The Police: Classic or Dud, Search and Destroy

It is kind of incredible, if he's remembering correctly/telling the truth, that so many of those Police songs are early if not first takes (on his part). I know it's kind of common practice for the drummer to finish first and then just kind of fuck off, but Copeland's parts are so cool and iconic, not least "...Magic," which is insane, if that is indeed the first and only take. Then again, Copeland has always conceded that some of his parts aren't necessarily playable as we hear it, since they were tooled around with in editing, or subject to overdubs and whatnot. Like in this interview how he says that some of the accents in "Wrapped Around Your Finger" were moved around.

Btw, something interesting that popped up in that interview was Stew saying he basically had to cheerlead Sting that first year to make Sting the Stingiest Sting he could be. Reminded me of the "Van Halen Rising" book, where DLR apparently had to work overtime during the lean years to foster EVH's ego, keep up his spirits.

I had no idea "Don't Care" becoming a small hit was what led to A&M going all-in on The Police

Well, Miles C. being well-connected may have played a role there too.

https://i.imgur.com/cifTebs.png

This was the one I had as a young lad, going for $2 on discogs, peak mid 80s graphic design

It's kind of astonishing that Sting's desire to re-record the hits took precedence over Stewart being injured and unable to drum, so they went with programmed drums for the reworked tracks. Hardly surprising it nosedived after two boring trainwrecks.

Every bone you break

Every tart you bake

Non-U.S. Greatest Hits does a much better job of collecting their singles than The Singles and it's all the better for it. (I think the only A-sides missing are "Bring on the Night," "Secret Journey," and their indie-label debut "Fall Out," but none of them were really hits. I think only "Secret Journey" charted anywhere, and even then it was #46 in the U.S. only.)

pay attention to the computer in the background of Copeland in that interview

http://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did%3Aplc%3A2enrykw6uzlomjrm6x6q3sr2/bafkreiehlxlfsalgtfwbzta437wz557w2qwefjfpns4pg3hb5qqvvty7sm@jpeg

Why the fuck would these 3 men want to conceive 16 offspring between them

pay attention to the computer in the background of Copeland in that interview

I posted a screenshot in the next post

Still not getting it

it’s Sting with his lute in a yoga pose or some such

lol

LMAO I looked it up and it was apparently a Vanity Fair shoot. So I guess Copeland decided to use it as one of his screen backgrounds as a joke?

A prelude to some tantric sex no doubt.

(xp)

he has the strongest unfunny dad persistence, but also can be pretty fucking lol, horrible as it is

lol obsessed much, stu? hilarious

I thought we were all well versed in this photo of shirtless sting playing the lute and Trudi doing some yoga pose in the background, alas, I was mistaken. It is the greatest portrait of all time.

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BNg8kFcCUAAdsBP%3Fformat%3Djpg%26name%3Dsmall

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BNg8kFcCUAAdsBP%3Fformat%3Djpg%26name%3Dsmall

well fuck

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BNg8kFcCUAAdsBP.jpg

it's time for the 20th anniv of my "if i had no lute" joke

that's a classic, perhaps only rivaled by the photo of a-rod kissing his own reflection

okay Stew making that his background is indeed very funny

Chances that he arranged that with the camera crew on purpose ? 75%?

You don't have to put on the red lute

got that Klark Kent compilation on again, you know what he's annoying but damn he writes really catchy songs. or maybe he just drums in a way that makes everything sound catchy. I mean "Too Kool to Kalypso" says it all - obnoxious vocals, obnoxious lyrics, obnoxious kazoo, but he's a force of nature on the kit and the song will be stuck in your head forever. also love that half this shit was clearly written for Sting

like c'mon he was wrong to reject this. imagine how good this would've been on Reggatta.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIMitPazAgQ

If that picture of Sting with the Lute was Dimebag Darrell, it would be him with some crazy Dean lightning bolt guitar at a strip club with an exotic dancer on a riser next to a stripper pole in that pose.

like c'mon he was wrong to reject this. imagine how good this would've been on Reggatta.

📹

he can rewrite all the lyrics if he wants, the song itself such pure power pop

Exactly. Police don't do power pop.

On the first two albums they sorta did. Which I think is when these songs were written

Hmm, I still don't hear the power pop. Maybe "Born in the 50's", and if you squint sideways something like "Next to You" miiiiight fit, but you'd have to be pretty generous with what you consider power pop.

fuck, i’m like “fall out” is who-style powerpop, and i assumed it was on outlandos, but no.

i actually only knew it from an off-the-air recording i made from wlir in 82 of police playing live from like 79. last listened to in the 80s? that memorable? senility?

Last three tracks on Reggatta are power poppish