Sting Announces New Album, ‘My Songs’
Sting revealed the cover and track listing for his new album My Songs, which contains “re-imagined” versions of some of his favorite Police and solo compositions.
It’s set for release on May 24 in standard and deluxe versions. You can see the full track listing below.
He previously explained how the idea came to him after reworking his song “Brand New Day.” In a new interview with Billboard, he said, “I'm constantly tinkering and I'm always wanting to make the songs as contemporary as they can possible be, because I think they are good songs. Sometimes songs are identified by the technology they were recorded with – recording techniques, the sound of synthesizers or the drum sound. They all date a song, so we just want to re-contemporize the stuff."
He said the new album made use of both old and new recordings, with arrangements based on how the music had evolved during live performances over the years.
“My voice has more interesting overtones than it did when I was 25," he noted. "It's a less pure sound, but I think it has this richness to it. The songs change every night when I sing them, and I'm always hearing something I haven't actually discovered there. It's discovery within that repetition too."
This isn't Sting's first attempt at re-recording his music. In 1986, the Police remade two songs from their 1980 album Zenyatta Mondatta, "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da." "Don't Stand So Close to Me '86" came out on that year's Every Breath You Take: The Singles compilation; "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da '86" was later released on the SACD version of the album.
However, Sting didn’t expect to continue down the path of retrospective work. “"I'd like to make something totally new," he said of his next studio project. “I don't know what that is, what it sounds like or what it looks like. I just have to trust that the muse will appear. … You always think that the last song you wrote is the last song you'll ever write -- which is probably a good way to think.”
Sting, 'My Songs’ Track Listing
"Brand New Day"
"Desert Rose"
"If You Love Somebody Set Them Free"
"Every Breath You Take"
"Demolition Man"
"Can't Stand Losing You"
"Fields of Gold"
"So Lonely"
"Shape of My Heart"
"Message in a Bottle"
"Fragile"
"Walking on the Moon"
"Englishman in New York"
"If I Ever Lose My Faith in You"
"Roxanne" (Live)
Deluxe Edition Bonus Tracks
"Synchronicity II" (Live)
"Next To You" (Live)
"Spirits In The Material World" (Live)
"Fragile" (Live)
"I Can't Stop Thinking About You" (Live) (Japan Exclusive)
"Desert Rose" (Extended Version) (France Exclusive)