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Released: Sept. 30, 2003


Rating: 3.443 (average of 14 ratings)


Genre: rock > adult alternative


Quotable: --


Album Tracks:

  1. Inside
  2. Send Your Love (with Vicente Amigo)
  3. Whenever I Say Your Name (with Mary J. Blige)
  4. Dead Man’s Rope
  5. Never Coming Home
  6. Stolen Car (Take Me Dancing)
  7. Forget about the Future
  8. This War
  9. The Book of My Life(with Anoushka Shankar)
  10. Sacred Love
  11. Send Your Love [Dave Audé Remix]


Sales:

sales in U.S. only 1 million
sales in U.K. only - estimated 100,000
sales in all of Europe as determined by IFPI – click here to go to their site. 1 million
sales worldwide - estimated 3.5 million


Peak:

peak on U.S. Billboard album chart 3
peak on U.K. album chart 3


Singles/Hit Songs:

  • Send Your Love (9/9/03) #30 UK
  • Stolen Car (Take Me Dancing) (?) --


Sacred Love
Sting
Review:
“Sting scored a moderate comeback success greater than most had imagined possible with 1999’s Brand New Day, re-establishing himself as a viable commercial artist instead of merely settling for living legend status. Part of this success was due to ‘Desert Rose,’ featuring vocalist Farhat Bougallagui's careening cadences that garnered attention, particularly when they were showcased in a car commercial that kicked the album into high commercial gear. Sting picks up on this, adding three guest vocalists to the ten-track Sacred Love album (the 11th track is a remix of the lead single, Send Your Love — which happens to be better, since it eliminates the rather annoying Indian-styled hook) — Vincente Amigo and Anoushaka Shankar are paired with Mary J. Blige, who in this context is presented as a world music artist. None of the guests makes much of an impression here, but neither does Sting, since this is an album that puts sound over song or performance. Sacred Love is to Brand New Day what Mercury Falling was to Ten Summoner's Tales — a fussy, overworked stab at maturity, one that has impeccable craft but is obscured by its own meticulousness. It is professional to a fault, using its maturity and preciseness to obscure the fact that the songs don't really work. Sting isn't always hemmed-in, even ending Inside with a hysterical rant that makes him seem like a madman, but it has the effect of making the rest of the album seeming too deliberate and far from adventurous. It's far from a bad listen, nor is it embarrassing, but it's entirely too predictable, coming across as nothing more than well-tailored, expensive mood music, which is certainly far less than what Sacred Love could have been” (Erlewine).


Review Source(s):


Related DMDB Links:

Previous Album: Brand New Day (1999) Sting’s DMDB page Next Album: Songs from the Labyrinth (2006)


Last updated March 29, 2008.