MUSIC REVIEW: STING - THE BEST OF 25 YEARS

This single-disc version is a frustrating little sampler for the much bigger, three-CD,1-DVD version that nicely does the compilation job.  The trouble is, it's listing at $109 freaking dollars!  Jeez, somebody forgot to tell Der Stingler that the music industry has tanked.  You can't be charging those prices anymore, unless you're offering hard-cover books, unreleased concept albums, actual autographs and naked photos.  I guess Sting already has enough money, and he can damn well do whatever he wants.  Maybe he's part of the problem.  You know, the 1%.  Occupy Sting.

Anyway, Mr. Rich Rock Star has frustrated me by refusing to issue a decent Greatest Hits.  I don't want a boxed set (especially at that price), nor do I want all his albums, not even one.  Just gimme the best songs, that's about all I can take.  The trouble is, there's one that is half-Sting, half-Police, and of course that means duplicating all your Police tracks, because you probably already own those classics.  Then there's the Field Of Gold best of, which only takes us to 1994.  The Best Of 25 Years gives us just 8 hits, one previously unreleased song, and 3 live numbers from the DVD that comes with the big box.  Sigh.

It just makes little sense to me to stick out a disc that purports to be his best, yet there's no Englishman In New York, Love Is The Seventh Wave, I Hung My Head, I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying, it's a big list.  Obviously the answer is a two-disc set, and that's what you can...in Europe!  I just want a blasted decent best of, is that so much to ask?  Every other artist, living or dead, has one, even those without actual hits.  And no, I am not paying a hundred bucks to get it.