Acoustic guitars. Lute. Elizabethan poetry. I should eat this shit up. Honestly, I wanted to like it. But after being trapped with the CD the on a three times a day rotation since its release last Tuesday, I think I can say that I’ve given it a fair shot.
It’s more than just gloomy, overwrought and unpleasant – it’s terrible.
Does anyone like this CD?
Elizabethan Emo? Thanks, I’ll pass. Maybe if he had a better voice (though I can’t stand the operetic versions, either). Maybe if Dowland hadn’t been such a whiney mope. But neither is true so I’m not interested.
I haven’t heard the CD, but if his performance on Studio 60 was any indication, I won’t like it. His voice is just not right for the style. Like I said in the Studio 60 thread, folks interested in lutes and ancient music should just check out Owain Phyfe’s work instead.
The bottom line when it comes to Sting.
I just Amazoned Owain Phyfe and YEAH! THAT’S how this stuff’s supposed to be done.
Well, you got one right. No guitars, no poetry.
I liked it. He does have a good voice for this, the lute playing is astonishing, and some of the choral stuff (when, to be fair, it doesn’t devolve down into Beach Boys stylings) is very well done. Owain Phyffe, or however the heck he spells his name, has been singing exactly the same songs, exactly the same way, since the days of The Police. He hasn’t grown or developed an inch since his first album went “big” and started selling at Ren Faires all over the country. Sting has the chops to make the performances work, whether it’s in the traditional rock milieu or elizabethan music.
Now, to be fair, Dowland is reknowned as “The Dolorous Dowland,” known on several continents for writing some of the most depressing music of his age. He’s sort of the Elizabethan Evanescence. However, there’s a reason his music is still being recorded over 350 years after his death: it’s good music. Will people be covering The Police in 2350? I think not.
To also be fair, Phyfe (about whom I know nothing, having just been introduced to him today) seems to be going at his career from a different direction than Sting. Phyfe appears to be trying to recreate the music as an Elizabethan troubador might have sung it and if his that is his goal then that his style hasn’t changed in twenty years should not be surprising or disappointing. For this record Sting appears to be doing the same thing and for his next he’ll do something else, though it may be informed by his immersion in Dowland. Two paths, neither of which is wrong.
Note to self: never make assumptions when posting on the Dope. You’re right, of course. I should have investigated. My point was that I this is the sort of music I am predisposed to like.
I do agree with you about the musicianship. The lute is lovely. If he left off the vocals I’d be wearing the thing out on my own CD player. As it is, though, if I hear that plaintive “Till death” refrain one more time, I may have to have a quit chat with the “music guy” at the bookstore where I work.
YMObviouslyV
That would be a quiet chat. Or quite possible a quit chat. There’s only so much Elizabethan angst a body can stand. 
Does this open up the possibilty of a Sting/Blackmore’s Night double-bill? I would love to see that!