Album Review: Sting Symphonicities

Sting <i>Symphonicities</i>. Photo / Supplied

Rating: 2/5

It sure sounds like his forthcoming Mission Estate show isn't going to be quite as much fun out front as the Police reunion tour. Here Sting recasts a dozen songs from his back catalogue (only three of which are "greatest hits" promised by the cover sticker) in largely leaden symphonic arrangements of rampant strings and woodwinds.

True, old Police tracks like Next to You and Every Little Thing She Does is Magic do sound a little more toe-tapping than the Elizabethan lute album which preceded this.

But the likes of the dour Roxanne and his latter day ballads make this sound like a man wondering aloud why his pop genius hasn't got the stage musical it so richly deserves. Still, live, it might not come off quite so earnest. Altogether now: Ee-yo-yo-oboe ...

-TimeOut