Brand New Day

1	A Thousand Years 5:57
2	Desert Rose / Farhat Bouallagui 4:45
3	Big Lie Small World / David Hartley 5:05
4	After the Rain Has Fallen 5:03
5	Perfect Love... Gone Wrong 5:24
6	Tomorrow We'll See / David Hartley 4:47
7	Prelude to the End of the Game 0:20
8	Fill Her Up 5:38
9	Ghost Story 5:29
10	Brand New Day 6:19

Barnes & Noble

Since he struck commercial and critical gold with The Police's combination of reggae rhythms and English new wave over 20 years ago, Sting has embraced a vision of pop music that blurs the boundaries of jazz, soul, rock, and world music. Powered by this ambitious alchemy -- which sometimes obscures the line between sophistication and pretension -- Sting's first album since 1996's reflective Mercury Falling finds the king of pain shooting for the stars again. Joined by an ace cast of singers and players -- Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, Branford Marsalis, and Algerian rai singer Cheb Mami -- Brand New Day is stuffed with internationalist musical flavor. "Desert Rose" provides a technofied take on North African dance-pop. "Big Lie, Small World" is a lightly strummed acoustic bossa nova. "Perfect Love Gone Wrong" is late-night jazz-pop touched with French rapping. "Fill Her Up" even sets down in the dusty deep South for a nice bit of faux honky-tonk in which the accomplished actor assumes the role of a gas station attendant with dubious dreams of getting the hell outta Dodge. Conversely, in "Tomorrow We'll See," he sings of a hooker on the prowl and the results are much less compelling. But for the most part, his songwriting remains in the safe confines of the healing love lyric. "How many people out there/ Been hurt in some kinda love affair," Sting sings on the gospel-tinged title track. He doesn't have an answer, but he sure will heal some wounds. Jon Dolan

All Music Guide

By the late '90s, Sting had reached a point where he didn't have to prove his worth every time out; he had so ingrained himself in pop culture, he really had the freedom to do whatever he wanted. He had that attitude on Mercury Falling, but it was too somber and serious, everything that its successor, Brand New Day, is not. Light, even effervescent, Brand New Day feels like little else in Sting's catalog. Not that it represents a new beginning, contrary to what the title may promise. The album is not only firmly within his tradition, it sounds out of time -- it's odd how close Brand New Day comes to feeling like a sequel to Nothing Like the Sun. Musically, that is. The sparkling, meticulous production and the very tone of the music -- ranging from light funk to mellow ballads to the Lyle Lovett tribute "Fill Her Up" -- are of a piece with Sting's late-'80s work. That's the main thing separating it from Ten Summoner's Tales, his other straight pop album -- well, that, and the levity. There are no overarching themes, no political messages on Brand New Day -- only love songs, story songs, and, for lack of a better term, inspirational exhortations. This is all a good thing, since by keeping things light he's managed to craft an appealing, engaging record. It may not ask as much from its audience as Sting's other '90s efforts, but it's immediately enjoyable, which isn't the case for its cousins. Brand New Day doesn't boast any new classics, and it does sound a little dated, but it's well-crafted, melodic, and has a good sense of humor -- exactly the kind of record Sting should be making as he embarks on the third decade of his career. Stephen Thomas Erlewine