Sting

★★★ Duets INTERSCOPE. CD/DL/LP

Sixteen made earlier, plus a new duet with Italy’s Zucchero Fornaciari.

Seventy this year and booked for a Las Vegas residency, Sting is facing his twilight years with predictable vigour. Teaming up with duettists vocal and instrumental, this internationalist set sees such disparate talents as Julio Iglesias, Eric Clapton, trumpeter Chris Botti and Congolese rapper GIMS lock antlers with him. Sting usually leads off, but makes an exception for the late Charles Aznavour on 2011’s stately L’amour C’est Comme Un Jour. If there’s a stylistic thread that binds it’s nylon guitar-led Latin/MiddleEastern pop, as defined by Little Something (with Melody Gardot), Rise And Fall (with Craig David), and Mylène Farmer’s seductive steal of Stolen Car. Despite competition from standards such as My Funny Valentine, Sting’s own Practical Arrangement – penned with Rob Mathes for 2014 musical The Last Ship and brilliantly co-piloted by Australia’s Jo Lawry – stands out.