The 1991 album Sting didn’t want to make ever again: “I had exorcised a few ghosts”
Every step that Sting ever took was about forward motion.
As much as he might have been nostalgic about some pieces of his past from time to time, it was never about him trying to make the best music that would satisfy everyone who came to listen to The Police at his concerts. Every one of his records needed to see him evolve, and he wanted the chance to make the kinds of records that he knew he would never be able to push himself towards after he was finished.
There were already people waiting desperately for him to make something that sounded even remotely like rock and roll, but a lot of Sting’s solo records had no interest in going back to the punk side of things. He liked the idea of working with rock and roll musicians from time to time, but a lot of the best music that he ever made was more along the lines of what people like Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon were doing. He wasn’t afraid of jazz-adjacent tunes, and he felt that his best material would be the tunes that went into a much different direction than what everyone expected.
He could still make a catchy track when he wanted to, but there was no point in him trying to go for the same pop songs like ‘Every Breath You Take’. But after experiencing the loss of his father, he felt that there needed to be a lot more he had to share other than the token tribute song to the one who changed his life. He had a lot to unpack, and The Soul Cages doesn’t leave a lot to the imagination.
While there’s no real concept behind the record, you can hear themes throughout the songs about the protagonist being someone who is trying to uphold their father’s legacy. Sting wasn’t going to be delicate in how he felt that his father treated him by any stretch, but when you look at the way that he put together the album, there’s a good chance that no one would want to put themselves through that kind of torture ever again.
It was fun while it lasted, but Sting needed to move on if he wanted to keep himself afloat, saying during the making of Ten Summoners’ Tales, “I just felt that [The Soul Cages] had served its purpose. I had exorcised a few ghosts, and I didn’t really feel the need to do it again. I wanted to make a record that let me get back to writing songs just for fun, and that’s exactly what happened. I was in a very good mood. I was with my band and writing songs to amuse them, myself, and my family.”
And when you look at the reception that The Soul Cages got, it’s not like the record was everyone’s favourite by any means. There are certain songs from it that sound great out of context, but it’s tricky trying to make an album that’s all about loss, and even if you make the most gripping songs you’ve ever made, not everyone’s going to be enjoying an entire album of tunes meant to sound morose every time they’re played.
However, you can’t really discount the record as him airing out his dirty laundry, either. Anyone else usually has their breakup album as one of the defining parts of their discography, but Sting was more interested in dissecting that period of loss and using the tunes to help him come out on the other side, and even if the rest of the world didn’t care, it was still a fantastic record for the right time.
Thankfully all of us don’t know what it’s like to lose our parents, but when you look at the way that Sting is working his way through every single song, he seems at least ready to confront those dark pieces of his life. Not everyone has the strength to unpack that over the course of one record, and while the singer has remained proud of it, he was trying to make sure that he didn’t have to get into that headspace again when working in the studio.
