In quite a few ways, Sting has never in my mind surpassed his debut solo album. This very interesting synthesis of his mid-’80s Police style (which is to say, more mainstream and less of the endearingly outlandish style of the Police) and modern jazz is truly unique, and even Sting himself has never quite topped it. Most everyone will remember “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free” and “Fortress Around Your Heart” from this album, and the somewhat less successful single “Love Is The Seventh Wave”, but the album also contains the Anne Rice-inspired “Moon Over Bourbon Street”, “We Work The Black Seam”, 
and “Russians”, some of the best things Sting has ever done in or outside of the Police. I suppose he couldn’t have stuck to this style for fear of being accused of getting lazy, but so much of the follow-up albums Nothing Like The Sun and The Soul Cages failed to live up to the incredibly high standard of Sting’s solo debut, I can barely listen to his later work… well, maybe with one exception.
- If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free (4:14)
- Love Is The Seventh Wave (3:30)
- Russians (3:57)
- Children’s Crusade (5:00)
- Shadows in the Rain (4:56)
- We Work The Black Seam (5:40)
- Consider Me Gone (4:21)
- The Dream of the Blue Turtles (1:15)
- Moon Over Bourbon Street (3:59)
- Fortress Around Your Heart (4:48)
Released by: A&M
Release date: 1985
Total running time: 41:40
