Brand New Day by Sting

Brand New Day by Sting

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Brand New Day by StingSting‘s sixth solo record, Brand New Day was a 1999 critical and commercial success that ultimately earned a Grammy Awards for both Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. The album is filled with tracks of generous length composed through an easy approach and recorded with expert studio production. The result is a multi-million selling Top 10 album that closed out the decade and century on a high note for the former Police front man.

Sting decided to leave the Police (albeit unofficially) after the tremendous success of 1983’s Synchonicity II and the subsequent stadium tour. The trio agreed to next concentrate on solo projects with Sting’s 1985 debut The Dream of the Blue Turtles achieving multi-platinum success. Sting was now an established solo artist who collaborated on several other pop projects and allowed him to transcend the Police as a pop icon. 1987’s Nothing Like the Sun was nearly as successful as its predecessor as was the Grammy winning 1993 album (his fourth solo effort), Ten Summoner’s Tales. However Sting’s 1996 album, Mercury Falling was a commercial disappointment.

Producer Hugh Padgham was originally slated to produce the album which would become Brand New Day, but Sting changed direction and decided to co-produce it with Kipper. The album was recorded in various European studios throughout 1999.


Brand New Day by Sting
Released: September 27, 1999 (A&M)
Produced by: Sting & Kipper
Recorded: Il Palagio, Italy, Studio Mega, Paris, Right Track Recording and Avatar Studios, New York City, Air Lyndhurst Hall, London, 1999
Track Listing Primary Musicians
A Thousand Years
Desert Rose
Big Lie, Small World
After the Rain Has Fallen
Perfect Love… Gone Wrong
Tomorrow We’ll See
Prelude to the End of the Game
Fill Her Up
Ghost Story
Brand New Day
Sting – Lead Vocals, Bass, Synths
Dominic Miller – Guitars
Kipper – Keyboards
Manu Katché – Drums
Vinnie Colaiuta – Drums

Brand New Day by Sting

A long synth swell intro leads to the percussion driven verse of “A Thousand Years”, with Sting’s voice oft mimicking the string melody. The hit “Desert Rose” follows and the world influences are evident with an Arabian feel to it throughout. This song, which features a duet performance with Algerian singer Cheb Mami, was a hit worldwide including the Top 20 in the UK and the US.

“Big Lie, Small World” is a jazzy song throughout with choppy guitar and bouncy bass under a fine melody leading to an equally fine horn lead to complete the track. “After the Rain Has Fallen” is the most upbeat and most intense song thus far as a funk/rock arrangement with strong hook and more subtle use of synths, while “Perfect Love… Gone Wrong” ranges from cool jazz to French rap but the novelty wears thin pretty quickly.

Sting

The real heart of the album comes on its original second side, starting with “Tomorrow We’ll See”, a fine track which builds in intensity as it maintains its cool jazz format throughout. “Fill Her Up” is where the album takes its biggest left turn with a lyric heavy Western arrangement with catchy melodies and rhythm, featuring guest James Taylor and pedal steel guitar by BJ Cole. “Ghost Story” at first sounds like Medieval English folk but then morphs into a more pop oriented love song for another interesting track, This all leads to the closing title track “Brand New Day”, as Sting saved the best pop song for last, with Stevie Wonder‘s harmonica adding a perfect compliment.

Following the success of Brand New Day, Sting found continued success as a solo artist into the new century and finally reunited with the Police for a world tour in 2007.

1999 images

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1999 albums.

Fullfilligness First Finale by Stevie Wonder

Fullfillingness’ First Finale by Stevie Wonder

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Fullfilligness First Finale by Stevie WonderAt the age of just 24, Stevie Wonder released his 17th studio album with 1974’s Fulfillingness’ First Finale. This record came when the composer, musician and vocalist was in the heart of his prime creative output  and features Wonder playing most of the instruments along with an array of backing vocalists. The result is a refined blend of pop, jazz and soul using economical musical arrangements along with a somber and reflective lyrical tone overall.

