Sting - Fortress Around Your Heart

By the early 1980s, The Police were one of the biggest bands in the world, so Sting's 1985 solo album was huge news. Interestingly, The Police were apparently only on hiatus at this point, but they officially broke up shortly after a failed attempt at recording a new album in 1986.

Likely contributing to the breakup was the huge success of The Dream of the Blue Turtles (named after a dream that Sting had).  The album showed significant musical growth for Sting as it was both more polished and jazzier than The Police.  The result was an LP that peaked at #2 on the Billboard charts with four top 40 hits.

"Fortress Around Your Heart" was the third single off Blue Turtles and it reached #8 on the charts.  In our view, it was the most Police-like single off Sting's first solo album, and the odd, atmospheric video didn't hurt the song's success a bit.  In fact, it was all over MTV for a time in 1985.

Sting would go on to have almost continual success throughout his career, though he does seemed to have slowed down of late.  The Police eventually reunited for a hugely successful 2007-08 tour, but then disbanded, seemingly for good.  

Santana - Winning

It is nearly impossible to summarize Carlos Santana's long and storied career in a few sentences, so we'll direct readers to Allmusic instead.  (how's that for a cop out?)  Suffice to say that his brand of Latin-influenced rock has been influential since the late 1960s.  It is also worth noting that the band's commercial success has ebbed and flowed through the years.

In general, the 1980s and 1990s (prior to 1999's Supernatural) were not terribly kind to the group, although they did have a few hits here and there.  One such hit was 1981's "Winning" from the Zeebop! album.  The song reached #17 on the charts, while the album hit #9.

I don't recall ever seeing the video on MTV which makes sense as Santana was seen as an older band in the early 1980s.  Additionally, the video itself is a basic performance piece that would not have stood out at the time. However, it is a solid song, highlighted by Santana's signature guitar sound and the strong vocals of Alex Ligertwood (lead singer of Santana from 1979 through 1994, with a bunch of breaks).

One cool aspect of "Winning" is that it is a cover of a song by Russ Ballard.  Ballard is an interesting figure who wrote several great rock songs, but never hit it big on his own.  His songwriting credits include:  "Free Me" (for Roger Daltrey),"You Can Do Magic," (America), "I Know There's Something Going On," (Frida), "New York Groove," (covered by Ace Frehley), and "I Surrender" and "Since You Been Gone" (both covered by Rainbow).

The Santana video:

The original version by Russ Ballard:

Fine Young Cannibals - Johnny Come Home

Named after a 1960 movie, Fine Young Cannibals were a British pop/soul band formed from half of The Beat (The English Beat to Americans), who were previously featured on ERV for "Save It For Later."

The Beat broke up in 1983, surprising guitarist Andy Cox and bassist David Steele, who were notified by their accountant that vocalists Ranking Roger and Dave Wakelin had left the band to form General Public.  Once Cox and Steele decided to continue making music, the first order of business was to find a singer, which proved to be a difficult task.  After eight months and 500 demo tapes, the duo finally settled on Roland Gift and set about recording their first LP.

The first single off their self-titled first album was "Johnny Come Home," a cool piece of post-ska fusion.  While the song only reached #76 in the U.S., it broke the top 10 in the U.K., leading to significant success there.  Four years later, the band's second album, The Raw and the Cooked became a huge international success, reaching #1 in both the U.S. and the U.K.

There seems to be some controversy over whether the band officially broke up, but Fine Young Cannibals never released a third album, and have only occasionally worked together since The Raw and the Cooked.  This is a shame, as they created some of the best jazzy, soul/pop music of the decade.

Donald Fagen - New Frontier

Donald Fagen is one of those musicians who totally marches to his own beat.  Fagen (and Walter Becker) were Steely Dan, a truly outstanding fusion (jazz-rock) band that recorded some of the most interesting songs of the 1970s and early 1980s.  When that partnership ended, Fagen went out on his own and his first solo album was 1982's The Nightfly.

Conceived as a sentimental remembrance of 195's and early 1960s America, The Nighfly is now regarded as a classic, and further cemented Fagen's reputation as a songwriting genius and a studio perfectionist.  The album is impeccably arranged and produced and the material is extremely strong.

The video for "New Frontier" is typical Fagen -- understated and lovingly crafted as a real work of art.  No less a source than Allmusic states that it "was widely considered one of the great videos of the early MTV era."  The attention to detail, down to the animation is remarkable.  Fagen appears only in a poster seen in the video, underscoring him as the anti-celebrity.

Helped by the video, "New Frontier" rose to #70 on the charts, while the other single from The Nightfly, "I.G.Y." peaked at #26.  The album hit #11 and went platinum.

Unfortunately, Fagen then developed a case of writers block; his next album was not released until 1993.  He eventually reconciled with Walter Becker and has remained active as both a solo artist as as a member of  Steely Dan in recent years.