Sting - ...Nothing Like The Sun (1987)

If Dream of the Blue Turtles was an unabashedly pretentious affair, it looks positively lighthearted in comparison to Sting's sophomore effort, Nothing Like the Sun, one of the most doggedly serious pop albums ever recorded. This is an album where the only up-tempo track, the only trifle – the cheerfully stiff white-funk "We'll Be Together" – was added at the insistence of the label because they believed there wasn't a cut on the record that could be pulled as a single, one that would break down the doors to mainstream radio. And they were right, since everything else here is too measured, calm, and deliberately subtle to be immediate (including the intentional throwaway, "Rock Steady"). So, why is it a better album than its predecessor? Because Sting doesn't seem to be trying so hard. It flows naturally, largely because this isn't trying to explicitly be a jazz-rock record (thank the presence of a new rhythm section of Sting and drummer Manu Katche for that) and because the melodies are insinuating, slowly working their way into memory, while the entire record plays like a mood piece – playing equally well as background music or as intensive, serious listening. Sting's words can still grate – the stifling pompousness of "History Will Teach Us Nothing" the clearest example, yet calls of "Hey Mr. Pinochet" also strike an uneasy chord – but his lyricism shines on "The Lazarus Heart," "Be Still My Beating Heart," "They Dance Alone," and "Fragile," a quartet of his very finest songs. If Nothing Like the Sun runs a little too long, with only his Gil Evans-assisted cover of "Little Wing" standing out in the final quarter, it still maintains its tone until the end and, since it's buoyed by those previously mentioned stunners, it's one of his better albums.

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, allmusic

Tracklist:

A1 The Lazarus Heart
Guitar – Andy Summers
A2 Be Still My Beating Heart
Guitar – Andy Summers
A3 Englishman In New York
B1 History Will Teach Us Nothing
Guitar – Sting
B2 They Dance Alone (Gueca Solo)
Guitar – Eric Clapton, Fareed Haque, Mark Knopfler
B3 Fragile
Guitar – Sting
C1 We'll Be Together
C2 Straight To My Heart
C3 Rock Steady
D1 Sister Moon
D2 Little Wing
D3 The Secret Marriage