...Nothing Like the Sun

The title is from Shakespeare's Sonnet 130, quoted in "Sister Moon"; Sting said the idea came from a drunk who asked how beautiful the moon was and he answered with the sonnet. Bryan Loren produced "We'll Be Together", Bob Ludwig mastered at Masterdisk and Brian Aris took the cover photo. The mood was shaped by his Amnesty Conspiracy of Hope tour exposure to Latin American oppression, and his main writing tool was the New England Digital Synclavier. Manu Katche drummed after five days' rehearsal in New York, and about 15 songs were done in roughly ten days. Kenny Kirkland plays keyboards, Branford Marsalis saxophones and Gil Evans appears on "Little Wing"; guitarists include Andy Summers, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler and Hiram Bullock; Annie Lennox sings backing vocals on "We'll Be Together" and Ruben Blades sings Spanish vocals on "They Dance Alone".

It debuted at number one in the UK (platinum) and reached 9 in the US, 2x platinum, and won the Brit for Best British Album in 1988, with three Grammy nominations including Album of the Year. Rolling Stone ranked it 90th on its albums of the 1980s. Singles were "We'll Be Together" (7 in the US), "Be Still My Beating Heart", "Englishman in New York", "Fragile" and "They Dance Alone". Billboard called it an exceptionally rich two-record set; AllMusic's Erlewine later called it one of the most doggedly serious pop albums ever recorded, and Christgau called it pretentious. A 35th anniversary expanded edition came out on October 13, 2022. Nada como el sol (1988) has four songs in Spanish and Portuguese.