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
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Wednesday, 7 December 2022 22:43 (one year ago) link
didn't vote for 'bombs away' but i never do not enjoy it
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Wednesday, 7 December 2022 22:44 (one year ago) link
At least the guitars on "The Lebanon" sound properly peeved.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 7 December 2022 22:45 (one year ago) link
"Bombs Away" sounds to me like it would be much better with Copeland singing.
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 7 December 2022 22:47 (one year ago) link
ha alfred, the guitars on 'the lebanon' are unimpeachable it's true
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Wednesday, 7 December 2022 22:52 (one year ago) link
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!
― Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 7 December 2022 22:56 (one year ago) link
Sting would've loved to see his publishing income dwindle if Summers and Copeland had to each write 18 songs.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 7 December 2022 22:59 (one year ago) link
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'
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Wednesday, 7 December 2022 23:07 (one year ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/pRfAgAB.jpg
32. Tea in the SaharaFrom: SynchronicityReleased: June 17, 1983176 Points, 6 Votes
― Bee OK, Wednesday, 7 December 2022 23:25 (one year ago) link
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
— Andy Summers, Guitar World, 4/1987
― Bee OK, Wednesday, 7 December 2022 23:30 (one year ago) link
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.
― Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 7 December 2022 23:33 (one year ago) link
The lyric is kind of intriguing to me.
― assert (matttkkkk), Wednesday, 7 December 2022 23:35 (one year ago) link
Paul Bowles. Sting is smart!
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 7 December 2022 23:36 (one year ago) link
also, listening to a lot of Police in recent weeks I’m struck by how much casual misogyny I hear in the lyrics.
― assert (matttkkkk), Wednesday, 7 December 2022 23:37 (one year ago) link
xpost The Police struggled to release as many albums as they did!
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 7 December 2022 23:39 (one year ago) link
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
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Wednesday, 7 December 2022 23:40 (one year ago) link
― BlackIronPrison, Wednesday, 7 December 2022 23:45 (one year ago) link
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."
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 7 December 2022 23:50 (one year ago) link
That guy has a big umbrella, though.
― Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 7 December 2022 23:58 (one year ago) link
he's also weirdly keen on telling us just how wet he's getting
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:04 (one year ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/koeaWkP.jpg
31. I Burn for YouFrom: Brimstone & Treacle (soundtrack)Released: October 1982183 Points, 5 Votes, 1 Number One
― Bee OK, Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:08 (one year ago) link
The Police's "I Burn for You" is a song Sting originally wrote for the band Last Exit in the mid-1970s; he later offered it to The Police for Zenyatta Mondatta in 1980, but it was deemed "too sentimental" for their musical direction. The band eventually chose to record it for their fourth album Ghost In The Machine the following year, but it did not make the cut.
― Bee OK, Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:09 (one year ago) link
Never heard this one! It's now only available on the Ghost In The Machine (Alternate Sequence) released this year, which I never got around to.
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:12 (one year ago) link
Crazy it didn’t make either album, it’s one of their best songs
Btw if you wanna hear Bombs Away with Stew singing, check out the Gizmodrome version. A number of lyrical changes too.
― frogbs, Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:14 (one year ago) link
jesus I hoped we would be able to avoid discussing that ghastly film.
Also - the misogyny isn't the creepy-guy stuff, e.g. in Synchro II, "secretaries pout and preen / like cheap tarts in a red light street" and "mother chants a litany of boredom and frustration / but we know all her suicides are fake".
― assert (matttkkkk), Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:16 (one year ago) link
fantastic song! first part has such a heavy atmosphere, makes me feel slightly delirious when the second bit kicks in
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:19 (one year ago) link
Got a number one vote too:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQtIRrmhvBw
― Bee OK, Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:19 (one year ago) link
I love "I Burn for You." I also have a weird affection for the film, I saw it as a young teen (mostly because I was a big Police fan) and thought it was fascinatingly fucked-up.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:23 (one year ago) link
Going to do 13 today, 13 tomorrow and then 14 on Friday.
― Bee OK, Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:25 (one year ago) link
I'm done with work for the day so I should be a bit faster on these last few.
― Bee OK, Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:26 (one year ago) link
be warned, the version on that album is only 3 minutes long - they've chopped off the final two minutes(!)
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:30 (one year ago) link
thanks Bee you're doing great so far btw!
As a mad Police fan in my teens I had no idea there was an official soundtrack for B&T, and so I taped IBFY off the VHS we had rented, which is why the copy I listened to had the incoherent cries of the couple's daughter mixed in with the track.
― assert (matttkkkk), Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:32 (one year ago) link
Thanks, it just sucks that I can't be more active in this poll, but it's for the people and I'm fine with that. Still has been fun putting it all together and counting down these songs.
xpost
― Bee OK, Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:34 (one year ago) link
We're enjoying it! Thanks, Bee.
