see how Sting the musician has maintained his status with respect and consistency.



Consistency is something I would expect from my accountant not an artist. That in a nutshell is the problem I have with Sting these days-- he hasn't taken any chances with the music. It seems Prince is going down that same road to adult contemporary, quiet-storm, smooth jazz hell. Sting was bad in his day though.
[This message was edited Sun Feb 29 18:03:26 2004 by whodknee]

whodknee said:

Hmmm, "All This Time" is a wonderful showcase of Sting taking chances with his established hits, casting them anew in daring ways (and I don't mean just making them jazzy, as a certain artist has been doing). I also would recommend -- if you haven't heard it -- giving a listen to "I Must Have Loved You," from the Brand New Day CD. Atmospheric and evolving, this song is like other songs Sting does that begin in one genre and shift into something quite unexpected.

"I Must Have Loved You"? I don't have that song on my copy of Brand New Day! Must be a bonus track on a non-US version of the album.

Anyway, I used to think his "Mercury Falling" album was boring, but it took several listens and then I eventually got to the point where that album is one of my favorite CDs of all time. I could understand someone thinking Sting was boring, but only if they know him from a couple of hit songs. If you sit through a Sting album a couple of times, you'll come to realize his talent for strong songwriting. And while he is not a technically great instrumentalist, his awesome band more than makes up for that. If you listen to any one of his 7 studio albums, you'll see the breadth of different styles he incorporates in his music (like Prince)- and that makes him anything but boring....

2 of my absolute FAVORITE artists EVER!!! Sting may not jump around and dance but this is because as he himself has said, he makes music for people who aren't going to jump around and scream at the top of their lungs at a concert. Much like Prince, pretty much EVERYTHING Sting's done has some kind of musical value, even the stuff that's not so hot. Comparing the two is like comparing apples to oranges IMO, but they're both supremely talented musicians and if there were more liket hem, the music biz would be in a lot better shape!

jtgillia said:

Stupid I. The refrain is "I must have loved you." The song's correct title is "Ghost Story." Thanks.

Sting has my respect.