As Tom Ewing wrote, "It’s not that 'Don’t Stand' needs to resolve its story – in fact it works better for not doing so – but it doesn’t need to hang around either."― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, May 22, 2019 5:05 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, May 22, 2019 5:05 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― dorsalstop, Wednesday, 22 May 2019 16:28 (four years ago) link
Oh I had another possible misheard lyric in ‘Spirits’. Does Sting really say ‘grow testes and survive’? Actually nervous about googling that one
― Br. Des Shadows (NickB), Wednesday, 22 May 2019 16:48 (four years ago) link
I’ll be honest with you I usually don’t check what thread I’m posting in
there is only one thread, i'm on the same page. literally
― sarahell, Tuesday, 9 June 2020 05:12 (three years ago) link
been on an andy summers kick of late, had never actually heard his epic solo on this one before:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_aAsg2UTZo
(the guitar solo is from 2:00 to 6:30)
(it sounds nothing like the police btw)
― Boris the Spreader (NickB), Tuesday, 21 July 2020 21:13 (three years ago) link
the audio on this is killing me!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJyEr-jWVv4
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Monday, 7 February 2022 21:42 (two years ago) link
sounds like some of the guitar parts from 'voices' - anyone know if it's available somewhere?
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Monday, 7 February 2022 21:43 (two years ago) link
Is it the intro music on the Synchronicity tour?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyp7au1vOrM
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 7 February 2022 22:08 (two years ago) link
oh, definitely related to that, thanks! the tempo is a bit quicker though and the guitar parts are a bit more abstract. drum machine sounds like the same one that plays at the start of 'duchess' by genesis - CR-78?
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Monday, 7 February 2022 22:19 (two years ago) link
Thinking about picking up Around the World. Picture quality aside (it does look great now that it's fully-restored from the negative) how's the film itself? Is it a good doc or at least a good concert compilation of sorts?
― birdistheword, Saturday, 21 May 2022 03:27 (one year ago) link
The band originally broke up in . . . 1984? When Sting decided he would be better off going it alone, a la Paul Weller. In retrospect, it seems like an inevitability, but he pulled the plug on the band when they were still fairly well peaking.
Like a friend of mine said a while back, when we were listening to Dream of the Blue Turtles: "You broke up the Police for this? Fuck you."
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Sunday, 22 May 2022 01:29 (one year ago) link
So, your friend didn't consider Sting turtley enough for the Blue Turtle Club?
Although, to be fair, you could say he did a favour to the legacy of the Police by breaking them up when he realized his muse was leading him in that direction.
― Halfway there but for you, Sunday, 22 May 2022 02:34 (one year ago) link
Credit where credit's due, he put together an extraordinary group of musicians for that record. But his "muse" seemed to be leading him much more astray than was Weller's. I suppose the warning signs were there with Synchronicity, which nevertheless still showed flashes of brilliance; I'd put "Synchronicity II" among their best songs, as well as among the best songs of the 80s.
Anyway, if we are going to do S/D, I'd search "Secret Journey." Apart from the obvious "Mother," I don't think the world would miss "Born in the 50s."
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Sunday, 22 May 2022 04:22 (one year ago) link
I thought the plan was they'd get back together after the Blue Turtles record. At least that is what Stew assumed was going to happen.
If you haven't heard it yet the Bring on the Night live set is really great. The band gets to flex a lot more. All of the medley tracks are awesome. Interesting live record too, it's almost as if he was intentionally shying away from his hits, trying to prove he really did have a deep catalogue.
Copeland's record live record with Gizmodrome is really good too. The tightness reminds me of 80's King Crimson. Also you get to hear a lot of Police cuts that never got played live.
― frogbs, Sunday, 22 May 2022 04:28 (one year ago) link
Yeah, I think I rented the VHS when that came out. I also saw the Blue Turtles tour when it came to Red Rocks. Sadly, it was the closest I ever came to seeing the Police.
