Out now: Digital expanded edition of Sting’s '...Nothing Like the Sun'

A&M/UMe has released a digital-only 35th-Anniversary Expanded Edition of Sting’s second solo album, ...Nothing Like the Sun. The album title was adopted from Shakespeare’s Sonnet No. 130 (“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”).

The 26-track Expanded Edition features the original 12 songs on the album plus 14 bonus tracks that consist of B-sides, remixes, alternate versions, and instrumentals (full track listing included below).

Listen or purchase Sting’s ...Nothing Like the Sun – Expanded Edition HERE.

Sting reflected in the liner notes: “I look back on this album, and I realize that the record is about my mother, although I didn’t see it at the time. It’s about mothers and daughters, mistresses and wives, sisters... Every song has one of these themes. It surprised me.” Sting’s mother passed away in late 1986, not long before four months’ worth of intensive recording sessions for the next album got underway at AIR Studios in Montserrat in early 1987.

Nothing Like the Sun, Sting’s first digital recording, featured the hit single “We’ll Be Together,” with Annie Lennox among the background vocalists. Co-produced by Sting, Hugh Padgham, Bryan Loren, and Neil Dorfsman, ...Nothing Like the Sun featured such guitarists as former Police bandmate Andy Summers on the album’s opening track “The Lazarus Heart,” and Mark Knopfler and Eric Clapton on “They Dance Alone.” Other collaborators included keyboardists Gil Evans and Kenny Kirkland, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, and drummer Manu Katché. In addition to handling arrangement duties and singing all of the album’s lead vocals, Sting played bass and double bass, as well as Spanish guitar on “History Will Teach Us Nothing” and acoustic guitar on “Fragile.”

...Nothing Like the Sun has been certified 2x platinum by the RIAA, topped the album charts in two countries, the UK and Japan, and also peaked at No. 9 on the US Billboard 200. “We’ll Be Together” reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. Second single, “Be Still My Beating Heart,” was nominated for two Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 1989, and climbed to No. 2 on the Album Rock Tracks chart, No. 15 on the Hot 100, and No. 37 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The album’s other three singles were “Englishman in New York,” “Fragile,” and “They Dance Alone.” In the US, ...Nothing Like the Sun garnered three Grammy nominations in 1989, including Album of the Year. In the UK, ...Nothing Like the Sun received the BPI’s Brit Award for Best British Album of the Year in 1988.

Listen or purchase Sting’s ...Nothing Like the Sun – Expanded Edition HERE

Track listing [digital only]:

The Lazarus Heart
Be Still My Beating Heart
Englishman in New York
History Will Teach Us Nothing
They Dance Alone
Fragile
We’ll Be Together
Straight To My Heart
Rock Steady
Sister Moon
Little Wing
The Secret Marriage
Conversation With A Dog [Bonus Track]
If You There [Bonus Track]
Up From The Skies [Bonus Track]
Someone To Watch Over Me [Bonus Track]
Ghost in The Strand [Bonus Track]
Englishman in New York / Ben Liebrand Mix [Bonus Track]
Englishman in New York / Ben Liebrand Mix (Edit) [Bonus Track]
Fragile / dj MONK’s Extended Vocal Remix Version [Bonus Track]
Fragile / dj MONK’s Radio Edit Version [Bonus Track]
Fragile / dj MONK’s Hard Rain Dub Version [Bonus Track]
Fragile / Bedroom Rockers Remix Version [Bonus Track]
We’ll Be Together / Extended Mix [Bonus Track]
We’ll Be Together / Alternate Version [Bonus Track]
We’ll Be Together / Instrumental [Bonus Track]