The Police: Classic or Dud, Search and Destroy

I thought that song was great when I was about 11, even though I had no idea what he was going on about. By the time I was old enough to realize how silly it was my fondness for it was firmly entrenched. Totally stupid, but not a bad hook. As fake as fake-punk got.

Because it's a hopelessly pretentious sack of tepid, runny DUNG wherein Sting grabs an unsuspecting Paul Bowles novel by the sensitive bits, pours syrup all over it and then proceeds to bugger it inconsiderably, whilst coming up with some of the worst couplets of his already pock-marked career. It's AWFUL!

Very interesting.

Then after performing the works of Elizabethan lute master John Dowland for US TV last weekend he was asked about the rumours.

I'm listening to "Bring On The Night" right now and I'm kinda freaking out about it.

I also just listened to "Born In The 50's." My God.

"My mother cried
When president Kennedy died
She said it was the communists
But I knew better"

AGHHHHHHH!

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn306/Floridian_20/PoliceSynch.jpg

Just about the best mother fucking thing from 1983. Beware. I don't care if John D. jumps on my ass. I really don't care. I'll willingly take a beating for this record.

There's a little black spot on the sun today.

something i remember: sitting in 8th grade art class and telling john crichton (who wasn't a particular friend of mine, just the kid sitting next to me) that synchronicity was coming out the next day. he looked at me and said "so what?" i said something like the police were the best band in the world and he just kind of shook his head.

in retrospect i think it's the least of the police, but that's a relative measure and i'll defend most of it on one ground or another.

(but it's not the best thing from '83, even if i thought so then)

KING OF PAIN

Listen to the fucking BASS on that!

"Synchronicity I" is pretty underrated.. and I still love "Oh My God" and "Tea In The Sahara."

and then there's 'mother'

yup..

"Mother" adds character. Police albums aren't complete without at least 1 huge WTF moment.

And I like that "Mother" is in 7/8.

many miles away
there's a shadow on the door
of a cottage on the shore
of a dark
scottish lake
many miles away

oh scottish monster please listen
don't devour me

I WILL LISTEN HARD TO YOUR TUITION

ska horseshit is horseshit

I know they get no respect these days but I still feel - walking on the moon - if it comes on in public. I love the double snare hit near the end and the subsequent hi hat solo of sorts

Cool Copeland and Summers bits more than make up for even the band's worst moments.

even sting's depths in to wretched irrelevance and this photo

http://https%3A//pbs.twimg.com/media/BNnKXTeCIAAohZo.jpg

cannot destroy how good the Police are

bah https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BNnKXTeCIAAohZo.jpg

The horror

Sting in bringing the tantric lute jams SHOCKAH!

Let "Tantric lute jams" never again be spoken of on ilx

fuck tha Police

My favorite Sting and Police. No "Russians," sadly.

i absolutely love everything about the police except the words. sometimes I just want to pitch a tent in their sound.

when I get that urge I usually just listen to I Advance Masked

love that record, so joyfully underachieving

best Fripp solo ever on the title track, imo

The guitar solo on Mother is almost note-for-note an echo of Fripps guitar solo on Enos Golden Hours.

/ darkness / is good! Double tracked hi-hats in stereo

i absolutely love everything about the police except the words. sometimes I just want to pitch a tent in their sound.

indeed. their 4-disc boxset is great from start to finish, plus its great to get to hear their progression from one year to the next. there's almost something Beatles-like there, the way they evolved so quickly over only 6 or 7 years. even the minor songs have awesome moments on them - that neat little guitar lick on "Contact" during the chorus, for example.

i absolutely love everything about the police except the wordsi

...and even when the words finally fucking stop they go so hard on the dey-yo-yo-yos

been hitting 'shadows in the rain' a lot lately, lyrics are actually okay on that

Had a sentimental listen to the first side of Regatta De Blanc this morning (first record I bought, still got my name on the back from where I took it to school so that we could dance on stage to Walking On The Moon during school assembly). Funny the details that jump out now I’ve got old man ears instead of being like 9 years old. Definitely think that a lot of my later musical likes were because of the little things here that became so embedded in my brain, albeit subconsciously…

- that loooong moment of whining guitar feedback and drums on Bring On The Night, such a cool moment when the bass comes back in
- the last minute of the song Regatta De Blanc where it’s just pure motorik music, though admittedly it’s more Hawkwind than Neu
- the gnarly blues guitar solo in It’s Alright For You, very When The Levee Breaks. Why did I never notice that before? Is Andy playing with a slide? And I never really cared for this song but even in their bad songs they sometimes pull out a gorgeous coda - this one sounds just like Echo Beach to me
- how weird Deathwish? dubby raga rock, but this also has sections of the motorik thing too

Deathwish in the fading light
Hitler running through the night

It was among the dozen or so records my slightly cooler older sister had.

Regatta de Blanc
My Aim Is True
Punch the Clock
Cool Places
English Settlement
A Flock of Seagulls
Blinded by Science
Night and Day

All of them still relevant for me, 40 years on