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

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!

Sting would've loved to see his publishing income dwindle if Summers and Copeland had to each write 18 songs.

god, a triple album would've been fascinating, but my first hope would've been for a side-long five-part suite based entirely on 'behind my camel'

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

32. Tea in the Sahara
From: Synchronicity
Released: June 17, 1983
176 Points, 6 Votes

On 'Tea In The Sahara' I used what I call, tongue in cheek, my 'wobbling cloud' effect. It comes with using a highly overloaded guitar, to the point of feedback, and moving the chord off just as it's about to break. It's a sound I do a lot in concert, this sort of echo guitar, where basically I turn most of the signal off so that all you hear is echo. Then you control it with the volume pedal, so you just hear this floating, shimmering sound. And you've got to play the right chords, you can't play G major or D7 - it sounds cruddy. You've got to play space harmonies to make it more like that - triads with open strings, tended harmonies like 9ths and 11ths, 27ths. It's really all by ear.

— Andy Summers, Guitar World, 4/1987

That description made me think of Larry Carlton's volume pedal work on Joni Mitchell's "Amelia", but that's a masterpiece and this song is just an OK bit of atmosphere.

The lyric is kind of intriguing to me.

Paul Bowles. Sting is smart!

also, listening to a lot of Police in recent weeks I’m struck by how much casual misogyny I hear in the lyrics.

xpost The Police struggled to release as many albums as they did!

the dominance of the vocal and the narrative over such a sparse backing track make me feel this is the most solo sting song in the police catalogue

the dominance of the vocal and the narrative over such a sparse backing track make me feel this is the most solo sting song in the police catalogue

also, listening to a lot of Police in recent weeks I’m struck by how much casual misogyny I hear in the lyrics.

tbf Sting kind of leaned into creepy-guy narratives. Big hits include guy in love with sex worker, guy in love with underage girl, guy who can't even get up the nerve to call her, guy stalking his ex and saying "Can't you see/You belong to me." I'm not sure any of them are supposed to be exactly sympathetic, except maybe the sad sack in "Every Little Thing."

That guy has a big umbrella, though.

he's also weirdly keen on telling us just how wet he's getting

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

31. I Burn for You
From: Brimstone & Treacle (soundtrack)
Released: October 1982
183 Points, 5 Votes, 1 Number One