Sting - Demolition Man : Forget the title song. Buy it for the live tracks
Written: Feb 16 '05 (Updated Feb 17 '05)
Product Rating:
Pros: FIVE live tracks from the Ten Summoner's Tales tour, featuring Sting's best touring band ever
Cons: Demolish track one – it's an overblown Hollywood production of an intriguing arrangement
The Bottom Line: Sting got back to his jazz/rock fusion roots with a stripped down touring band in the early nineties. This is a key CD for Sting completists.
bob_tomato's Full Review: Demolition Man [EP] by Sting
"This movie is gonna be huge, baby! Get me Stallone, get me Snipes – I want big men with big guns and lots of explosions! Burn it all, baby! Big BIG explosions!! And we need a big name radio tie-in…we need a big explosive song, a big song with big sounds and a big star – I've got it! It's perfect – imagine the box office on this one, baby!
Stallone. Snipes. Sting. Demolition Man!!
I'm tellin' ya baby – it's gonna be BIG!!"
________________________________________
Demolition Man
I can guarantee you one thing about the actual conversation that must have occurred when they decided to name their action movie Demolition Man - they only wanted to borrow the song title. The original version of Demolition Man that appears on The Police's Ghost in the Machine doesn't lend itself well as the soundtrack to a movie starring heavyweight thespians like Stallone and Snipes. Warner Brothers and A&M probably hammered out a deal that allowed both to profit from the movie and a remake of the song to be used as the title track. So, someone probably contacted Sting and asked if he would update the song for the upcoming movie.
Now, I've never heard any stories behind the making of this song, and to be honest, I really don't care enough about this track to be bothered. Based on the credits for this version of Demolition Man, and what I hear in the track itself, I don't think Sting actually had a lot to do with the final product. Let me put it this way – Sting is credited as a producer for this track, but the song also has an executive producer…that's Hollywood speak for "the one with the money making the decisions".
This version of Demolition Man is just as big, bombastic and stupid as the movie itself. Filled with synthesized horns, lots of fuzzed-out, growling guitars and a big bass part that ISN'T played by Sting, this song is anything but subtle. Sting contributed new vocals and created the vocal arrangements for the backing vocals - ably provided by The Sounds of Blackness' Ann Bennett Nesby, Jamecia Bennett, Core Cotton, and Shirley Marie Graham. The vocals are appropriately loud but they are about the most musical thing in the entire recording. Long time Sting guitarist Dominic Miller plays some appropriately noisy guitar parts, but he certainly isn't Andy Summers, though Andy Summers is probably not what Warner Brothers had in mind either.
Listen – when a decent song like Demolition Man has to undergo an extreme makeover in order to be "good enough" for Hollywood, the results are rarely favorable. This version is just another explosion in a lousy, loud movie…
________________________________________
Sting – Live in Italy
I'm really sorry you had to read all that before you could get to the good stuff – there really is a very good reason to buy this EP. In addition the explosive mess that leads off this collection, there are five live recordings featuring the best touring band Sting has ever used. (You can read more about the group in my review of The Soul Cages concert video).
Recorded in Italy in July 1993 during Sting's Ten Summoner's Tales tour, this set is a great sampling of the better concerts Sting has given in his entire solo career. Not everything is perfect, but it's all earnest, driving rock and roll lightly filtered through the particular brand of jazz fusion Sting prefers. I emphasize "lightly" because on this particular tour, the band didn't wander as far afield as the Dream of the Blue Turtles or the Nothing Like the Sun groups (which featured jazz musicians like Darryl Jones, Branford Marsalis, Omar Hakim, and Kenny Kirkland). In fact, the first live track that appears on this collection also appeared on Sting's first concert album, Bring on the Night.
King of Pain was largely a meandering mess on Bring on the Night, but eight years later, Sting wisely returned the song to a rock arrangement that more closely resembles The Police, though Sting's pop sensibilities are on full display here too. It's almost in the same vein as Don't Stand So Close to Me '86, but much better…
Three tracks from the Ten Summoner's Tales album are featured, and in each one, two of Sting's band members get a chance to show off their skills. Guitarist Dominic Miller gets the opportunity with lead guitar solos in King of Pain, as well as acoustic work in Shape of My Heart and It's Probably Me (another movie song by Sting that worked MUCH better than Demolition Man). Keyboardist David Sancious plays an especially nice piano solo during Love is Stronger than Justice, and provides some intriguing work throughout each of the songs. Sting has always put a lot of emphasis on quality piano playing, and Sancious filled Kenny Kirkland's shoes nicely. Drummer Vinnie Colaiuta does a very passable job filling in for Stewart Copeland's percussive genius, and sets up some really nice tempo changes in the rhythmically challenging Love is Stronger than Justice.
Finally, Sting worked up a Beatles tribute in honor of the twenty-fifth anniversary of A Day in the Life, and he treats it in a straightforward manner. It lacks the same emotional punch of the original, and there's just something odd about hearing the familiar orchestral rising noise played by guitar and keyboards. It's not fair to expect anyone to exactly reproduce on stage the complex chaos of the Beatles original masterpiece, but I think this version is O K. Still, it's a lot better than the first track on this EP.
________________________________________
King of PAIN
"I want him fired! I want his butt out of his office NOW! $58 million box office for Stallone and Snipes is not BIG! And I wanted BIG! And whoever hired that British clown – fire him too!"
Just ignore the title track. Buy this EP for the live tracks – it's as simple as that. No big explosions, no big guns. The rest of the Demolition Man EP is simply good music and a great sampling of Sting's best touring band.
________________________________________
Sting - Demolition Man [EP]
Originally released September 21, 1993 by A&M Records
Sting – Live in Italy
Recorded live at Villa Manin, Cudriopo, Italy
Mixed by John Alberts
Track Listing
Demolition Man (New Recording) / King of Pain (live) / Shape of My Heart (live) / Love is Stronger than Justice (The Munificent Seven) (live) / It's Probably Me (live) / A Day in the Life (live)
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
![Demolition Man [EP] by Sting](http://di1.shopping.com/images1/pi/f8/55/80/2002033563-177x150-0-0.jpg)
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.