Send "Sting " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Billboard |
 Sting has said that his latest album, "If on a Winter's Night . . .," was inspired by his favorite cold-weather season. But what's surprising about the best cuts from the 15-track set is how much heat the Police frontman and his varied collaborators create. On "Christmas at Sea"-a Robert Louis Stevenson poem set to music by Sting and Scottish harpist Mary MacMaster-the players layer folky string-band licks over a percolating African-inspired groove, and "The Burning Babe"-based on a 16th-century poem by the Jesuit writer Robert Southwell -climaxes in a surprisingly fierce bit of sax-and-drums clatter by jazz veterans Kenny Garrett and Jack DeJohnette. Elsewhere, Sting recasts "The Hounds of Winter" (from his 1996 album "Mercury Falling") as a slow-mo bossa nova with percussion by Brazil's Cyro Baptista. And "Hurdy Gurdy Man" turns a bit of Schubert into a fireside lullaby.-Mikael Wood...full text |
| Boston |
| Sting eschews the conventional approach to holiday releases - slap dash versions of jingle bell-dressed carols and reverential hymns-with-strings - with this shivery homage to the season of icicles and introspection. In the liner notes he explains that the snowy season is his favorite, calling it “both bleak and profoundly beautiful.’’ He expertly captures that mood on this mix of traditional songs, lullabies, hymns, and a pair of originals. The ultra-tasteful arrangements trot the globe from Gaelic revelry to Middle Eastern rhythms. The upbeat, bluegrass-tinged “Soul Cake’’ offers pleasant Dickensian undertones in the poverty-stricken-yet-jolly lyrics. The melancholic “Christmas at Sea’’ finds Sting setting a Robert Louis Stevenson poem to windswept music. He recasts the midtempo pop song “The Hounds of Winter’’ from his “Mercury Falling’’ album with layers of bass clarinet, melodeon, and cello into a ballad of exquisite wistfulness. As is the simple voice and guitar arrangement of “The Snow It Melts the Soonest,’’ with Sting exploring a ragged part of his voice perfect for the tune’s mournful tone....full text |
| Allmusic |
| It's no secret that Sting is a serious man, so it's only logical that his holiday album -- his first new music since the Police reunion, not that it really matters -- is a serious endeavor, thank you. No niceties for him, no comforts of carols; he favors formal over familiar, writing madrigals, not ditties. It is music made by someone who lives in a castle, which isn't necessarily such a bad thing: the austerity is genuine, not affected, and the cerebral nature of the album is fascinating, albeit mildly so, as this is as sleepy as it is thoughtful. And it's that thoughtfulness that does distinguish If on a Winter's Night...; no other Christmas album exists in the head like this. It's a holiday album for people who have never wanted to hear a holiday album, let alone own one....full text |
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