Happy 35th Anniversary to Sting’s debut solo album The Dream Of The Blue Turtles, originally released in the US June 1, 1985 and the UK June 17, 1985.
To leave a band at the height of their success is at once a masterstroke and a huge gamble. With The Police riding high on the success of their multi-platinum, GRAMMY winning 1983 album Synchronicity, the band that had become riddled with infighting decided to take a break (as opposed to break up.) This left Sting free to pursue a solo career of his own making and explore where his muse might lead him.
And where it led was quite a departure from what we had expected from his days with The Police, as he strove to be taken more seriously as both a musician and lyricist.
Although you wouldn’t have known it from the release of the first single. The infectiously pop rock meditation on love that is “If You Love Somebody (Set Them Free)” was the perfect bridge from band member to solo artist. For what is a pretty standard pop rock song, beneath the surface lay a hint of the new musical direction Sting was heading in. There beneath the straight-ahead groove was a flurry of keys courtesy of Kenny Kirkland and a flutter of soprano saxophone licks per the acclaimed Branford Marsalis. Rounding out the thicker, fuller sound was drumming dynamo Omar Hakim and bassist Darryl Jones.
This core group of musicians, flanked by backing vocalists Dolette McDonald and Janice Pendarvis, formed the cornerstone upon which Sting could build his musical ideas. With such accomplished musicians behind him, he could stretch himself musically and lyrically.
Some efforts like the jazz rock reworking of the Police track “Shadows In the Rain” or the wandering instrumental “The Dream Of The Blue Turtles” free Sting up and there’s a lightness that feels refreshing.
This is found in the joyous singalong that is “Love Is The Seventh Wave,” which rides a reggae-ska-calypso vibe so effortlessly that Sting allows himself a moment to poke fun at his “serious” persona with an off-the-cuff adlib that riffs on The Police’s massive hit “Every Breath You Take” in the final seconds.
But it’s not all fun and games and throwaway quips. For as much as Sting wanted to break free of the shackles of The Police and reframe his popstar status, he wanted to be taken seriously as a musician, composer, lyricist and producer.
With this in mind, and with a more globally outward view, many of the touchpoint topics of the era find their way into his writing.
The anxiety of increased tensions during the cold war era felt in the populace and depicted in films such as The Day After (1983) is given an airing in the powerful and moving “Russians.” With musical motifs from Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev as its base, Sting delivers a chilling summation of the idea of Nuclear Deterrence or Mutual Assured Destruction, and the constant threats of annihilation. The only saving grace, as Sting sings, is placing faith in the thought that “the Russians love their children too.” It’s a heavy song, built with appropriate tension and bombast. Thankfully the concern may have diminished, but the shared humanity remains.
Similarly, “We Work The Black Seam” is a reflection on the ongoing Miner’s Strike taking place in Britain during the period of the album’s creation. Against the promise of a clean, Nuclear power comes the reality of human and economic impact for the miners whose very livelihood was at risk. The contrast of mechanical melody and drum machine pattern against Sting’s pleading vocal makes for a stark and powerful comment.
Sting’s growing prowess as a lyricist and songwriter comes to the fore on a song like “Children’s Crusade,” which draws a parallel between young soldiers of the First World War, the enslavement of twelfth-century children, and modern street life and heroin addiction. What starts as a haunting piano meditation builds into a blistering jam session that swirls around the listener at the midpoint of the song before. This instrumental moment is one of the finest of the album, with each passing bar ratcheting up the tension.
“Consider Me Gone” is another moment of pure musicianship laid out against a slow burn blues groove that is just waiting to ignite, and does so in the final moments of the song, and would erupt even more in live performances.
On the flipside, the brooding, Anne Rice inspired “Moon Over Bourbon Street” is restrained and measured. With Sting delivering the narrative from the perspective of a Vampire with a conscience, much like Louis from Rice’s Interview With A Vampire, it’s an enjoyable musical morality tale.
The album closer, “Fortress Around Your Heart” is perhaps the track that is most similar to what one might expect from The Police. Sharing a similar feel to “Wrapped Around Your Finger” in production, the song is a telling of the emotional walls that are slowly built up in relationships and the personal encampments we retreat to as love slowly disintegrates into war. There’s no great resolve, no triumph, just a hope or maybe a threat to set the battlements on fire, whether to do away with them or to gain an upper hand is left up to the listener.
The Dream Of The Blue Turtles is a near perfect album. A collection of 10 songs that take you on a musical journey and deliver pleasurable and thought-provoking listening experiences at every turn. Lambasted by some jazz purists for delivering what they saw as “jazz lite,” they missed the point of the adventure. It wasn’t to appropriate or claim, but rather to draw influence and mesh with elements of it. Surely the pedigree of players should have been a point of it being a worthy undertaking.
The experience of the album is one that is rich and rewarding. Made even more so with the delivery of the Bring On The Night film that documented the creation of the album and the process of taking the songs to the stage. It remains one of the most enjoyable and inspiring music documentaries, which makes it such a shame that it is almost impossible to find. Thankfully the live album of the same name presents us with an energy packed experience to relive.
The risk Sting took paid off. And here, 35 years later, the album continues to pay dividends.
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