Police - Synchronicity POLL

just remembered that andy summers will be 80 years old this year, which is just unfathomable to me

Andy is an absolute genius, and his sound/effects and knowing how to use them is a huge part of that. But give credit where credit is (literally) due: as much as it (king of) pains me to say it, I have no doubt Sting wrote the bulk of those songs. But Andy and Stewart were absolutely essential in coming up with those key creative parts and arrangements, and the fact that Andy does't get credit for making "Every Breath" better than Leo Sayer's "I Love You More Than I Can Say" is a travesty.

Still:

who knows how far Sting could've gone without the other two

Again, pains me to say it, but the fact that he has had a long solo career with lots of hits, whatever we think of them, says a lot. When was the last time any of you listened to Animal Logic?

Biggest mystery to me remains "Magic." There's famously next to no Andy on it, and the story goes Sting demoed and arranged it with a keyboard player named Jean Roussel, but no one talks about him.

In January 1981 Jean Roussel recorded the demo version of Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic with Sting at Le Studio in Morin Heights near Montreal.

They played all of the instruments, basses, guitars, synths, marimbas pianos , clavinets etc... and Sting sang.

The song was destined for Sting's first solo album.

Several months later Jean Roussel got a call in Montreal (where he was still living at the time) from Sting and Miles Copeland to fly ASAP to Monserrat, to re-record the title with Sting and the other two members of the band.

They worked on the song for about a week, and none of the versions recorded were anywhere as good as the demo...

Finally Sting decided to use the original demo - and the version that is on the group's album is the exact original demo which Sting & Jean Roussel recorded, with Stewart's drums replacing the drum machine used on the demo and Andy's additional guitar parts.

There's a new book out about Stewart Copeland's drumming. Got it for Christmas and I just read about that Magic story! Book's really fun so far.

anything about this in it? would love to know what banshees track it was:

"Bombs Away" was recorded on a tape that Nigel Gray had just used with Siouxsie and the Banshees. Copeland said that "when he first set up his home studio he got hold of a load of second hand tape which included some stuff by Siouxsie and the Banshees. 'Bombs Away' was written on a Siouxsie and the Banshees backing track. I changed the speed and did things to the EQ to change the drum pattern. So with the desk I can get my song playing, then press a switch and there's Siouxsie singing away."

Does the book reveal the inspiration for all the hi-hat rolls/fills/flourishes or bringing back splash cymbals?

Don’t tell the director I said soooooooo
But are you safe miss gradenkoooooooo

re: "everything little thing she does is magic", that's also covered in the revolver interview. they make it pretty clear that the usual band dynamic was sting recording demos that had the core of the song, but the other two never liked his arrangements & they'd totally rearrange the songs as a band. since sting wrote the core melody & lyrics, he got the credit even though the others wrote original parts of the arrangement too. for "magic", summers & copeland couldn't figure out any sort of satisfying rearrangement at all so they eventually resentfully resorted to just replicating sting's demo for once.

Revolver: More Schadenfreude. What can you tell me about 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic'?

Summers: Well, I'm going to get very insulting here. When Sting was off doing the demos in Canada, he used this pianist who was incredibly pushy.

Copeland: He wasn't pushy.

Summers: f*** he was! He even managed to come down to Montserrat when we were recording.

Copeland: He was just like us actually.

Summers: Well, yeah, but there wasn't room for him. He must have played 12 piano parts on that song alone. And as the guitar player I was saying, 'What the f*** is this? This is not the Police sound'.

Copeland: So we tried to make the song a Police song - which meant undoing all of Sting's arrangement. That was our basic policy anyway. Always has been. Throw out Sting's arrangement, keep his lyrics and the song. So we tried playing it slower than the demos, we tried my "rama-lama" punk version. Andy tried turning the chords upside down. We spent more time on this song than on all the other songs put together. One morning, in a state of extreme grumpiness, I remember saying, 'Okay put up Sting's original demo and I'll show you how crummy it is.' So Sting stood over me and waved me through all the changes. I did just one take, and that became the record. Then Andy did the same thing on the guitar. We just faced the music, but the bullet, and used Sting's arrangements and demo. Damn.

is that the demo that was on the Strontium 90 CD?

TS: The Police (band) vs The Police (interview subjects)

gotta be honest this is tough for me. they were a world-historical pop act but they may be the greatest band interview of all time.

it's interview all the way for me

that interview excerpt is great. also, now i wanna hear Copeland's "'rama-lama' punk version" (also what exactly does he mean by that phrasing?).

The estimable 80sography podcast recently published a track-by-track commentary by Hugh Padgham!

The Revolver interview:

https://www.sting.com/news/title/revolver

Man, that Pittsburgh joke reminds me of an awkward evening with a loud relative.

Lmao

Revolver: Bands like the Offspring cite 'Can't Stand Losing You' as an important early punk song. Wasn't it banned by the BBC?

Copeland: Actually, we got a lot of mileage out of it being supposedly banned by the BBC. In fact, all that really happened was that we didn't make their playlist, so we turned that into 'Banned by the BBC'.

Sting: Wait a minute - it was 'Roxanne' they wouldn't play. Then we had that publicity campaign with posters about how the BBC banned 'Roxanne'. The reason they had a problem with 'Can't Stand Losing You' was because the photo on the cover of the single had Stewart standing on a block of ice with a noose around his neck, waiting for the ice to melt.

Copeland: Oh, so it was all my fault?

Sting: No, no, I applauded you for doing that Stewart. The only problem is... you didn't actually go through with it. (laughs)

seriously they could reunite without instruments for a comedy banter tour and I'd be first in line for tickets

We’re watching Only Murders in the Building; turns out Sting is in the show, in kind of an amusing way (speaking of comedy).

Sting otm about Copelands rhythms being completely in danceable though

for bookmarkers who might not have seen: When the World is Running Down, You Make the POLL of What's Still Around – ILM Artist Poll #116 – THE POLICE - (Voting is open until Sunday, Nov 27)

box set coming:

https://wmgk.com/2023/08/22/sting-confirms-police-synchronicity-box-set-is-coming/

Does the world need a Sychronicity boxed set?

tbh, except for Pet Sounds, I can't think of a single rock album box set that needed to be box set. They all should have been carved up into separate releases - e.g. a remastered (or remixed) edition of the album, a live album, and an outtakes/demos/studio rarities compilation. But economically speaking, when it comes to reissues, album box sets are the most viable products a label can come up with.

Looking forward to that 21-minute version of "Mother"

A whole disk of "Mother" ala the Fun House sessions.

the motherlode

Looking forward to that 21-minute version of "Mother"

― pplains, Wednesday, 23 August 2023

Extended remix by Arthur Baker.

this is an album that easily could have landed in my top 50 if I'd thought about it. certainly interested in hearing outtakes, but like most box sets, I'd go for a digital version.