| Wed May 16 2007 |
STINGUS 30 MINUTES INTERVIEW :-) |
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Sting CDs at eBay USA | eBay UK | eBay DE
Some days ago, AFP had contacted us for an interview. This has now been released as part of following article:
The rise of the rock dinosaurs
“Breaking up is hard to do,” sang The Carpenters in 1976, but a number of bands from that era are proving that getting back together isn’t as difficult as thought. In the next few months, a handful of past acts of legend, minus some hair and appetite for late nights, will take to the stage for a globe-trotting, nostalgia-tinged encore following a slew of band reunions.
The Police, The Who, Sly and the Family Stone, Iggy Pop and The Stooges and what remains of The Doors are all heading once more for the road. “The desire to play never goes away and neither does the desire of fans to see them perform,” says Giles Green, senior vice president of Sanctuary Records, a record label specialised in “heritage” music acts.
“Every heritage act can return, perform, and find a section of the market that is interested and wants to revisit their youth.” Phil Collins has joined up with his Genesis band mates again (minus Peter Gabriel), Lou Reed is back performing, and Van Halen announced a reunion before then pulling out - but apparently with a view to trying again next year.
Meanwhile, the tireless Rolling Stones are still delighting fans with live performances and are about to start the European leg of their ‘Bigger Bang’ tour. But while the Rolling Stones never split up, other bands have overcome deep resentments that made a reunion unlikely.
The Police surprised everyone earlier this year when they announced their reconciliation after more than 20 years apart. Singer Sting and drummer Stewart Copeland once came to blows during a tour of the United States and reportedly refused to be in the same studio together when recording a “best of” album in 1986.
Mellowed by age and doubtless aware of the lucrative nature of their making-up, the band are apparently getting on fine. “I know from contacts that they are getting along very well,” says Karel Van Isacker from the unofficial Sting fan club, StingUS. “It contrasts to the time in the 80s when they tried to do a reunion but were fighting day and night.”
Tickets, despite being priced at over 100 euros (135 dollars) in many countries, have sold out in less than an hour in some cities, proving the enduring popularity of the creators of "Roxanne" and "Message in a Bottle."
"Overall the reunion was never expected to happen because Sting was opposed to it. But sales of his last two albums were a disaster and people were not going to his concerts any more," adds Van Isacker.
As well as the buzz of performing and playing again, the temptation to top up the pension by settling old differences is a driving motivation behind many of the decisions to reform. “It brings them back into the spotlight,” says Sian Llewellyn, editor of British magazine Classic Rock.
“Touring re-energises the back catalogue of albums and gives a chance to release new editions and DVDs of live shows. The merchandising is the other half of it.” But touring when over 50 can be an exhausting undertaking and many of the so-called wild men of rock are now unable to repeat the high-octane performances of their youth.
Rolling Stones legend Keith Richards still gets into mischief - he fell out of a tree in Fiji earlier this year and was taken to hospital - but has cut down on smoking. “Most people think Keith Richards is smoking, but in fact he just lights a cigarette in the first song, then throws it away after ten seconds,” says Bjornulf Vik, who runs an unofficial Stones fan club. “He still smokes a little bit for his image, but it’s not heavy,” he adds.
As well as health risks, the other grave danger associated with a comeback is the potential to destroy a legacy by muddling memories that defined a moment for fans. Chief rock critic for British newspaper The Times, Pete Pathides, sees something noble in bands that resist the lure of money.
“Johnny Marr and Morrissey [of The Smiths] are constantly being offered vast sums of money and Abba were offered ridiculous amounts.
“For Abba, their argument was always that you’d be better off seeing a tribute band, rather than old men and women lumbering around on stage,” he says.
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Posted on May 16, 07 | 1:33 am
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Good article, though I can't agree that Sting's last two albums were "a disaster".
Posted by: Plaster on May 16, 07 | 3:30 am
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Excellent Stingus ! But I also can't agree with this idea...
Posted by:
Brandnew on May 16, 07 | 5:52 am
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I think stingus means that they were commercial disasters compared to what the record company wanted!
Posted by: mr beat on May 16, 07 | 6:25 am
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I´m Not agree with "a disaster"....for me "a big disaster"!
Posted by: miketona on May 16, 07 | 5:51 pm
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What last two albums are you referring? the lute and love or love and live? I don't think thats anything to do with a reunion anyway. Miketona, i think your exaggerating ever so slightly
Posted by: Neil on May 16, 07 | 7:24 pm
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I think Karel meant basically "Sacred Love" and to a certain extent "BND" as well. "Songs from the Labyrinth" should be counted as an extra being classical music it did very well in the classic/Early Music market. Also SFTL was marketed by Deutsche Grammophon whereas Sting's studio albums by Universal. Sting's back catalogue is administered by EMI. Any news from that BTW?
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Actually, this article is wrong. Sacred love didn't do much in terms of record sales, but the tour was #7 that year. Sacred love sold 3 million copies, All This Time (LIVE ALBUM) sold 2.5 million copies, actually not bad for a live album. However, BND sold over 8 million copies, that was his most successful album. The Lute album really doesn't qualify for a pop/rock release. As a classical album, it did very well. It sold over 700,000 copies worldwide.
To suffice, i agree that Sacred Love faltered on the charts. The live and the LUTE album did very well in terms of their respective genra/category.
Posted by: stingbee30 on May 17, 07 | 2:55 am
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It would be interesting to see though whether Universal/Interscope sees that differently..but they can't complain too much, though, Sting was able to pay back his advance he was given on BND (because of the hit Desert Rose) and thus finance Sacred Love and All this time...
Sting is at a sort of crossroads now, and his partly spontaneous decision to tour with The Police and also honour the band's 30th anniversary, certainly puts any solo work convieniently on hold just now....Sting will decide what to do with his solo career later in 2008 and it may well be that he takes a similar decision as Paul McCartney does just now with his Starbucks record deal. So no future radio formats, remixes and shit like it but cleverly placed, more traditional CDs and iTunes sold music for Sting probably....
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Anybody ever think that the reason the duds might be duds is because somebody tried to remarket what didn't need to be remarketed?
I liked both "duds" while the first "dud" was a little disjointed in its story telling. The second "dud" was better at story telling but overly produced.
But what makes a dud a dud anyways?
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Um Brand New Day was his best selling solo album so Karel has to be talking about SL and SFTL. I don't think they expected SFTL to be a hit, it was just a side project and actually did better than they expected. And I liked both duds too. And thanks stingbee for clearing that up. Since Stings SL tour was actually in the top ten of tours in 2004 it wasn't a disaster at all.So what is Karel talking about. Or was he misquoted.
Posted by:
Franny49 on May 18, 07 | 1:37 am
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Its interesting that brand new day is his most successful. I would have put my money on dream or ten summoners. ten summoners tales is my personal favourite anyway.
Posted by: Neil on May 18, 07 | 4:43 pm
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But sales of his last two albums were a disaster and people were not going to his concerts any more," adds Van Isacker.
I think that sums up my comments to the idiots that refuse to believe it
Posted by: rollkeyser on May 19, 07 | 1:45 am
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once again, now it seems like the LUTE album could be one of the most successful classical albums. The Sacred love tour was a high grossing tour for Sting. So, i would not call them DUDs. Yes, in terms of sales, his last complete solo project was a disappointment. One thing to point is that record sales are going down for the past few years. Most people will only pay for one or two songs on album, rather than buying the whole album. So, blame it on the whole music industry and how times have changed.
Posted by: stingbee30 on May 28, 07 | 5:56 pm
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