Listen, if you love your Sting with a hurdy gurdy that’s cool. The guy is insanely talented, and somebody has to revive Elizabethan love songs (I guess). It’s just really not my bag is all.
But for those of you who prefer earlier Sting and are sick of “Roxanne” and “Message In A Bottle,” here are some oddball clips. Enjoy:
“Fallout,” The Police. The single that started it all.
“I Burn For You.” From Bring On the Night. Hang in until the end for Omar Hakim’s thunderous drumming.
“When the World is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around,” The Police. From The Police Around the World. I could do without the banana hammock, but I love the live footage.
“Shadows in the Rain,” The Police. Another one from The Police Around the World.
“Tutti Frutti/Need Your Love So Bad,” from the Party Party soundtrack.
Sting Battles Jake “The Snake” Roberts. Get him, Sting! Hit him with your lute! Go tantric on his ass!
Do you have a favorite Sting deep cut? I’m listening.
Why It Matters 
Responses to “Deep Cuts: The Best of Not the Best of Sting”
Not only handsome on the outside but on the inside too where it really matters.
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Tough choice! That song grates a lot of nerves. I’m with you, though – tasty.
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Great list, Robbo. “Voices Inside My Head” would make my list, as would “Truth Hits Everybody.”
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I got into quite a verbal battle over Sting’s “Little Wing.” It was arranged by Gil Evans, someone who Hendrix allegedly much admired and wanted to work with. What I didn’t know at the time was that Hendrix pretty much admired and wanted to work with everyone. So anyway, yeah, I was the lone voice standing up for Gordo’s right to take on Jimi.
As for your Zenyatta Mondatta friend, he or she was a person of exquisite taste and is probably dashingly handsome, too.
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All excellent choices, and honestly I don’t think I’d trust anyone who wasn’t a Police fan and doesn’t think Lute Sting is a bit pretentious. You’re okay in my book, CG.
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Here I am again. How could I forget Mother? Maybe because the request was early Sting not Copeland. It clearly did not fit in with the album, but had an annoying yet catchy lyric. For years I would begin that song upon hearing the phone ring. Now that my mother has passed over, a phone ringing might make me recall her words of wisdom from those phone conversations. Mother.
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In no particular order,
My Top 10 Police cuts:
Can’t Stand Losing You
Message In A Bottle
It’s Alright For You
Walking On The Moon
Driven To Tears
When The World Is Running Down…
Spirits In The Material World
Invisible Sun
Walking In Your Footsteps
Tea In The Sahara
~~~
My Top 10 Sting cuts:
Russians
Moon Over Bourbon Street
Fortress Around Your Heart
They Dance Alone
Mad About You
When The Angels Fall
Fields Of Gold
It’s Probably Me
Shape Of My Heart
I Hung My Head
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Remember you asked for it.
Little Wing. True it is not early Sting, but its 1967 origin is relatively early. I’ve always had my head in the clouds. When I first heard this song, I wanted to be just like that girl he sang about. But it’s not all about the words. The rythm makes you walk through the clouds too Can’t ask for much more.
OK. These next two go together and by no means are my favorites. I just like their quirkiness and they are early Sting. I also probably would have never heard these songs if a friend had not talked me into purchasing the Zenyatta Mondatta. And behind door #2 is Canary in a coalmine and Man in a suitcase. Funny how Sting writes about delusions and physicians in many of his songs. I thought he was an English major not psychology.
Enough. I could write about Sting forever. Yes there is a big ‘sucker’ stamp on my forehead.
Thank you for letting me share my fairy tales.
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To me, Sting’s solo career comes off as pretentious. I am, however, a big Police fan. I like the really early stuff like “Fallout” and “Dead End Job” as well as the B-side, “Murder By Numbers” (A-side was “Every Breath You Take”) which apparently wasn’t good enough for Synchronicity.
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