This was Sting's first solo album, as well as an instrumental track on
that album.
Released June 1985.
Track Listing:
If You Love Somebody Set Them Free (4.14)
Love Is The Seventh Wave (3:30)
Russians (3.57)
Childrens Crusade (5.00)
Shadows In The Rain (4.56)
We Work The Black Seam (5.40)
Consider Me Gone (4.21)
The Dream Of The Blue Turtles (instrumental) (1.15)
Moon Over Bourbon Street (3.59)
Fortress Around Your Heart (4.48)
This album was released before the last new studio material from The
Police. Thus there was no clean break between Sting's solo career and his career
with The Police. After recording this album, String and the other members of The
Police entered the studio in 1986 intending to create a whole new album, but
(due to feuding between Sting and Stewart Copeland) only produced a
re-recording of "Don't Stand So Close To Me". That track was
released on the album Every Breath You Take: The Singles, which came
out after Dream of the Blue Turtles.
Dream of the Blue Turtles plays like a greatest hits album: it is the
kind of album you listen to from beginning to end. Nevertheless, something is usually lost when an artist goes
from playing in a band to having complete creative control, and this album is no
exception. Perhaps having to compromise your own creative vision with someone
else's results in a discipline about the work not found in solo material thereafter.
As much as I like some of John Lennon's and Paul McCartney's solo work, I
prefer The Beatles. Another example of this phenomena IMHO are
Morrissey and Johnny Marr of The Smiths, etc. What's ironic about the
combination of Stewart Copeland and Sting is that despite being magic together,
they never got along; in fact, they hated each other. Despite (or perhaps
because of) their differences, while Sting's solo work is good, Sting's work
with The Police is superior.
Conversely, as if it is there to explicitly poke a hole
in this point of view, the one Police song on this album "Shadows in the Rain" is a major improvement over the original, largely owing
to the increased tempo coupled with the outstanding performances by notable jazz musicians,
Omar Hakim, Kenny Kirkland, and Branford Marsalis.