I like the concept of a winter album of folk songs and carols - I enjoy that
kind of thing, and he does handle such material very nicely. I was initially
disappointed to hear about the repackaging of familiar material, but then it
occurs to me that people like us, with exhaustive Police/Sting collections,
are not the target audience for this thing.
It'll be aimed at people who want some seasonal music but want something a
little more sophisticated than yet another 'Do They Know It's A Winter
Wonderland?' compilation - probably people of about Sting's generation and
the next generation below, not necessarily Fans back in the day, but with a
working knowledge and liking of his singles. And those two old songs will be
unfamiliar to them, so they're not paying for anything twice. Looked at that
way, it doesn't seem like such a bad idea.
Do I wish he'd have some sort of creative renaissance and come up with an
album full of new stuff? Absolutely. Then again, if he's got nothing new to
offer I respect his choice to do a project like this (or indeed the lute
album) that interests him and which he can make something good out of rather
than turn out an album of pappy original material just-because-he-can...
Angeline
