The Last Ship (Deluxe Edition) Sting

• 1 The Last Ship 03:50
• 2 Dead Man's Boots 03:30
• 3 And Yet 03:53
• 4 August Winds 03:18
• 5 Language Of Birds 03:30
• 6 Practical Arrangement 03:20
• 7 The Night The Pugilist Learned How To Dance 04:13
• 8 Ballad Of The Great Eastern 05:14
• 9 What Have We Got? 03:34
• 10 I Love Her But She Loves Someone Else 03:42
• 11 So To Speak 04:07
• 12 The Last Ship Reprise 03:19
• 13 Shipyard 06:00
• 14 It's Not The Same Moon 02:54
• 15 Hadaway 03:18
• 16 Sky Hooks And Tartan Paint 03:36
• 17 Show Some Respect 04:52
• Total Runtime 01:06:10

Info for The Last Ship (Deluxe Edition)

The album is inspired by Sting's forthcoming play of the same name and explores the central themes of homecoming and self-discovery, drawing upon his memories of growing up in the shadow of the Swan Hunters Shipyard in Wallsend. His personal reminiscences illuminate universal truths - the complexity of relationships, the passage of time and the importance of family and community - to form an affecting, complex parable for our modern times.

The play, in which Sting has been creatively immersed for nearly three years, debuts on Broadway in 2014 and is a collaboration with Tony Award winners Joe Mantello (director; Wicked, Other Desert Cities), John Logan (writer; Red, Skyfall)) and Brian Yorkey (writer; Next to Normal). The Last Ship tells the story of the demise of the shipbuilding industry in 1980s Newcastle which had, for so long, shaped and overshadowed the city, its development, and its community.

The Last Ship album is produced by Rob Mathes (Sting, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Lou Reed, Carly Simon) and engineered and mixed by Donal Hodgson.

Sting, Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Bass, Orchestral Bells and Cymbals
Rob Mathes, Piano and Keyboards, Acoustic Guitars and Background Vocals
Dominic Miller, Electric and Acoustic Guitars (Gut String Solo Guitar on It’s Not The Same Moon)
Ira Coleman, Bass
Joe Bonadio, Drums and Percussion
Peter Tickell, Violin and Mandolin (Solo on What Have We Got? and Show Some Respect)
Julian Sutton, Melodeon
Kathryn Tickell, Violin and Northumbrian Pipes (Solo on The Last Ship and Sky Hooks And Tartan Paint)
Jo Lawry, Vocals on Shipyard, Background Vocals
Special Guests:
Jimmy Nail, Vocals on What Have We Got? and Shipyard, Background Vocals
Brian Johnson, Vocals on Shipyard and Sky Hooks And Tartan Paint

Sting
Born 2 October 1951, in Wallsend, north-east England, Gordon Sumner's life started to change the evening a fellow musician in the Phoenix Jazzmen caught sight of his black and yellow striped sweater and decided to re-christen him Sting. Sting paid his early dues playing bass with local outfits The Newcastle Big Band, The Phoenix Jazzmen, Earthrise and Last Exit, the latter of which featured his first efforts at song writing. Last Exit were big in the North East, but their jazz fusion was doomed to fail when punk rock exploded onto the music scene in 1976. Stewart Copeland, drummer with Curved Air, saw Last Exit on a visit to Newcastle and while the music did nothing for him he did recognise the potential and charisma of the bass player. The two hooked up shortly afterwards and within months, Sting had left his teaching job and moved to London.

Seeing punk as flag of convenience, Copeland and Sting - together with Corsican guitarist Henri Padovani - started rehearsing and looking for gigs. Ever the businessman, Copeland took the name The Police figuring it would be good publicity, and the three started gigging round landmark punk venues like The Roxy, Marquee, Vortex and Nashville in London. Replacing Padovani with the virtuoso talents of Andy Summers the band also enrolled Stewart's elder brother Miles as manager, wowing him with a Sting song called 'Roxanne'. Within days Copeland Senior had them a record deal. But the hip London music press saw through The Police's punk camouflage and did little to disguise their contempt, and the band's early releases had no chart success. So The Police did the unthinkable - they went to America.

The early tours are the stuff of legend - bargain flights to the USA courtesy of Freddie Laker's pioneering Skytrain; driving their own van and humping their own equipment from gig to gig; and playing to miniscule audiences at the likes of CBGB's in New York and The Rat Club in Boston. Their tenacity paid off though as they slowly built a loyal following, got some all important air-play, and won over their audiences with a combination of new wave toughness and reggae rhythms.

They certainly made an odd trio: guitarist Summers had a career dating back to the mid-60s, the hyper-kinetic Copeland was a former prog-rocker, and Sting's background was in trad jazz and fusion. The sound the trio made was unique though, and Sting's pin-up looks did them no harm at all. The band returned to the UK to find the reissued 'Roxanne' single charting, and played a sell-out tour of mid-size venues. The momentum had started. The debut album 'Outlandos d'Amour' (Oct 78) delivered three sizeable hits with 'Roxanne', 'Can't Stand Losing You' and 'So Lonely' which in turn led to a headlining slot at the '79 Reading Festival which won the band some fine reviews, but it was with 'Reggatta de Blanc' (Oct 79) that the band stepped up a gear.

Reggatta's first single, 'Message In A Bottle', streaked to number one and the album's success was consolidated further when 'Walking On The Moon' also hit the top slot. The band was big, but about to get even bigger. 1980 saw them undertake a world tour with stops on all continents - including the first rock concerts in Bombay - and the band eventually returned to the UK exhausted, for two final shows in Sting's hometown of Newcastle. Much of this groundbreaking tour was captured on the 'Police Around The World' video and a BBC documentary entitled 'The Police in the East'

Within weeks, the band were in a Dutch studio recording new material but Sting's stock of pre-Police songs and ideas were wearing out. When 'Zenyatta Mondatta' was released (Oct 80) although it sold well and produced another number one single in 'Don't Stand So Close To Me' and a top five hit with 'De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da' a rethink was required. Sting later admitted that he felt 'Zenyatta' was the band's weakest album but by the end of 1980 the band were undoubtedly the biggest-selling band in the country selling out two shows in a huge marquee on Tooting Bec Common in London. For more please visit www.sting.com

Booklet for The Last Ship (Deluxe Edition)