No too much a stretch for Gordon Sumners. I'm convinced that he could do anything he put his mind to - the man's a musical and lyrical genius.

Given the tantric rumours - really nothing is too much of a stretch!

I really want to make a joke - but it's not proper, so I'll just have to hold it in.

Sting is an amazing talent, but he's awfully pretentious as well.

I found Cindy Cashdollar’s pairing with Rod Stewart a little surprising, but not really strange. Cindy’s the consummate professional “sideguy” and has shown that she can seamlessly fall in with just about anyone, in any genre, who needs steel guitar or Dobro on their tunes – from Asleep at the Wheel, BeauSoleil, and Leon Redbone, to Ryan Adams and Bob Dylan…and more recently Van Morrison and Rod Stewart. Go Cindy.

I honestly hadn't noticed Sting was pretentious...

I'm waiting for the Katie Melua/Iggy Pop pairing. That and Rufus Wainright/Courtney Love...

No flies on Sting. But if he gets a classical Grammy out of this, the Folger Consort will have to beat him up. Or spike their hair.

"Sting tied up in string quartet smack-down"

Is that a tongue twister, Ann? Say that ten times fast! Whew!
:)

Say it ain't so! After all that furor, I don't see Chad Elliott listed among the performers on the schedule. Did something happen? Have they got him wedged in somewhere opening for an opening act? I thought there'd be a little more buzz for our very own Last Man Standing...

Wrong thread, yup.

Hey Joan, why would they (the Folger Consorts) have to spike their hair? Didn't Sting finally go Bald?

So I just went to Sting's website to get a load of how bald he's gotten. I got stuck on the sample cuts from Labyrinth, and oh my, some folks sure can put over a Dowland air. Likee. And I had some snarky comments all ready to go about how simple some of the Labyrinth selections are, like the Rennaissance equivalent of Skip to my Lou. But no, now I have to get the damn album.

I'm a huge Folger Consort fan (most of their good hair years are behind them too), and I've had a Rennaissance lute since 1979 or so. Can't get the hang of it, can't bear to sell it. Maybe Sting's new hobby will shine some light on groups like Folger and help their sales, a rising tide lifting all boats. Hope so.

My old Dad - an Associate of the Royal College of Music no less! got the Sting album today for his 70th birthday. My Mum just phoned. After the huge family curry, fireworks, singing and general overindulgence with screaming toddlers and much swilling of scotch, we all went home and they are now on their third replay of the album.
Last time he did that was over Steeleye Span's Rocket Cottage, the time before that, Abbey Road. Never a trendsetter my Dad, but a hell of a musician. Think I'll get me a copy. Then I'll buy him a copy of Regatta de Blanc!

Anyway he's not getting bald - he's just been polishing the hair off on the headboard...

Huw-- Uh, not commenting on that last bit, but I was talking to the clerk at my nearby Barnes & Nobels about the Sting CD and was praising the musicianship on the album. I'm sure we have it around here, but I'm just not sure where yet. BTW, I also talked the clerk (who was quite tall and had a lovely Scottish accent) into listening the Anonymous 4/Darol Anger Gloryland project. And I dropped the name FolkAlley.com about 40 times. Never let it be said that I don't work it for all it's worth.

That's Sting not my Dad!

Eeeeoooh!

funny you should mention Bono in this manner because I just heard a sample on NPR of him singing a duo with Tony Bennett and I have to say... it was simply AWFUL. no tone. no TUNE! the pitch was horrendous... I like U2. but that recording is just awful. wow.

Definite mispairing. More to do with vocal quality than ability - like a harp-gazoo duet.

I've had the album for about a week now and have listened to it several times front to back. Sting's singing is luscious, and singing is what I've mostly kind of hated about Renaissance music in the past. Usually it sounds kind of overblown and stilted, making it impossible to connect with emotionally. But Sting's vocals couldn't be more engaging, and the two lutes are lovely. If I can find a guitar version of Flow My Tears I want to learn it, vocals too.

I think rock and folk voices are often better suited to earlier music. More operatic, classical voices can be painful and over-formal, like watching the Mormon Tabernacle Choir attempting a bit of early Elvis.
On the other hand the kind of Court music Sting is working with here, might actually have been very highly stylized - if you live in a draughty hall with rushes and dog crap on the floor, you eat off wooden plates and have a life expectancy of 45 if you live into your teens - you might want to hear something almost inhumanly artificial. In our modern lives we want to see a bit of spit and sawdust occasionally. Terry Pratchett pointed out that most medieval people would be more interested in a world where you don't die of toothache than in democracy.
Tastes change. I do agree with you though Joan - this seems more approachable than some pro classical vocalist would.

Y'know - I just googled the Terry Pratchett quote to see if I could find it using "die of toothache", the only reference I found was this one from five years ago!

Hi there Folk Alley.