The Last Ship

This album is a dark and beautiful homage to Sting’s childhood in the shade of the shipyards of Wallsend near Newcastle, England in a community shaped by that industry. The songs are haunting and poignant and remind me very much of Sting’s The Soul Cages (1991)—even harkening back to that title track in “The Language of Birds.” This a concept album to be taken as a whole but a few stand out tracks for me included the title track “The Last Ship,” “August Wind,” “The Language of Birds,” “Ballad of the Great Eastern.”