The Police: Classic or Dud, Search and Destroy

v glad i saw them live before Synchronicity

"Synchronicity I"???????

'Synchronicity I' is excellent, as is the brilliantly unhinged 'Mother', which is one of my many personal highlights on that LP.

'Saint Augustine in Hell' has the hilarious part about music critics, too.

I actually like synchronicity a lot as a whole except for brontosaurus/lesson for us

I used to love "Mother," now I wish Sting had sung it. Or, better, Andy's mom.

I actually like synchronicity a lot as a whole except for brontosaurus/lesson for us

― or at night (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, July 12, 2017 12:42 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ha, yes!!

Let's rank their albums.

I would do something like

1. Reggatta
2. Ghost
3. Zenyatta
4. Synchronicity
5. Outlandos

damn, they're all good!!

Not canon, but disc 1 of the live album is pretty great too.

yea and the first few tracks of disc 2 are pretty decent too

always bothered me how the volume suddenly increases a 30 seconds or so into the first disc. such an obvious glitch, I don't get how it wasn't fixed

Their logic ties me up and rapes me!

I'd forgotten about 'Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot' which is indeed garbage.

'If I Ever Lose My Faith In You' is one of his best ever songs, though, as is 'Synchronicity II' ...

I wish the Toby Keith version of "I'm So Happy.." had charted.

Ok, rating Don’t Stand so Close to Me ‘86 over the original is bananas!

Seconded. That ‘86 version destroys the chorus and in general just has all the life drained out of it. To this day I feel shortchanged for its inclusion on that year’s singles compilation.

"Every Breath You Take" make my friend hilariously angry, because he can't hear it without hearing this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=837k74c4rHQ

A+

where do the Shaggy singles fit in here

it wasn't me

Ok, rating Don’t Stand so Close to Me ‘86 over the original is bananas!

― Darin, Wednesday, May 22, 2019 5:11 AM (eight hours ago)Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Seconded. That ‘86 version destroys the chorus and in general just has all the life drained out of it. To this day I feel shortchanged for its inclusion on that year’s singles compilation.

― dorsalstop, Wednesday, May 22, 2019 8:57 AM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Thirded. One of the most pointless recordings Sting has been involved in, and this is Sting we're talking about.

Didn't realize "Next To You" wasn't a single! Manifestly belongs in the classic pile.

It's pointless, yeah. It needn't exist. Yet the fadeout in the original allows the tension to leak out of the song. I prefer how sinister Sting sounds in the original.

you guys know there's an album of re-recorded Sting songs out in two days right

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."

aww, i've always loved 'spirits in the material world'. had no idea what it was about obv and if i tried to unpick it now i would probably find it totally ludicrous (hey it's sting), but i suppose i was a sucker for quasi-mystical nonsense in my early teens (too much time spent watching 'monkey' instead of doing my homework); 'secret journey' off the same album tickled the same part of my brain. that sax blort at the start of the song sort of fools you into thinking it's a sort of odd ska that they're going for but it's some weird eastern european folk fusion thing isn't it? the synth standing in for an accordian, and then that zithery balalaika thing on the third verse. the drums are fantastic (hey it's stewart) - the crispness of the snare when it comes in is soo good! solid 7.5/10. still sad that sting isn't actually signng about the reykjavik of failure though.

'Spirits in the Material World' is a better song than 'Invisible Sun', IMO, the energy level of the former is one of many points in its favour over the trudge of the latter.

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

Oh I had another possible misheard lyric in ‘Spirits’. Does Sting really say ‘grow testes and survive’? Actually nervous about googling that one

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

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)

the audio on this is killing me!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJyEr-jWVv4

sounds like some of the guitar parts from 'voices' - anyone know if it's available somewhere?

Is it the intro music on the Synchronicity tour?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyp7au1vOrM

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?

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?

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."

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

The Bring On the Night doco offers some insight to the astonishing level of self-belief from which Sting was operating in those times.

y'all are mad

his best imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT64QnhZD4o

That would be the 4th track on my "best of Sting (i.e. songs he should've made with the Police)" EP.

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"?

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"?

Yes - "Hung My Head," but I prefer Johnny Cash's version.

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

"I ALSO eat at Chez Nous"

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, May 22, 2022 12:57 PM (fifty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Theory makes sense...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jSl-Lr4VuY