Sting: Sacred Love

Reviewed by RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * )

One of rock's favourite whipping boys returns for another album of style-hopping musical globalism which does little that he hasn't done before, in that smooth sophisticated jazz-buffed way of his. There's a spot of demographic canniness in his guest stars — hip-hop soul singer Mary J. Blige (on the effective gospel-tinged Whenever I Say Your Name), sitar star Anoushka Shankar (half-sister of Norah Jones), and Spanish guitarist Vincente Amigo helping make this especially airport lounge friendly.

And curiously, for a man whose profile was last boosted by a luxury car advert, he offers a track here entitled Stolen Car, a lyric which he attempts to tell through the eyes of a car thief imagining the owner's life, but ends up being a jingle celebrating the virtues of real-leather upholstery. But while its very Sting-ness is enough to have it dismissed as another bland effort, even long-time fans might start to wonder if he hasn't already written some of these songs before, and with better tunes.


Label: A&M