In 1971, Wonder had allowed his Motown contract to expire after nearly a decade on the famed label as an adolescent star. After two independently recorded albums, he negotiated a new contract with Motown Records which gave him more musical autonomy starting with the 1972 Music of My Mind, a full-length artistic statement with some lyrics that dealt with social and political issues. Talking Book followed later that year and featured a couple of number 1 hits, “Superstition” and “You Are the Sunshine of My Life”, which also won three Grammy Awards between them. In 1973 won three more Grammy Awards with the epic social consciousness of the record Innervisions.

Wonder nearly lost his life when he was in a serious car accident while on tour in August 1973. After months of recovering and a renewed sense of faith and personal strength, he got back on tour and developed songs through improvisation and introspection in early 1974. Fulfillingness’ First Finale was co-produced by Wonder along with Robert Margouleff & Malcolm Cecil and was recorded at multiple studios in New York City and Los Angeles.


Fullfillingness’ First Finale by Stevie Wonder
Released: July 22, 1974 (Tamla)
Produced by: Stevie Wonder, Robert Margouleff & Malcolm Cecil
Recorded: Record Plant Studios and Westlake Recording Studios, Los Angeles; Media Sound and Electric Lady Studios, New York, 1974
Side One Side Two
Smile Please
Heaven is 10 Zillion Light Years Away
Too Shy To Say
Boogie On Reggae Woman
Creepin’
You Haven’t Done Nothin’
It Ain’t No Use
They Won’t Go When I Go
Bird of Beauty
Please Don’t Go
Primary Musicians
Stevie Wonder – Lead Vocals, Piano, Keyboards, Harmonica, Drums, Percussion
Michael Sembello – Guitars
Reggie McBride – Bass
Deniece Williams, Minnie Riperton, Shirley Brewer – Backing Vocals

The smooth pop/jazz ballad of the opener “Smile Please” sets the warm vibe for the album, led by Wonder’s Fender Rhodes piano and the Latin flavored guitar of Michael Sembello. “Heaven Is 10 Zillion Light Years Away” is ultimately a Gospel song where Wonder conveys confidence in his devotion and is backed by an array of backing vocalists including pop legend Paul Anka. “Too Shy to Say” follows as a different kind of ballad with Wonder’s piano complemented by the steel guitar of Pete Kleinow, adding unique ambiance for this otherwise vocal-driven ballad.

The album takes an upbeat turn with “Boogie On Reggae Woman”, a Top 5 pop hit which melds reggae with mid-seventies and displays Wonder’s incredible mastery of technologically diverse instrumentation. “Creepin'” is a pure soul love song featuring a small array of then-cutting-edge synthesizers, while the political and funky “You Haven’t Done Nothin'” is melodically entertaining with nice horn arrangement and features Wonder’s overdubbed orchestra of percussive elements. This second side opener also features members of The Jackson 5 on background vocals.

Stevie Wonder on stage

The latter part of this record is where the pure genius resides. “It Ain’t No Use” returns to the spiritually driven theme with the expert use of backing vocals in a smooth soul vibe swelling to a stronger hook while maintaining its overall compositional integrity. The haunting “They Won’t Go When I Go” was co-written by Yvonne Wright and features a sound both ancient and modern as well as a chorus of self-harmonizing by Wonder. With a combo of his smooth and upbeat styles along with great melody and strategic backing vocal chants, Wonder delivers a masterpiece with the aptly titled “Bird of Beauty”, which is also rhythmically interesting due to his fine drumming and Moog bass. “Please Don’t Go”, an excellent, upbeat love song closes the album with a style that forecasts the best elements of modern day R&B, including a fine mix of electric piano and synths and a sweet, piercing harmonica lead to climax the mood before the crescendo of the final verse and coda brings it all home.

Fullfillingness’ First Finale was Wonder’s first to officially top the Pop Albums charts and, like its two predecessors, this album received three Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, Best Male Pop Vocal and Best Male Rhythm and Blues Vocal Performance. In fact, when Paul Simon won the Album Of The Year Grammy the following for year for Still Crazy After All These Years, he sarcastically thanked Stevie Wonder for not making an album in 1975.

