| Product Summary | | Label: Uni/a&m Duplicate Numbers | | UPC: 00731454048323 | | Release Date: 3/12/1996 | | Buy.com Sku: 60268101 | | Item#: MNSY3W | Format:  CD |
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(P) 1996 A&M Records
(C) 1996 A&M Records
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"...first rate..." Entertainment Weekly
| | Album Notes and Credits |
Notes & Personnel Info |  | Personnel: Sting (vocals, bass); Dominic Miller (guitar); B.J. Cole (pedal steel); Katherine Tickell (fiddle, Northumbrian pipes); Branford Marsalis (saxophone); Gerry Richardson (Hammond organ); Kenny Kirkland (keyboards); Vinnie Colaiuta (drums); Monica Reed, Shirley Lewis, Lance Ellington, Tony Walters, The East London Gospel Choir (background vocals). | | The Memphis Horns: Andrew Love (saxophone); Wayne Jackson (trumpet). | | "Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot" was nominated for a 1997 Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. MERCURY FALLING was nominated for a 1997 Grammy for Best Pop Album. | | This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files. | | Personnel: Sting (vocals, bass guitar); East London Gospel Choir, Tony Walters, Lance Ellington, Shirley Lewis (vocals); Dominic Miller (guitar); Andrew Love, Branford Marsalis (saxophone); Wayne Jackson (trumpet); Kenny Kirkland (keyboards); Vinnie Colaiuta (drums); Kathryn Tickell (background vocals). | | Recording information: Lake House. | | Since striking out on his own with a cadre of jazz musicians on 1985's THE DREAM OF THE BLUE TURTLES, Sting's nomadic wanderings in search of new musical challenges have been a hallmark of all his solo work. MERCURY FALLING continues in this vein, skipping between genres and musical locales. The appearence of The Memphis Horns on "You Still Touch Me" allows Sting to tap into the Stax/Volt spirit, complete with Dominic Miller's Steve Cropper-like phrasing and some of the ex-Police-man's most soulful singing to date. French lyrics are the only anomaly on the bossa-nova beat of "La Belle Dame Sans Regrets," which brings to mind Antonio Carlos Jobim's arrangements, while the combination of the East London Gospel Choir and Branford Marsalis' restrained playing add a pious atmosphere to "Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot." | | The Englishman's greatest leap is into the heart of Nashville with a song about divorce and child custody. B.J. Cole's pedal steel and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta's clip-clop beat add a tear-in-my-beer authenticity to "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying," bringing Sting as close to the Grand Ole Opry as he's likely to get. |
Producer: Hugh Padgham; Sting |
Engineer: Hugh Padgham; Simon Osborne |
Musical Guests | | Kenny Kirkland | | Vinnie Colaiuta | | Branford Marsalis | | The Memphis Horns | | B.J. Cole | | Lance Ellington | | Shirley Lewis |
| | Compilation Appearances |
| | Associated Artists and Works |
| | Technical Info | | Release Date : 03/12/1996 | | Original Release Date : 1996 | | Catalog ID : 540483 | | Label : A&M Records (USA) | | Number of Discs : 1 | | Runtime : 48m : 8s | | Studio/Live : Studio | | Mono/Stereo : Stereo | | SPAR Code : DDD | | UPC : 00731454048323 |
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| | Professional Reviews | | Rolling Stone (3/21/96, p.96)
- 3 Stars (out of 5)
- "...On MERCURY FALLS, Sting manages to stay true to his pensive nature while injecting healthy doses of levity into the mix..."Entertainment Weekly (3/15/96, pp.60-63)
- "...MERCURY FALLING is as first-rate a piece of craftsmanship as its predecessors. If anything, it's tauter, more shipshape, and richer in hooks--the closest thing yet to Sting's pure pop album..." - Rating: A- Musician (5/96, p.95)
- "...Deep into his introspective troubadour mode, Sting wails of lost loves, assorted heartbreaks and bitter twists of fate....Strip away the narratives and you discover that his starkly arranged instrumental passages...could stand on their own..." Billboard 9 of 10
As if anyone needed reassurance that Sting is one of the most gifted songwriters around, the British star has delivered an album that stands up to anything he has produced in his...career... Mercury Falling deserves a prominent place in the Sting canon.
Rolling Stone 8 of 10
...Sting manages to stay true to his pensive nature while injecting healthy doses of levity into the mix. Rather than deflecting his doubts and concerns...he confronts them with equal parts irony, hope and wistful resignation. - Elysa Gardner
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| | Bio | | You know his face from two decades of magazine covers. You've seen his name in articles about human rights, Amnesty International, and the Rainforest Foundation. You've seen him act in at least one of his fourteen films, and possibly onstage as well. Most importantly, you know the music of Sting. His award-winning songs--including the unforgettable "Every Breath You Take" and the uplifting "Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot"--have left a permanent mark on modern music. Sting has come a long way from his beginnings. The son of a milkman, he was born Gordon Sumner and raised in Newcastle, in the northeast of England. After completing teacher training college, he taught at a school where most of the other teachers were nuns. Two years later, Sting left to pursue his career as a musician. He started out playing jazz, and earned the nickname Sting by wearing a yellow and black striped jersey. Moving to London was inevitable; once there, he joined guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland to formthe Police. With Stewart's brothers Ian as the booking agent and Miles as manager, the band brought their unique blend of pop, punk, rock, and reggae to appreciative audiences far beyond the borders of the UK. In the late '70s and early '80s, the Police produced five influential albums, topping the charts with 1983's Synchronicity. Sting headed out on his own in the mid '80s, crossing musical boundaries and exploring new territory. With ten solo albums (and numerous Brit and Grammy Awards) to his credit, Sting has consistently challenged his fans and himself. Incorporating jazz and classical strains, reggae motifs, folk themes, world beat rhythms and even country to serve a highly individual voice, his music transcends genres. The wide musical net he has cast is evident in his choice of collaborators: Luciano Pavarotti, Branford Marsalis, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits), Stevie Wonder, Cheb Mami, James Taylor and Gil Evans are among them.
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| Customer Reviews | ![]() | | Production |  5 | | Performance |  4 | | Composition | 4 | | Overall Satisfaction | 4 |
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4 of 5 He disappoints us Monday, September 16, 2002
sand-da-man from Chicago, IL
Sting's writing is so far above what typically appears on the charts that simply an appearance of his album should garner 4 stars. Because of his superior ability, however, his efforts must consequently be evaluated against a higher standard. Coming on the heels of Ten Summoner's Tales, perhaps Sting's finest CD, Mercury Falling does just that: it falls short. For whatever reason, he decided to record a Tennessee-oriented album, Stax and Nashville style. Had he continued down the path first broken in Soul Cages and Tales, it's fair to assume that the result would have been much more original and stimulating. His genius is revealed when he remains true to his own instincts. While I would still recommend this album, it nonetheless is disappointing-- that is, for what we've come to expect from Sting. I refer the listener to the extended CD, You Still Touch Me. Had three of the four selections found there been selected as well to appear on Mercury, it would have been a much more artistic and rewarding work. Was this review helpful?  
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