Songs From The Labyrinth - Sting

Songs from the Labyrinth is a classical recording of songs played on a lute and sung by, of all people, Sting. This album actually ended up hitting number one on the classical charts in October, 2006, and nine months later is still in the top 10. First, Paul McCartney, then Billy Joel, and now Sting; remember when we could just pigeonhole our performers?

This has to be one of the most ambitious projects any musician has ever tackled, let alone a rock musician. Yet, if anyone was going to attempt this project, it would have to be Sting, who's known for his eclectic tastes and styles in music, plus, with an educational background, would understand the kind of research that would have to be embarked upon just to be able to attempt to perform something like this.

And, to his credit, it's not bad; that is, if you like lute music, or music from the 16th century. In this case, Sting chose to perform the songs of one John Dowland (1563-1626), who was known as the "melancholy madrigalist (a madrigal was a style of music which consisted of short, light sounding songs, usually with two or three verses following the same musical pattern over and over)." Picking someone who's somewhat obscure by today's standards, Sting risked very little in one way, because many of the songs he was going to interpret wouldn't be known by whomever decided to buy the album, and risked a lot, because his musical credibility would be on display to every classical music expert who's probably heard a madrigal or two in their day, even if they weren't familiar with Dowland (many of them are, by the way).

I happen to be someone who's heard a madrigal or two in my day, so I can come at this with a very little bit of authority. As I listened to this CD, I felt like I was listening more to a watered down version of a pop record than a truly classical record. Just one listen to the song "The Lowest Trees Have Tops" had me thinking that, with a little alteration, it could have been one of his next releases to the general public. This was my favorite song on the CD, which wasn't hard to find because, for the most part, I just wasn't enthusiastic with most of what I heard. Madrigals don't ask for singers to have much range, which works well here, but Sting was, well, Sting; most of the times I've heard madrigal singers, they've gone more with the music and less of their own personalities, but there's no mistaking who's doing the performing here.

Still, having said that, major kudos have to go to the lute player, Edin Karamazov, whose interpretations of every one of these songs was right on, and, if one buys an album because of the singer most of the time, if you were going to buy this one it should be for the musicianship of Karamazov; he was spectacular.

Songs From the Labyrinth isn't a pop album, so I hope no one buys it thinking that's what they're going to get. And, in a way, it's not really a classical album either. It's a project album from someone who's proven that he's not afraid to branch out into other mediums. In my opinion, overall, this one was only so-so; the musician behind the singer saved it.

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