Now that the Decades series has its own dedicated landing page, I’m excited to add new installments and get closer to my goal of writing about 40 years of memorable albums (with additional decades to come).
Over the next several weeks I’ll turn my attention to the albums of 1987, a year that turns out to be even stronger than the last one I tackled, 1977.
Throwing back to the week of January 29, 1994, the Billboard Hot 100 was topped by the unlikely team of Bryan Adams, Sting, and Rod Stewart on the song ‘All for Love’ from the soundtrack of the 1993 film The Three Musketeers.
I vaguely remember that movie, which starred Keifer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, and Oliver Platt as the titular trio, but I don’t remember this song at all. That’s despite it staying in the #1 spot for three straight weeks.
Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1985…
#6 – The Dream of the Blue Turtles – Sting
Now I’m getting to the 1985 albums I know by heart, starting with Sting’s debut solo record.
Released two years after the blockbuster success of The Police’s Synchronicity, and the band’s subsequent breakup, this album proved that their former frontman could be a major star on his own.
Thank you, Random iTunes Fairy, for a trip back in time to early 1993, when Sting dropped his fourth solo album, Ten Summoner’s Tales. For my money, this record remains the greatest thing he ever did as a solo artist.
Buoyed by two hit singles, ‘Fields of Gold’ and ‘If I Ever Lose My Faith in You’ (today’s SOTD), the album reached #2 on both the British and U.S. charts and achieved multi-platinum status in multiple countries.
I wrote about Elvis Costello yesterday, and now here’s another old-timer with a new album out. Sting released The Bridge in November, a month after his 70th birthday.
I have not kept up with Sting’s discography over the past 23 years. The last album of his I listened to was 1999’s Brand New Day, a triple Platinum hit in the U.S. that capped off a run of six excellent solo albums.
I never found time for the follow-up, 2003’s Sacred Love, which managed to go Platinum despite not producing a hit. After that came a grab bag of novelty releases, including two collections of alternate releases of his own material, a Christmas album, and an album heavily featuring a lute.