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1974 images

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1974 albums.

The White Stripes

The White Stripes

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The White StripesThe self-titled 1999 debut by the Michigan based debut, The White Stripes was at once a nod back to the American blues from the century about to end and a preview of the minimalist arrangements trend of the century to come. With great economy, the husband and wife duo of vocalist/guitarist Jack White and drummer Meg White deliver a loud, raunchy, unique blend of blues, punk, country and metal among this generous collection of both originals and covers.

Jack Gillis met Meg White while he still was in high school and a drummer in a local band. The two began to frequent local music venues together. The two married in 1996 and Jack defied convention by taking his wife’s surname. The following year, Meg first began to learn the drums as Jack migrated to guitar and they found a surprising synergy together as a duo. They chose the name “The White Stripes” due to their last name and Meg’s love of peppermint hard candy. They also deliberately crafted their mysterious image by only outfitting their production in only the colors red, black and white, refusing to be interviewed separately, and occasionally (and bizarrely) presenting themselves as brother and sister.

In 1998, The White Stripes recorded and released the singles “Let’s Shake Hands” and “Lafayette Blues” on the Detroit-based independent label Italy Records. The debut album was recorded in Detroit in January 1999 with producer Jim Diamond and released in the summer of that year.


The White Stripes by The White Stripes
Released: June 5, 1999 (Sympathy for the Record Industry)
Produced by: Jack White & Jim Diamond
Recorded: Ghetto Recorders and Third Man Studios, Detroit, January 1999
Track Listing Group Musicians
Jimmy the Exploder
Stop Breaking Down
The Big Three Killed My Baby
Suzy Lee
Sugar Never Tasted So Good
Wasting My Time
Cannon
Astro
Broken Bricks
When I Hear My Name
Do
Screwdriver
One More Cup of Coffee
Little People
Slicker Drips
St. James Infirmary Blues
I Fought Piranhas
Jack White – Lead Vocals, Guitars, Piano
Meg White – Drums

The White Stripes

Starting with the original ,”Jimmy the Exploder”, The White Stripes album contains 17 total tracks with just a handful clocking in at more than three minutes. Early on, there is a good cover of Robert Johnson’s “Stop Breaking Down”, where Jack White provides a slide lick repeated throughout. “The Big Three Killed My Baby” refers to the major Detroit automakers and the charge that they are manufacturing automobiles which are intentionally engineered to become prematurely obsolete.

“Suzy Lee” features a beautiful bluesy electric slide by guest Johnny Walker set in between Jack White’s heavy riffing that makes this a bit of a modern classic, while “Sugar Never Tasted So Good” is a bit less refined and more spontaneous with Meg White providing some odd percussion effects. This album was officially dedicated to Delta blues legend Son House and the track “Cannon” features an a cappella section of the traditional American gospel blues song “John the Revelator”. The hyperactive “Broken Bricks” was co-written by Stephen Gillis as a full-fledged garage-rock romp.

The White Stripes

Not all the tracks on The White Stripes are top-notch and, in fact, some are pure filler and/or downright frivolous. These include (the aptly titled) “Wasting My Time”, “Astro”, “Screwdriver”, “Little People” and “Slicker Drips”. However, the latter part of the album is saved by a couple of good renditions of cover songs. The isolation tone of Bob Dylan’s “One More Cup of Coffee” is followed by the traditional “St. James Infirmary Blues”, where Jack White breaks the formula and plays a decent piano throughout. Walker returns to provide slide guitar on the album closer “I Fought Piranhas”.

While The White Stripes did reach Gold status in the United States, it didn’t really receive much attention or critique until a few years later when the duo’s fame began to spread. Still, this set the pace for more success to come in the new millennium, starting with 2000’s De Stijl, the home recorded analog follow-up album.

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1999 images

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1999 albums.