Bring On the POLL - ILM Artist Poll #116 - THE POLICE - (Results Thread)

love this song, maybe my favorite of Copeland's Police tunes

It’s actually a collab with Sting? I’d forgotten that.

I think Sting wrote the lyrics, Copeland did the music. well, Sting is probably responsible for the uh "sax arrangements" as well

sting wrote the lyrics, Stewart wrote the music iirc. Never been a fan of this one tbh, lyrics are way too on-the-nose and delivered with sting's most snide-sounding vocal, listening to it actually makes me want to turn into a robot and tase the guy till his socks catch fire.

shocked by the c word in this as a kid, first time I heard it on record

https://i.imgur.com/gKfLJkw.jpg

38. Too Much Information
From: Ghost in the Machine
Released: October 2, 1981
143 Points, 5 Votes

the weird filler tracks on ghost are better than the weird filler tracks on the other albums. i voted for a couple, not this one tho

xp or this one

love this one, what a groove

otm

See the whole world six times over

Voted for both of those Ghost tracks, they're jams.

https://i.imgur.com/QyBPbIo.jpg

37. Shadows in the Rain
From: Zenyattà Mondatta
Released: October 3. 1980
148 Points, 5 Votes

RIP

have realised that I now very much prefer the police when they're exploring atmospheres, textures and grooves - I guess in retrospect you could say their proto post-rock tendencies - rather then when they're more bent on rocking out, as potent as they often were in that mode. But it's the spaces I'm into, and how they arrange things around that, and this ghostly one is one of their best for that I think

anyone want to say anything about the differences between the police and the clash in how they approached dubby sounds? clash always seem to use dub for political songs, police use it for creating haunted spaces

I mean I could develop that thesis further myself but I know fuck all about the clash tbf

https://i.imgur.com/QlqmmEK.jpg

36. Murder by Numbers
From: Synchronicity
Released: June 17, 1983
Bonus track on cassette and CD editions
149 Points, 5 Votes

lol, i did not relate images with songs but in this case it works.

I think the Police incorporated dub more organically than the Clash did — as a core part of their Sonic foundation rather than an adventurous add-on. Though some things on Combat Rock got close, like “Ghetto Defendant.”

lol

"police use it for creating haunted spaces": in this, they mostly resemble Remain in Light Heads to me…

is it at all clear that the Police knew about and listened to dub? The Clash surely did, whereas I almost think Sting was like, "I like Bob Marley and reggae is the element that differentiates us from many acts," but did he go further than that? I don't see Andy being particularly interested, and Stewart liked it again as a way to distinguish his drumming, but I don't see them being all into King Tubby or Heart of the Congos…

I dunno -- I could imagine Stew blasting HOTC.

In the movie Copycat there's a part where Sigourney Weaver is reading a letter written by a serial killer and I'm pretty sure it's verbatim from "Murder By Numbers."

Murder by Numbers made my ballot. I had the cassette version of the album. Was surprised that it only got five votes.

eh, i'm pretty sure that most bands hanging around in london at that time would've been exposed to some dub. don't see why he wouldn't have heard HOTC either - he loved the beat and the beat released it on their label. check the tees!

https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.imvdb.com/video/250306704722-police-the-dont-stand-so-close-to-me_music_video_ov.jpg http://quietus_production.s3.amazonaws.com/images/articles/9007/Congo_Main_1339269341_crop_550x500.jpg

was just listening to this actually, it is a pretty terrible recording but they are literally playing dub reggae - with a guest appearance by ranking roger!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XqvfyRkGCI

I find the lyrical conceit and sing-songy chorus of “Murder By Numbers” to be a little insufferable.

“Too Much Information” OTOH is a pretty fun afropop jam. Didn’t make my ballot but it’s def. a good time.

https://i.imgur.com/9hsuinW.jpg

35. Contact
From: Reggatta de Blanc
Released: October 2, 1979
165 Points, 6 Votes

lol winner

"Shadows in the Rain" the only one from my list so far.

lovely picture that i hadn't seen before of the police hanging out with uk reggae legends steel pulse:

https://www.urbanimage.tv/img-get2/I0000xCneKoF51f8/fit=1000x750/Steel-Pulse-U16822.jpg

andy not in that shot as i'm assuming he took the picture?

xxxp dammit

Forgot about this - Zenyatta Mondatta actually makes a memorable appearance in Jacques Rivette's Le Pont du Nord. Couldn't find a good clip, but here's two screencaps:

https://64.media.tumblr.com/106eeb397cc442b7d8e6153863188c7a/82e8c559c574302a-a4/s540x810/c53cc5708913a3b8f0ab1b89c04f1fd2f706c76d.png

https://64.media.tumblr.com/6f1c932d13604964e0d7cc36d94b4880/82e8c559c574302a-b6/s540x810/98cb4d81da8184b4b53e185c4851fdc4c9655ece.png

alright now here's a photo

https://i.redd.it/y8j84eep98541.jpg

oh wow! O_O

https://i.imgur.com/8ArviBS.jpg

34. Does Everyone Stare
From: Reggatta de Blanc
Released: October 2, 1979
170 Points, 6 Votes

its so catchy, that last chorus could go on forever

yes! love the odd timing on the piano, so far behind the beat that it winds up being on beat again

anyone want to say anything about the differences between the police and the clash in how they approached dubby sounds? clash always seem to use dub for political songs, police use it for creating haunted spaces

I'd suggest that the Clash associated Jamaican music with being rebellious - underground sound systems, race riots, etc. - and the Police were mostly just poseurs. Not that the Clash were somehow more "authentic" or not poseurs themselves, but they kind of edged their way into reggae's mythology through sheer force of will while the Police mostly borrowed stylistic surface elements (Stew often bristles when people call the Police a reggae band, noting that only three or so songs in their entire catalog could even pass for reggae). Of course, the Police were much better players, which is why they could pull off something like "Bed's Too Big Without You," but beyond that the Police generally never got that political. Surprisingly, neither did Sting solo, come to think of it, not much, and usually only in the most ham-fisted, least self-aware ways possible ("Russians"). Songs like "They Dance Alone" are the double-exception: political and subtle.

love the way this one develops from the intro, starts so simple and then somehow builds this unstoppable sense of momentum. are they doing some sort of clever sort of chord progression trickery there where it doesn't ever resolve or something? i don't have the knowledge to say, but it feels like there's something going on there. and i love the switch-up in vocalists too (via the opera sample!), that's just a great touch i think

I think this song is a great example of Stew displacing the beat in really cool ways that must have bothered Sting.

https://i.imgur.com/tRRf1IX.jpg

33. Bombs Away
From: Zenyattà Mondatta
Released: October 3. 1980
174 Points, 6 Votes

such a great summers solo

xp to Josh: yeah certainly the police never pretended to be rebels of any sort - sting's innate aloofness prevents him from being any sort of rabble-rouser like joe strummer. maybe 'they dance alone' works as it's very much a song about a 'them' rather than an 'us'. mind you, so was 'russians' so maybe not. oh, there was also 'invisible sun' of course, which got banned by the bbc for being overly political - i think that song kind of works but is about the same level as the human league's 'lebanon' when it comes to political insight

didn't vote for 'bombs away' but i never do not enjoy it

At least the guitars on "The Lebanon" sound properly peeved.

"Bombs Away" sounds to me like it would be much better with Copeland singing.

ha alfred, the guitars on 'the lebanon' are unimpeachable it's true

Three of my four Copeland picks in a row! At this point in the countdown, a novice to the band might assume he was the main creative force.

All this talk about the Clash made me wonder just how much filler the Police would have had to produce to fill their own version of Sandinista!