Soul Cages - Sting (1991)
Got this CD from my sister’s friend, who won it someplace and didn’t know or care anything about it. I think she intended for me to give her some money for it, but I honestly don’t remember if I did. Sorry if I owe you still, Rochelle.
Look, I might as well level with you up front: if Sting had never recorded anything else I liked, I would still love the guy for this one record.
Created to help him work through the death of Sting’s father, the overarching story of this concept album is about a boy in a fishing town (Newcastle, where Sting grew up) who goes on a mythic adventure to confront the Sea about the loss of his father and about the power nature holds over us in general.
Tracks I Liked
All This Time - observations about the father’s funeral, which goes into how we’ve dealt with death throughout history
Mad About You - Pay attention. This song is about the biblical story of King David and Bathsheba, but he’s worked in Shelley’s Ozymandias and built a love-and-longing poem that has enough emotion to make Rumi blush
The Wild Wild Sea - setup for the emotional payoff
The Soul Cages - Possibly the best thing Sting has recorded, which is saying something. A wager with the King of The Sea, part Crossroads and part Orpheus. A raging, keening confrontation with the unknown.
