Blue Turtles: 1985/86

New stars shine with Sting - Policeman and his band create musical magic...

You know there is some fearsome music going down when the weakest link in Sting's new band is the bandleader himself.

That's stretching the truth more than somewhat.

Sting was as much hampered by a ravaged voice and a wretched sound system in last night's concert at the Maurice Richard Arena as he was outshone musically by the best and brightest of the new generation of American jazzmen he's recruited for his first post-Police album and tour. And he wasn't nearly unravelled enough by either of these forces to let them come between him and the summer's most adventurous and exciting night of pop in a new vein.

This tour, coming on the heels of his best-selling debut solo LP 'The Dream of the Blue Turtles', is Sting's breakaway from the mega-success and potential creative predictability of the Police. It's created a stir from the outset; cast adrift from his day gig, could the multi-talented performer and teen dream maintain his commercial appeal while working out on the cutting edge of pop and jazz?

Some 6,800 fans sold out this resurrected venue in minutes to prove that the hooks on his new album and his wicked visual charm haven't diminished an iota. More importantly, some of the fans who came to scream left with new names on their lips - names like Branford Marsalis, Omar Hakim, Darryl Jones and Kenny Kirkland.

If there's a fault with the 'Turtles' album, it's that Sting reined his players in too tightly, that he could have used lesser musicians to the same effect. That's partly true, and not least for the fact the album was composed before Sting knew what direction he'd be taking with it. Now, after time on the road, the material and the band are as one; the music belongs as much to Marsalis, as much to Jones, as it is does to the creator. There's the room and the confidence to breathe, stretch out and - essential for these serious jazzmen on the lam - to have some fun.

''Let's go!'' roared Sting to start the two-hour-plus concert, and took things from there. A driving 'Shadows in the Rain' set the tone, with both Kirkland and Marsalis building extended solos on keyboards and tenor sax respectively. The neat reprise of 'Driven To Tears' showed the band's subtlety and rhythmic flexibility despite auditorium sound that one suspects was worse through the stage monitors than in the house, where it actually wasn't that bad at all.

Songs from Sting's solo shot - songs like the reggae-ish 'Love Is The Seventh Wave', the overwhelming 'Fortress Around Your Heart' and a hushed 'Moon Over Bourbon Street' mixed comfortably with 'Roxanne', the classic 'Every Breath You Take' and others from the Police catalogue. And 'I Burn for You', a piece from Sting's soundtrack album to his film 'Brimstone and Treacle', provided the concert's musical highlight with amazing solos in turn from Marsalis, Kirkland and Hakim, a tower of strength on drums.

Emotionally, though, the show belonged to Sting, whose talent, vision and sheer will power brought together people and sounds from different backgrounds to truly reflect a world that is, as he and the entire house sang last night, ''enough for all of us.''

(c) The Montreal Gazette by John Griffin

Sting the Angel and the Young Wolves...

Some are still wondering why Sting, the maverick of The Police, agreed to sing on Monday in what was essentially a soundproof box. The Maurice Richard Arena, despite all the soundproofing foam the City of Montreal was kind enough to inject, is an acoustic disaster on par with the Olympic Stadium.

On Monday evening, the poor sound quality reached alarming proportions. The sound was sometimes muffled and flat when the musicians were trying to play, and sometimes muffled when Sting ventured to speak. From beginning to end of the concert, it was utterly incomprehensible.

Sting and the producers Fogel-Sabourin weren't fooled. Unfortunately, they had no other choice. The Montreal Forum is the exclusive domain of producer Donald K. Donald, who reigns supreme there. Sting could have performed at the Forum, provided he renounced a long-standing alliance with Fogel-Sabourin.

But Sting has always cultivated an angelic aura that he is determined to preserve. Renouncing an old alliance would have meant abandoning his integrity and being seen as a sell-out. Faced with the prospect of tarnishing his image, or the less serious risk of offending his fans' ears, Sting acted diplomatically and sided with his allies. While the fans might still lose the use of their hearing, Sting's honour was saved.

Considering the mitigating circumstances, the singer came out relatively unscathed. But this was less due to his personal charisma than to the ambitious energy of the young guns he recruited to his side. Young, dark-skinned wolves with nimble fingers, among them Omar Hakim, the flamboyant drummer of Weather Report, and saxophonist Brandon Marsalis, brother of the other, the other being the prodigious trumpeter Winton Marsalis.

Pianist Kenneth D. Kirkland and bassist Daryl Jones may be less well-known, but they are just as effective and eager to prove to the world that they are the best. The four form a formidable team that knows how to give punch and depth to the ethereal lamentations of the prince of pain.

Faced with the powerful charge and sharp teeth of his wolves, Sting did not lose his footing. He simply worked a little less hard than with The Police. The piercing and melodic voice of the former teacher turned star sometimes lacked density, without Sting making an excessive effort to camouflage his vocal lapses.

Three-quarters of the concert was devoted to tracks from his new solo album: 'The Dream of the Blue Turtles'. For a purely theatrical performance, Sting simply paced the staircase erected on stage, like a somewhat jaded Charlie Chaplin. He also attempted a few tentative dance steps with his musicians, without always managing to maintain the level of energy that characterized his stage presence with The Police.

Sting is clearly going through a blue and introspective period. All his new songs about the end of illusions, the nuclear threat, divorce, romantic disappointments, and the sanctity of the Soviets bear witness to this. Sting is thinking aloud about the world, and in doing so, wants the world to reflect with him. His music has matured while his lyrics have swelled to the point of becoming painfully didactic. Nevertheless, with or without The Police, Sting remains the handsome platinum singer with the angelic voice that all mothers would love to see their daughters marry.

(c) Le Devoir by Nathalie Petrowski