The Bridge (2021)
During my first initial listen through all of Sting’s records awhile back, I found myself getting bored and discouraged with some of his more recent releases. I gave this album a fair listen this go around, and it is actually a pretty solid record. Sting seems to be bridging the gap between certain things that worked on albums before and things he is trying to achieve today. It is much more similar to 57th & 9th more so than anything else Sting has done in the past. There is a blend between later age pop rock Sting, some skippable pop songs and then some interesting folk inspired tunes. The Hills on the Border and Captain Bateman bring about this folk influence that is refreshing for Sting. He executes it rather well and surely should get some praise for it.
Aside from that, the album kicks off with Rushing Water, which at first listen felt rather generic. The second listen made me want to hook the drum beat up to an IV and pump it into my veins. It is catchy as hell and has some great instrumentation. You don’t want to skip out on The Book of Numbers either. A gorgeous installment to the record with uplifting horns on the back end. Make sure to listen to the Super Deluxe version of the album so you get the FIP Session Live tracks. They are amazing.
Overall, Sting isn’t quite making the same music that catapulted him to stardom in his early solo career, but why should he? He’s done it before and as an artist you need to evolve and challenge yourself with new things. At this point, albums like The Bridge and 57th & 9th don’t seem to be really challenging Sting, but he isn’t copying and pasting his early work and we have to somewhat appreciate him for that.
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Highlight Songs:
Rushing Water
The Book of Numbers
(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay
The Hills on the Border
Captain Bateman
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Own it, Stream it, Forget about it?
Not sure which to choose. The record is definitely worth listening to, but you could get away with streaming it and saving some songs rather than owning the whole album. But, don’t forget about it.
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Overall Rating:
3.5 Stars
