you know i often neglected this album, before, i guess i couldn't understand the darkness of the C.D.
But having recently lost someone very Dear to me i understand, and it has touched me
The Rough Imagery of the sea, ships, and death, is vivid
after giving it a second chance
i must admit it was breath taking
The writing is dark yet melodic

arguably The Soul Cages gives good competition to Stings "Nothing Like the sun", as his best album today

Everything is written Beautiful, in short stories
The Wild Wild Sea, Island of Souls, Why should i cry for you
and he gives it Punch with All this time...

and i must admit i went to tears, thinking of my own father
with lyrics like
"He dreamed of the ship on the sea
It would carry his father and he
To a place they could never be found
To a place far away from this town
A Newcastle ship without coals
They would sail to the island of souls"

god i wish i can write like that

glad u appreciate sting , he's written some amazing songs,....

fields of gold
roxanne
fragile
they dance alone
every breath you take
let your soul be your pilot
i hung my head

a lot o peeps say sting is shit , sting is false , sting is up his own arse, etc etc ,... but just listen to the wonderful song's

he's great live too, i saw him twice last year glasgow (row11) and paris (row10) met him at a book signing in paris , he was really surprised to sign his book for scot's in france !! (he deals with lots o stuff re; his parents in the book)

if u havent already ??? check out,.....

mercury falling - way underestimated album !!!

love it
[Edited 1/14/05 20:02pm]

very strong album, although the second half can sometimes drag

Great album, but I still think his best is 'Nothing Like the Sun'; nothing beats They Dance Alone/Fragile. Losing his mother on one album and his father on the next must've killed the man. I totally respect Sting; people can say that he's an incredibly arrogant asshole, but the man has written some of the best rock/pop songs of the past 30 years.

This is a greaqt Sting album...The darkness is because before recording this record he had lost both his parents in a very short time.
So it was his way of dealing with it. I still like it, always have..

This album contains my favorite Sting song of all time, Mad About You.

I love this entire album.

Sting is not shit!Dude is intelligent,very talented,a multi-instrumentalist,a great songwriter,and has stood the test of time.I agree that he is pompous and pretentious,but what androgynous rock star worth his weight isn't? Sting isn't for everybdy,but he's definitely for me. Some of his albums are beautiful to me and his lyrics make me draw vivid pics in me mind.

People are quick to say how dark and unhappy his albums are. I disagree. I hear pain,yes,but I also hear hope and I hear lots of sly humor.The Soul Cages is one of those albums that I have a hard time describing. Somoe of the melodies and the moods he creates just touch the soul. And I know when I lost my mother in an earthly way ,his music was some of the most played.I feel very privileged to be one who enjoys Sting's contributions.

lyrically, i think The Soul Cages may be Sting's best work. The lyrics to all this time and mad about you, in particular, are incredible.

I prefer the single version of Why Should I Cry For You?

I agree

Melodic wise,

Sting loves his New England Sound,
norwegian pipes, Harmonicas,
Sting is no stranger to experimentating melodies
and masking them with beautiful lyrics

Mad About You is one of my all time favorite songs by any artist. Anyone remember the unplugged version of that song? Absolutely beautiful. Why Should I Cry is heartbreaking. Such a beautiful song, something about the background vocals during the chorus just GETS me.

Funny, I listened to Blue Turtles on the way to work this morning and I hadn't listened to any Sting in a while... I was gonna start a thread about it and then got busy here at work.

I LOVE Sting. He's brilliant.

"Mad About You" is that album!