STING

BRAND NEW DAY: THE REMIXES

  1/  Desert Rose                                (Sting)                       4.44
      (Melodic Club Mix Radio Edit)
  2/  Brand New Day                              (Sting)                       5.25
      (Cornelius Mix)
  3/  After The Rain Has Fallen                  (Sting)                       5.08
      (Tin Tin Out Mix)
  4/  A Thousand Years                           (Sting)                       12.26
      (Bill Laswell Mix)
  5/  Brand New Day                              (Sting)                       5.05
      (Murlyn Mix)
  6/  Desert Rose                                (Sting)                       9.21
      (Melodic Club Mix)
  7/  Perfect Love Gone Wrong                    (Sting)                       5.25
      (Lisa M-Flo Mix)
  8/  After The Rain Has Fallen                  (Sting)                       4.16
      (Tin Rin Out Radio Edit)
  9/  Desert Rose                                (Sting)                       5.20
      (Filter Dub)

          Original tracks recorded at Il Palagio, Italy and Mega Studios, Paris
          Overdubs recorded at Right Track and Avatar, New York
          Strings recorded at Air Studios and Lyndhurst Hall, London
          Original tracks mixed at Mega Studios, Paris
          Recorded and mixed by Simon Osborne
          New York overdub recording engineer: Neil Dorfsman
          String session recording engineer: Geoff Foster
          Assistant engineers at Mega: Etienne Colin, Nico Duport, Stephane Levy-B
           and Aya Takemura
          Assistant engineers at Right Track: Andrew Fellus and Brian Garten
          Assistant engineers at Il Palagio: Ben Kape and Hopps
          Assistant engineer at Air Studios: Ricky
          Original tracks produced by Sting and Kipper
          Original tracks co-produced by Simon Osborne
          Production coordination: Joe Maddern and Clark Pardee
          Tracks 1,6 and 9 remix and additional production by Victor Calderone
          Track 2 remixed by Cornelius at Shortlist Analogue
          Tracks 3 and 8 additional production and mix by Tin Tin Out at Sam West,
            London England
          Track 4 mix translation and additional production by Bill Laswell at
            Orange Sound Studios, West Orange, New Jersey
          Track 5 remix and additional production by Bag and Arnthor
          Track 7 rap produced by Verbal
          Additional engineering (remix) on tracks 1,6 and 9 by Mac Quayle
          Engineer on track 2 (remix): Toru Takayama
          Engineer on track 4 (remix): Bob Musso
          Mastered by Dave Collins at Electric Mayhem Mastering Studios, Hollywood,
            California
          Mastering engineer: Chris Blair
          Track 4 remix mastered by Michael Fossenkemper at Turtle Tone Studio, NYC
          Track 5 remix mastered by Aaron Chakraverty at 777 Productions
Sting: vocals, bass, guitar; Kipper: drum programming (except 4), keyboards; Moulay Ahmed (1,6,9): string player; Kouider Berkan (1,6,9): string player; Salem Bnouni (1,6,9): string player; Farhat Bouallagui (1,6,9): string arranger, conductor, leader; Sameh Catala (1,6,9): string player; Mino Cinelu (1,6,9): percussion; Dave Hartley: sitar (1,6,9), string arranger (4), conductor (4); Manu Katche (1,4,6,9): drums; Cheb Mami (1,6,9): vocal; Dominic Miller: guitars; Ettamri Mustapha (1,3,6,8,9): darbouka; Don Blackman (2,5): Hammond; Stevie Wonder (2,5): harmonica; Tawatha Agee (2,3,5,7,8): backing vocal; Dennis Collins (2,3,5,7,8): backing vocal; Janice Pendarvis (2,3,5,7,8): backing vocal; Althea Rodgers (2,3,5,7,8): backing vocal; Marlon Saunders (2,3,5,7,8): backing vocal; Vaneese Thomas (2,3,5,7,8): backing vocal; Darryl Tookes (2,3,5,7,8): backing vocal; Ken Williams (2,3,5,7,8): backing vocal; Vinny Colaiuta (2,3,5,8): drums; Keigo Oyamada (2): instruments (remix); Toyoaki Mishima (2): protools (remix); Preston Heyman (3,8): percussion (remix); Mark Johns (3,8): guitar (remix); Gavyn Wright (4): string leader; Graham Haynes (4): flugelhorn (remix); Karsh Kale (4): drums and tabla (remix); Bill Laswell (4): bass (remix); Mats Berntoft (5): guitars (remix); Goran Kajfes (5): horns (remix); Per "Rusktrask" Johansson (5): horns (remix); Chris Botti (7): trumpet; Ste (7): rap; Jason Robello (7): pinao, vibes, clav; Lisa (7): rap (remix).

Orchestral contractor in London: Isobel Griffiths
Vocal contractor in New York: Jessica Pendarvis

          2000 - A & M (Japan), POCM-1300 (CD)

REVIEWS :

Here it is, the long awaited and much postponed Japanese-only release of the Brand New Day remixes. Eventually released to coincide with the upcoming Japanese concerts (as testified by the accompanying flyer) this is interesting in many ways, but sadly features the occasional dog of a track. Let's start with the rubbish, and in particular the Cornelius Mix of Brand New Day. This is simply awful - another example of a remix that murders the original song by squeezing all the joy and vitality out of it. Quite simply it's an awful noise, that makes you want to listen to something more melodic, like Mother.

Things get much better with the Murlyn Mix of Brand New Day which retains the spirit of the original, and is actually a very good alternative mix, but sadly, unlike the Murlyn Radio Mix of the song (not included here), it does not include the extra chorus lines that were omitted off the single and album versions. A sad oversight, given that the Radio Mix clocks in at over a minute less and still manages that.

Let's not dwell on the three Desert Rose remixes - they are by now familiar to everyone, and you either think they aren't a patch on the original album version, or you have a soft spot for them. Our soft spot is actually for the Filter Dub mix, which is fast, percussion (and Cheb) heavy, and sounds excellent at high volume. Similarly, the two After The Rain Has Has Fallen remixes are pretty well known now, having had single releases in the UK. It may be a form of heresy, but we are quite fond of these.

Perfect Love...Gone Wrong includes a Japanese rap by Lisa from M-flo, and... well it might grow on us, but it just sounds so strange, even though patches of it are in English. It was hard enough to get your head around the original French rap, but other than the rap, there sounds little different between this mix and the original - indeed both clock in at the same time - and the different language doesn't seem to add anything in particular to the track.

The standout track is undoubtedly the epic Bill Laswell mix of A Thousand Years, which clocks in at an amazing 12:26. Dave Hartley's orchestral, string heavy arrangement gives way to Kipper's noodlings and a Flügelhorn, and a different vocal by Sting in which at one point he acknowledges "All messages have been received". The strings and horn really do add to this already atmospheric track, and around 4:30 in the track becomes really bass heavy (sadly Bill Laswell is credited with bass, so you can't be sure whether we're talking about Sting or Laswell being responsible for this work). The track is also notable for the inclusion of eldest son Joe on backing vocals, and Karsh Kale's drums and tabla work.

So, a mixed bag. Some really good stuff (which is really good) - and a nice collection of mixes - apart from the odd clunker. Worth buying, and will probably work out cheaper, even at import prices, than snapping up all of the singles and promo items needed to get most of the material.

D & W (courtesy of the Stingchronicity website)