I'll check out the Copeland record. Interesting comparison to King Crimson.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Sunday, 22 May 2022 04:31 (one year ago) link
For me, there's been a good EP's worth of solo Sting cuts that could've been pretty good Police songs, and most of them are on Blue Turtles: "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free," "Love Is the Seventh Wave," and "Fortress Around Your Heart." But it takes more than three cuts to make a good album, and "Russians" is as well-meaning as it is colossally stupid.
― birdistheword, Sunday, 22 May 2022 05:20 (one year ago) link
The Bring On the Night doco offers some insight to the astonishing level of self-belief from which Sting was operating in those times.
― assert (matttkkkk), Sunday, 22 May 2022 07:55 (one year ago) link
y'all are mad
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 22 May 2022 10:04 (one year ago) link
his best imo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT64QnhZD4o
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 22 May 2022 10:05 (one year ago) link
That would be the 4th track on my "best of Sting (i.e. songs he should've made with the Police)" EP.
― birdistheword, Sunday, 22 May 2022 15:14 (one year ago) link
It's a reasonable position, but you regard "best solo Sting" songs as "most-Police-like Sting"? Has he done any solo songs you like where you think "the Police couldn't have done this"?
― Halfway there but for you, Sunday, 22 May 2022 15:17 (one year ago) link
Yes - "Hung My Head," but I prefer Johnny Cash's version.
― birdistheword, Sunday, 22 May 2022 15:22 (one year ago) link
It’s an interesting thought experiment but I think the most likely scenario had they continued into the late 80s is they would’ve sounded like Big Generator-era Yes
― frogbs, Sunday, 22 May 2022 16:57 (one year ago) link
"I ALSO eat at Chez Nous"
― Halfway there but for you, Sunday, 22 May 2022 17:48 (one year ago) link
― frogbs, Sunday, May 22, 2022 12:57 PM (fifty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
Theory makes sense...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jSl-Lr4VuY
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Sunday, 22 May 2022 17:53 (one year ago) link
Exhibit B:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlesUq8U7KM
(IIRC this was first released in 2000 on the 5.1 DTS re-issue of Every Breath You Take: The Classics)
https://www.discogs.com/release/8897614-The-Police-Every-Breath-You-Take-The-Classics
― birdistheword, Sunday, 22 May 2022 22:08 (one year ago) link
But yeah, I agree, they wouldn't have gotten better if they made more albums. The most optimistic view I have is that we would've gotten a few more classic singles, but Sting was irrevocably heading in the wrong direction.
― birdistheword, Sunday, 22 May 2022 22:11 (one year ago) link
I'm fond of this bitter, beautiful denunciation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8fgY3AUNQM
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 22 May 2022 22:13 (one year ago) link
As soon as I played that YouTube clip, my partner thought I had fired up a Netflix show, hah.
― birdistheword, Sunday, 22 May 2022 23:09 (one year ago) link
Also, Sting's "You Will Be My Ain True Love" for the movie Cold Mountain can be surprisingly good. It only hit me when I saw Alison Krauss & Union Station perform a haunting a cappella version to kick off an encore. It was like "WOW, how did I miss that?" but when I went back to the soundtrack, I was disappointed that it was produced and arranged very differently, with only an occasional voice joining Krauss rather than the full, eerie harmonies of the concert rendition.
FWIW, both Sting and Elvis Costello of all people contributed good songs, and both of them were nominated for an Oscar - they lost to Annie Lennox, Howard Shore and Fran Walsh for Return of the King.
― birdistheword, Sunday, 22 May 2022 23:17 (one year ago) link
Wow, the '86 version of DDDD,DDDD is breathtakingly bad. I can remember at the time thinking "awesome, those Police singles with cool production" but I was about 15 and musically illiterate.
― assert (matttkkkk), Monday, 23 May 2022 01:47 (one year ago) link
Who had Animal Logic reunion on their bingo card?https://scontent-ord5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/312707862_646660697057424_7241859831881752794_n.jpg?_nc_cat=107&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=WvKxxFpBL3wAX-ui31T&_nc_ht=scontent-ord5-1.xx&oh=00_AT_AWNuMn5wiqRFtA7XPC64n3yTstyZ6rNHCC5kn80noxA&oe=635B10BB
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 October 2022 05:02 (one year ago) link
Hmph. Call me when Curved Air reunites.
