The Police: Classic or Dud, Search and Destroy

What is up with "Be My Girl- Sally?"

Why is there a minute long spoken word piece put directly in the middle of the song?

On the first album now. And this song does suck.

That has to be one of the most wretched songs ever written. It literally manages to be bad in almost every possible way! Even the bass line is crap.

Probably 50% humor, 50% how-the-hell-are-we-going-to-fill-this-album-out. Hey, they played it live, so...

I have the box set, by the way. Disc 1 and 2 are great, disc 3 starts to tail off but has its moments, and most of disc 4 is pretty patchy -- it really sounds bloated by comparison with the best stuff from the first two discs. Personal favorites are probably "Next to You", So Lonely", "Walking on the Moon", and "Spirits in the Material World"; low points are the aforementioned "Born in the 50's", "Walking in Your Footsteps", and "Tea in the Sahara".

I also like the first disc of the 2-CD live set; it's a bit cornball at times, but captures the energy of their early live sets. The second disc, a later concert, again sounds ponderous by comparison. I picked this set up, together with the box, from Columbia House for something like $25 for all six discs. Not bad!

Wuz funny to a 15-year old Tad. Was years before I'd heard Roxy's "In Every Home a Heartache" and Zappa's "Miss Pinky." There's probably an interesting sociology/pop-culture thesis in those Seventies songs about blow-up sex dolls.

SEARCH: "Driven to Tears," "Can't Stand Losing," "Darkness," "Burn for You," "Does Everyone Stare?", "No Time This Time," "Dead End Job," "Spirits in the Material World."

DESTROY: "Mother," "Born in the Fifties, "Behind My Camel," "Tea in the Sahara."

My Unfadeable Police Mix:
Voices Inside My Head
Bring on the Night
Spirits In the Material World
Driven to Tears
When the World is Running Down
Shadows in the Rain
Darkness
Deathwish

and come to think of it, unless I'm feeling really nostalgic I won't rock Outlandous or Synchronicity. even typing the titles feels tedius.

Search: Lots of stuff people have already mentioned, also *Omega Man* (a pop '21st Century Schizoid Man'?), Bring On The Night, Secret Journey, Hungry For You (check out the 'Love Supreme' bassline), Deathwish (reggae raga rock!), Truth Hits Everybody, Fall Out (their Stooges song I guess), Miss Gradenko (Talking Heads meets Robert Fripp?) and most of all **Mother**, which I have only recently come to LOVE.

Most of the album tracks are worth hearing/having. With the exception of some of "Synchronicity".

Hidden gems : "Peanuts" (rather obviously about Mick Jagger), "On Any Other Day", "Behind My Camel", "Too Much Information".

Spirits In The Material World and Invisible Sun are classic too.

No, we're mad at Sting because the Police used to be so "BAD-ASS", considering how fucking indisputably CRAP he is now.

Don't tell me how, why, when and what I'm mad at, godfuckingdammitalltohell!

For all that, the Police were classic!

Great Stewart Copeland interview here, wherein he admits that much of his awesome ride bell playing was overdubbed. Haha!

That ain't nothin' new. Copeland was never afraid to use studio technology to build drum tracks. "Every Breath You Take" was half live, half programmed - the kick & snare were Linn Drum, with Copeland overdubbing the high-hat & cymbals seperately.

auto mash-up !

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!

I was suprised to learn of all ANdy's adventures with Jim Belushi of all people - I read his autobiography One Train Later - also suprising he survived the drugs

I just saw this, and for a brief moment, I thought "shit, Zach Braff has aged badly." Then I realized it was Andy and thought "oh...well for 80 he looks great!"

(I'm not a Zach Braff fan nor do I follow his social media accounts, so just mistaking a face for him was unexpected.)

Braff HAS aged badly

LOL

Guitar player friend of mine watched and was annoyed that Andy's displayed "Walking on the Moon" chord is actually not the one he shapes live.

Beato gets the hat trick with Stewart, who as expected is very entertaining/obnoxious/full of stories:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIJkRhd1CTY

He may be my favorite musician who I also loathe. I mean, he is a good drummer and I have read his memoir but there are times I wish he would shut the fuck up, sorry, the end.

Huge Police fan and not so much of Sting's solo career, it wasn't until the reunion that I saw what Copeland was like (especially within the group), and I became much more forgiving of Sting's decision to leave.

coincidentally I'm listening to the Klark Kent 2xLP that recently came out, which unlike the old CD actually does have everything, including two tracks that I think hadn't been released yet. I had no idea "Don't Care" becoming a small hit was what led to A&M going all-in on The Police.

despite his insistence that he doesn't know how to write pop songs I actually like this stuff a lot, it's fun in a way The Police almost never were. in the interview he mentions how Sting's songs came nearly fully formed and I wonder if he's talking mostly about the last two albums because this stuff has the same sound as the first 3 Police LPs. it's too bad none of his other band projects ever really took off.

also I don't mind his personality but yeah it would be exhausting to spend too much time around him. even an hourlong interview feels like a lot. but he's still a great interview subject, seems willing to answer anything and reveal a lot of inside baseball stuff, also very forthcoming about the stuff he is and isn't good at

It's entertaining in small doses. When I saw or read those first couple of interviews, it was great, like they were having fun, but after a while it sunk in that he might be like that all the time, including the half-joking antagonizing that would probably grate after awhile.

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