I had the B&T soundtrack album, listened to it a fair amount. (I also voted for "Only You" off it in the solo poll.)
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:34 (one year ago) link
side poll: what is sting's greatest movie role?
https://i.ibb.co/DK0VDMD/helith.jpg
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:37 (one year ago) link
Quadrophenia
― Bee OK, Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:40 (one year ago) link
Ace Face no less
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:43 (one year ago) link
A friend of mine saw Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels in the theatre. Apparently Sting makes what is meant to be a big entrance, but the only reaction in the theatre was my friend groaning in exasperation.
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:43 (one year ago) link
what a list:
As actor
Quadrophenia (1979) – The Ace Face, the King of the Mods, a.k.a. the Bell Boy in the film adaptation of the Who album.Radio On (1979) – Just Like EddieThe Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (1980) – Leader of the Blow Waves. The footage was cut but it later reappeared in the DVD version and in the documentary The Filth and the Fury (2000).Artemis 81 (1981) – The angel Helith (BBC TV film)Brimstone and Treacle (1982) – Martin Taylor, a drifterDune (1984) – Feyd-Rautha HarkonnenTitus Groan (1984) – Steerpike (BBC Radio 4 broadcast based on the Mervyn Peake novel)Gormenghast (1984) – Steerpike (BBC Radio 4 broadcast based on the Mervyn Peake novel)Plenty (1985) – Mick, a black-marketeerThe Bride (1985) – Baron FrankensteinWalking to New Orleans (1985) – Busker, singing Moon Over Bourbon Street.The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) – a "heroic officer"Stormy Monday (1988) – Finney, a nightclub ownerJulia and Julia (1988) – Daniel, a British gentlemanThe Grotesque (1995), a/k/a Gentlemen Don't Eat Poets and Grave Indiscretion – FledgeLock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) – J.D., Eddie's father and owner of a bar.Kaamelott: The First Chapter (2021) – Horsa
As himself
Urgh! A Music War (1982)Bring On the Night (1985)Saturday Night Live (1991) – host, variousThe Simpsons episode "Radio Bart" (1992)The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer Episode 5 (1995)The Larry Sanders Show episode "Where Is the Love?" (1996)Ally McBeal season four episode "Cloudy Skies, Chance of Parade" (2001)Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out (2006)Studio 60 on Sunset Strip (2006)Vicar of Dibley Comic Relief special (2007)Bee Movie (2007)Little Britain USA (2008) as Stomp, the lead singer of "the Cops" (playing "Fields of Gold")Brüno (2009)Still Bill (2009)Do It Again (2010)Life's Too Short (2011)2012: Time for Change (2011)The Michael J. Fox Show (2013) (singing "August Wind" from The Last Ship)20 Feet from Stardom (2013)Zoolander 2 (2016)Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics (2020)Only Murders in the Building (2021)
― Bee OK, Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:43 (one year ago) link
He's never sexier than in a supporting role in Stormy Monday
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:45 (one year ago) link
hearty lols @ this!
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:46 (one year ago) link
OMG now I need the DVD of Great R&R Swindle (not just for that but for any other extras)
― sleeve, Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:46 (one year ago) link
I forgot abt his Only Murders cameo too, very good
interesting how the Urgh movie is framed entirely around them given some of the wild outliers that are in that film
― sleeve, Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:47 (one year ago) link
like, the makers of the movie clearly thought they were the most popular act that would the flick
― sleeve, Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:48 (one year ago) link
that would *sell* the flick
when in reality, in my experience, people went to see the Cramps/DKs/Gang Of Four/Numan/etc
― sleeve, Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:49 (one year ago) link
had no idea until recently that the cramps actually were the support act for the police on one of their first national tours of the uk
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:52 (one year ago) link
What was that movie that was about CBGB scene and they end the movie with the Police being the next big thing? Never made sense to me as they were not New York
― Bee OK, Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:54 (one year ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/ibTyIX0.jpg
30. The Bed’s Too Big Without YouFrom: Zenyattà MondattaSingle Released: 1979192 Points, 16 Votes
― Bee OK, Thursday, 8 December 2022 00:55 (one year ago) link
"The Bed's Too Big Without You" was first released on Reggatta de Blanc in 1979. However, the following year, the song saw a single release as a bonus single in the Six Pack box set, which featured the band's five previous British singles (excluding "Fall Out"). Said box set peaked at No. 17 in Britain. The song was also released as the B-side to "So Lonely" in Germany.A promo video for "The Bed's Too Big Without You" was performed by the band on The Kenny Everett Video Show. It featured the band members miming to the song in a suburban house.
A promo video for "The Bed's Too Big Without You" was performed by the band on The Kenny Everett Video Show. It featured the band members miming to the song in a suburban house.