MUSIC: IT MIGHT AS WELL BE STING!

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Sting claims he is still sorting out the meanings of the songs on Mercury Falling. "I write unconsciously," he says. "It's only after I've finished the songs that I'm able to tell you what they're about. It's a form of therapy really--'What am I talking about here? Why am I worried about this?' It's a cheap form of psychiatry." That uncertainty beneath the cool is the key to Sting's appeal. Absolute certainty is boring; once you're cocksure of your meanings and your sound, you may as well go on tour with Kiss--or David Lee Roth for that matter. Appropriately enough, given the title of the new album, Sting remains mercurial.

--By Christopher John Farley