Here's what we think happened: Sting was at his Italian villa, talking to a record label guy in New York via cellphone. The guy in New York said, "Hey Sting, why don't you make a classic rock album and play a lot of gigs? We'd make tons of loot. But Sting's phone was dying, so he heard: "Hey Sting, why don't you make a classic ... album and play ... tons of lute?"

So now we have Songs From the Labyrinth, on which the former Police man plucks a bunch of 15th-century ballads and ends up sounding like a tape loop of Greensleeves.

Or perhaps Sting is just a pretentious egotist with way too much time and money on his hands.

But that doesn't sound like the Sting we all know, now does it?

Track Listing:

1. Walsingham
2. Can She Excuse My Wrongs
3. "Ryght Honorable..."
4. Flow My Tears (Lachrimae)
5. Have You Seen the Bright Lily Grow
6. "...Then in Time Passing on..."
7. Galliard
8. Lowest Trees Have Tops
9. "...and Accordinge as I Desired Ther Cam a Letter..."
10. Fine Knacks for Ladies
11. "...from Thenc I Went to the Landgrave of Hessen..."
12. Fantasy
13. Come, Heavy Sleep
14. Forlorn Hope Fancy
15. "...and from Thence I Had Great Desire to See Italy..."
16. Come Again
17. Wilt Thou Unkind Thus Reave Me
18. "...After My Departure I Caled to Mynde..."
19. Weep You No More, Sad Fountains
20. My Lord Willoughby's Welcome Home
21. Clear or Cloudy
22. "...Men Say That the Kinge of Spain..."
23. In Darkness Let Me Dwell