― blissfully unawarewolf (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 24 October 2022 12:39 (one year ago) link
Okay I meant that as a drive-by joek but some alert ilx0r will no doubt pipe up to say that Curved Air are still active (or, rather, active again, just without Copeland) and that their new album is I dunno a banger or something.
― blissfully unawarewolf (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 24 October 2022 12:44 (one year ago) link
I got nothing, sorry
― frogbs, Monday, 24 October 2022 13:41 (one year ago) link
sending out an SOS
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 October 2022 13:46 (one year ago) link
Apart from the obvious "Mother,"
mother has a somewhat dumb vocal line but you do get to hear Summers completely steal Fripp's guitar solo from Eno's Golden Hours and that saves it IMO
― akm, Monday, 24 October 2022 14:52 (one year ago) link
I’ll have what Stanley Clarke is having.
― 2-4-6-8 Motor Away (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 24 October 2022 17:40 (one year ago) link
He carries all his weight in his right thumb.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 October 2022 17:43 (one year ago) link
does this mean Gizmodrome is dead?
― frogbs, Monday, 24 October 2022 17:45 (one year ago) link
Probably as dead as Oysterhead.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 October 2022 17:48 (one year ago) link
It's been 43 years and I can still not quite get over the coolness gap between Copeland's excellent music and his derpy persona.
There is a memoir* by Jacob Slichter (who is a completely different person) in which he says that no matter what he did, no matter how much of a cool rock star he tried to be, every photograph of him made him look like he's about to say "Hey guys, let's ride bikes!"
When I read that, and then read Copeland's memoir**, it provided useful clarity to my understanding of Copeland. He's made some of my favorite records but he is the type of guy who pretty much always looks like he's about to say "Hey guys, let's ride bikes!"
* = Yes, I will read any book by a drummer and almost any book by a musician.** = See?
― blissfully unawarewolf (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 24 October 2022 21:14 (one year ago) link
yeah that occurred to me while listening to the Gizmodrome live album. it's excellent but Stew's persona is really self-consciously goofy in a way that's pretty offputting. he can't quite pull off the self-deprecating rock star persona that he's going for. he can definitely be a funny dude though.
― frogbs, Monday, 24 October 2022 21:25 (one year ago) link
He also wears very short shorts.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 October 2022 21:35 (one year ago) link
So do I. And my drumming sucks.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 October 2022 21:39 (one year ago) link
he is the type of guy who pretty much always looks like he's about to say "Hey guys, let's ride bikes!"
https://editorial01.shutterstock.com/wm-preview-1500/433266d/f1e6ab9f/Shutterstock_433266d.jpg
But wait! Long shorts!
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 October 2022 21:41 (one year ago) link
I feel like I've written about this before (not this thread, apparently). In the "Certifiable" documentary from the reunion tour, there's a cringey scene at the Whisky where two things happen:
1. Questlove asks a question from the audience and it is pretty clear that Stewart has no idea who Questlove is. I don't think Sting does either, but that's not important right now.
2. Sting asks Andy if he knows "Message in a Bottle" and Andy obligingly says, "Uh, I dunno, what key is it in?" lulz. They start playing.
But here's the thing: Stewart starts calling out the chords, with inversions and naming the bass notes. And he doesn't fucking stop. Like they're pretty far along in the intro and Stewart (who someone unwisely provided with a live headset microphone) is still going like "C sharp minor with a B, A major seventh, B seventh..."
And everybody in the room is like DUDE, SHUT UP.
― blissfully unawarewolf (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 24 October 2022 21:46 (one year ago) link
He wants everyone to know he's Not Just a Drummer.
― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 24 October 2022 21:51 (one year ago) link
Sting does tantric sex. The only inversion he needs is when Trudi fucks him up the ass.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 October 2022 21:52 (one year ago) link
With a vintage Fender Precision bass
― blissfully unawarewolf (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 24 October 2022 21:57 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbO1qC7EsVI
― 2-4-6-8 Motor Away (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 24 October 2022 22:04 (one year ago) link