Songs from Sting's LAST SHIP Musical Set for New LP This Fall

According to The New York Times Arts Blog, Sting will be releasing a new album on September 24th which will include songs from his new musical THE LAST SHIP. The full-length LP marks his first release of original material since 2003.

The album, titled "The Last Ship" will include several songs used in the musical, as well as others which were originally written for it but failed to make the final cut. It will be released by a consortium of three labels - Cherrytree, Interscope and A & M Records.

The songs on the album were written prior to the creation of the play's plot. The title song is described as "a waltz-time folk tune, heavy with Christian imagery and told in a Northern English dialect. It freights the launching of the last ship from the yard with spiritual significance."

The song "And Yet," is described as "a jazzy funk number, sung from the point of view of a sailor arriving in his home port and wondering about a woman he left behind." "Dead Man's Boots," is "a tense dialogue between a father who works in the shipyard and a son who wants to do something else with his life."

The musical, which features a book by John Logan & Brian Yorkey, tells the story of a group of shipyard workers who are inspired by a local Priest to build their own ship once their own ship yard has been shut down. The workers then decide to set sail on a voyage around the world. The story was inspired by Sting's own childhood memories growing up in the Newcastle area before he rose to fame as the frontman of the band The Police. The script was also inspired by the singer's solo album 'The Soul Cages' which was released in 1990 following the death of his father.

A recent reading featured such Broadway veterans as: Michael Esper, Stephanie J. Block, Colin Donnell and Laura Michelle Kelly, Fred Applegate, Bradley Dean, Jack Falahee, Lyle Mackston, Phoebe Strole and more. The show is scheduled to arrive on Broadway in 2014.

Sting has received sixteen Grammy Awards for his work, receiving his first Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 1981, and an Oscar nomination for the best song. He is a member of both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Prior to starting his solo career, he was the principal songwriter, lead singer and bassist of the rock band The Police.

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