Following is a fantastic review of Sting’s newly released album “If On A Winter’s Night” by Sting Fan Club member Micra. Thanks to Micra for allowing me to share her insight.
It’s hard to explain oneself in another language…. however…
I enjoy If On A Winter’s Night very, very much. It’s the first time it happens to me since, maybe, Mercury Falling. I’m a bit hard to satisfy, needing many things… lyrics, arrangements, voice, production… and, above all, the feelings the songs arouse in me. This CD hit me in my heart. And in my soul. Sting chose songs and melodies to describe “winter” that are not usual and not expected. I also love the fact he “describes” Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the mystic of Christmas in a very human way. I mean: like they were human beings, with their feelings involved in all their tragic story. That it’s ours also. Winter and death, mystical birth and human death as moments of our lives, of everyone’s life. Voice, instruments, arrangement, are all very essential, all very “real” and simple. Again “Less is More”, the Sting I love more…. Percussions are the winning key sometimes, giving the melodies a clear Eastern taste. Jesus was born there, wasn’t he?
- Gabriel’s Message: it’s so essential it’s hard to think you can barely change it, yet here it is a totally different song. Less airy, less mystical, more painful…. as the announcement was not only joy, but responsibility and sadness to. The Gloria with different intonation seems to ask us if really Gentle Mary should be glad of her destiny.
- Soul Cake: what to say? A masterpiece. Perfect in every respect, since the first bass/guitar notes. Only regret is for the final coda that, in my opinion, should have lasted much more. Hope in live performance. Again, the accent here is on the “souls” on human beings wandering in the cold searching for charity, for warmth, to lessen solitude and desperation. The trumpet playing God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen is simply genial, again playing with pain and sorrow a melody usually sang in joy and triumph. A perfect song for All Saints’ Eve…. getting back our pagan traditions before it was transformed in Halloween.
- There Is No Rose Of Such Virtue: again percussions make the difference. And Sting several voices are perfectly intoned and mixed. The Alleluia gives shivers to me. The song gives joy and airy feelings of love around us.
- The Snow It Melts The Soonest: very slow, sore, very well sung. The guitar is beautiful and perfectly matches Sting voice. It’s not an easy song of course, very slow and boring for people who love Sting for Roxanne only. I can perfectly understand why they hate this record.
- Christmas At Sea: again a masterpiece. Celtic Harp is one of my favorite instruments of all, and the flavor it gives to the song is undeniable as well as the Mary MacMaster choir that works as refrain in a song more acted than sung. It seems a follow up of Island Of Souls, a Soul Cages piece 20 years after. In Stevenson’s poem the man sees the coast, and the house where he was born. Wallsend, maybe, after being all around the globe so many times, Sting returns home. Metaphor for death, maybe, or old age, understanding oneself, finding “home”.
- Lo How A Rose E’er Blooming: accordion is maybe one of the most sore instruments of all. Here it is perfectly matched by a sore voice, whispering in the middle, the Holy Secret of Virgin Mary holding the Savior. Pipes enter and we are in full Christmas time. Accordion vanishes in the night.
- Cold Song: it’s the following of In Darkness Let Me Dwell. Tragic, dramatic, the violins recall me Inverno by Vivaldi. Sting’s voice is a bit too low in this one. Is the only song I’d prefer he would sing a little higher. That said, he sings well.
- The Burning Babe: once again painful but strong “holy” vision. The songs progresses in intensity with the vision told. Very ’70s… It recalls me The Pentangled. A real gem, in my opinion. Tragic as only the death of a man that knows his destiny since the beginning. All of us, indeed, know we will die. Again fading coda is a crime. It seems for some seconds the Blue Turtles are back…. older, wiser… too short.
- Now Winter Comes Slowly: Purcell here, from the semi-Opera King Arthur. Of course a very hard thing to sing and digest. I can’t say I don’t like it, but surely it’s not Sting’s cup of tea in my opinion. Again, a little higher could have been better. But the singing is very hard and Sting is good.
- Hounds Of Winter: A very sore, sad cover. Different from the original one, more mature less rock. A different song indeed. Loneliness is all around. Violin makes the most with the voice in a beautiful arrangement.
- Balulalow: I don’t like it at all. I don’t like the melody in itself. I heard many version on YouTube since I knew Sting would have covered it but I can’t stand it in any of it. Sorry, my fault.
- Cherry Tree Carol: this cover is essential bluesy and the guitar is wonderfully played. Sting sings very well the story about Joseph being a bit angry and then remorseful for what he said after having understood. Once again, Joseph is a man, caught in things bigger than him. Angelo Branduardi did a totally different cover of this Carol many years ago. Between the two there is the entire galaxy. It’s a matter of “reading” a story from one point of view or another. The harmonics beginning and closing the songs are nice and very evocative.
- Lullaby For An Anxious Child: nice, not very different from the recent cover. It perfectly inserts itself in the mood of the album. And remember that before Winter there is a far Spring.
- Hurdy-Gurdy Man: ok, if you have listened to the “classical” version, say the Quasthoff one, you can be shocked, but since Sting is no baritone, I find his way of singing this “song” very good indeed. If Pavarotti could sing popular songs, than a pop singer can sing classical opera like it was a song. The piece is beautiful, again loneliness, cold winter of life and weather, people don’t understanding…. hungriness for success and human warmth. Accordion, violin and voice are perfectly mixed together.
- You Only Cross My Mind In Winter: Written on Bach’s Sarabande from Cello Suite, it’s a miracle. Evocative, ghostly, sweet and yet so sad…. lyrics are one of the best things Sting ever wrote. But the silence of the snow is deafening………… and you look behind you to see if your personal ghosts are here with you. And the last verse…. that Winter that closes the album and the journey is perfect.
Now, if I had to rate it I would give it a 9 1/2. Being my one and only 10 Soul Cages. It is a real project, different from Songs From The Labyrinth, very well produced, played and realized. As Sting says, it point to the dark side of Christmas Season. If you want a joyous Christmas album, I invite you to listen to The Bell of Dublin, the wonderful CD by The Chieftains, exactly the opposite and as much enjoyable. Hope I’ve been clear enough. I had so many things to say.
Bravo Sting and ALL the fantastic musicians and producers…….
Bonus Material:
- Bethlehem Down: I don’t like this song very much, but Sting sings it very well. Arrangement is classic, orchestra and all very traditional.
- Cradle’s Song: Not including this one on the standard edition is a crime. It’s simply wonderful, very hard to sing, the Blake lyrics are wonderful. The arrangement is simple yet complex: it starts with voice and Celtic Harp only, then all other instruments enter one by one… and when trumpet does its melody…. you cry. Don’t ask me why. Bass do a very nice work…. wonderful! It ends with jingle bells that are so far away from Christmas as you can imagine. The baby is sleeping, finally… and the music vanishes in a ringing of angelic little bell…. ahhhhhh, I love it.
- Coventry Carol: A very classic Christmas Carol, once again in a traditional setting, with violins pizzicato starting the song along with Sting. He sings very well, and the Choir (Stile Antico?) is sublime, of course. Also the instrument under his voice during the strophe (a stopped guitar?) is very evocative of the necessity of singing quietly. It ends with Harp, voices and little bells. A big contrast with the lyrics, telling us ferocious Herod was to slain all children in town. It’s a pity it’s not in the main edition of the album.
How wonderful to see micra’s terrific, heartfelt review of Sting’s album. Love of music is an international language of which micra has full command.