When the World is Running Down, You Make the POLL of What's Still Around – ILM Artist Poll #116 – THE POLICE - (Voting extended to Friday, Dec 2, 2022)

https://i.imgur.com/Ii22Xoc.jpg

Ballot Part One (Mandatory) - Your Top 20 tracks by The Police (or less min. 5). Please order your list with #1 at the top and #20 at the bottom, no need to number them.

Ballot Part Two (Optional) – Your Top 5 albums by The Police or any album that they are involved in (or less min. 2).

Ballot Part Three (Optional) - Your Top 10 solo tracks that has Sting, Andy or Stewart on them, “Money for Nothing” of course counts here (or less min. 2).

Please send ballot to: thepolicepoll AT gmail (please include your username).

Voting is open until Sunday, Nov 27th, 2022 Midnight Pacific Time Zone.

I wrestled with part three as I don’t really have any interest in the solo stuff and was going to ask the board if I should even bother. Decided, that if you are running an artist poll then you should go all in. I might even be able to come up with five tracks myself.

They broke up the year I was born but still were my favorite band as a kid. I listened to their CDs so many times. Even my Mom was like “uhh maybe you wanna try Billy Joel?” Nah. Fuck Billy Joel. Anyway I’ll be the guy voting a lot of the goofy album tracks but I will say I heard “Synchronicity II” at a grocery store last week and still think that’s the coolest fuckin tune

Doesn't really count for part three, but I had no idea Andy was the band director for Dennis Miller's first talk show. (Gig didn't last long. Leno apparently sabotaged Miller's shows, telling guests they couldn't be on his show if they appeared on Miller's first. When ratings tanked and retooling began, Andy apparently saw where this was going and abandoned ship.)

*Miller's show

I'm here to vote for the second side of GITM.

FWIW, I have a real soft spot for the Police. I was definitely aware of Sting growing up, but only through his ubiquitous TV presence (car commercials, etc.) I didn't know he was with the Police but recognized two or three of their songs that really appealed to me. It was a nice surprise when I found out he was in the group - it was almost like finding out McCartney was a Beatle, it really changed my impression of them.

Regarding part three, can we include stuff like "Red Rain" with Stewart on hi-hat?

Also, just to confirm, are covers excluded (like Johnny Cash's "Hung My Head")?

Here's an Andy Summers deep cut featuring Sting on bass. Sounds like a cross between ... well, it sounds like some of Sting's solo stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B4PN4xoiJQ

Speaking of guitarists gone solo, Stewart plays a lot of the drums on this forgotten Mike Rutherford solo album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa2QbwNsv1U

For any fans of "Driven to Tears," let me suggest this version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCH-OcHQOdo

Andy was very proud of his solo on this version, so even though the sound fidelity isn't the best, that solo is enough to lift it above the studio version for me.

I've got a list of 19 songs I can get behind from the five albums, should I bother to listen to the Flexible Strategies b-side comp to find one more? And what about the newly released "alternate sequence" of Ghost in the Machine?

is “lucid dreams” by juice wrld eligible for ballot three?

Regarding part three, can we include stuff like "Red Rain" with Stewart on hi-hat?

Also, just to confirm, are covers excluded (like Johnny Cash's "Hung My Head")?

Yes, when I say sole I'm of the mind anything that they're involved in.

Not inclined to have covers here tho if we want to discuss this here, I'm willing to change my mind on this part.

Nah, I think we're good without including covers.

This is weird. A Doors reunion, without Morrison obviously, but with Stewart Copeland adding his distinctive drumming...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t0VQzIRnOY

I. Burn. For. You.

I’ve always really likeed shadows in the rain it seems to describe the way I feel much of the time in life

I meant solo and not sole for what its worth

For those who think "Next To You" isn't new wave enough, there's always Klark Kent:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzFVRm6EwLg

hello i might do a ballot for this one, love those police boys

Forgot Sting was on Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill. Surprisingly great album, it's out-of-print but shouldn't be too hard to find. I found a used CD for about $15.

For your consideration in part 3 of the poll (Sting on bass):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJjTZtdZ5qg

is “lucid dreams” by juice wrld eligible for ballot three?

― comedy khadafi (voodoo chili), Thursday, November 10, 2022 1:36 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

this q was not a joke btw (well only half a joke)

Mad that I am not the first person to post the amazing "Don't Care" by Klark Kent in this thread

is “lucid dreams” by juice wrld eligible for ballot three?

― comedy khadafi (voodoo chili), Thursday, November 10, 2022 1:36 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

this q was not a joke btw (well only half a joke)

ok, make an argument for its inclusion

whole song is an interpolation of “shape of my heart” and sting is a credited writer

Mad that I am not the first person to post the amazing "Don't Care" by Klark Kent in this thread

on the subject of songs sampling the Police, I would like to campaign (if eligible) for Talib Kweli ft John Legend - "Around My Way" - chorus is a heavy sample of "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" verse and quite sublime imo. Don't know if it ends up with a writer's credit though

Regardless of how much you like the songs including samples - - why would you vote for something that the artist being polled had no intentionality or involvement in? Would you vote for "Can I Kick It?" in a VU/Lou Reed poll?

Hmm.

Chinchilla what do you think the value and purpose of these polls is? I mean it’s not like Sting is going to be giving an acceptance speech when the #1 song is revealed.

In other words, just trying to spread good music around

Voted! This one was fun to think about. My first stab at a shortlist gave me 21 songs, so it wasn't hard to winnow down.

honestly have zero clue what my top 10's gonna look like. I really like a lot of the wonkier songs on Reggatta which are barely tunes but feature really cool playing, like "Contact" and "Deathwish"

I'm not going to restrict anything here even if I do agree with Chinchilla Volapük.

So everything is opened up for you who wish to vote for samples in songs.

And don't forget King of Suede by Weird Al (credit: Sting, Yankovic).

what about Velvet Elvis

Sting's greatest performance as a solo artist is on Miles Davis's You're Under Arrest.

Voice [French Policeman] – Sting

what about Velvet Elvis

Sure, why not

tbc i'm not actually voting for any of these tracks. i participate in polls purely, just want to make sure all are aware of weird al's imo superior police parody

still like this sting appearance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNYwJP8Sfq4
eberhard schoener - why don't you answer?

actually andy and stewart were on that too iirc?

I might actively enjoy 10 solo tracks. At least half are Klark Kent.

what about Velvet Elvis

Better than Locked Out of Heaven.

I don't think I have the requisite ilm skilz to correctly vote in this poll, but Regatta de Blanc is (and forever shall be) my muthaflipping jam.

a nice eno-esque piece from the second album andy did w/ fripp:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ7TQZgcscM
Andy Summers / RObert Fripp - Bewitched

Forgot Oysterhead existed until now

have posted this before but andy plays on it and it absolutely smokes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_aAsg2UTZo
Eric Burdon & The Animals - Coloured Rain

^ middle three minutes is just one epic guitar blaze up, not sure if it's andy or the other guy?

copeland is the best cymbalist in rock music

the fill that opens “every little thing she does is magic” is my personal fav moment among many

"On Any Other Day" would be in my top 10 were it not for the homophobic lyric

"It's All Right for You" is still a banger imo

the fill that opens “every little thing she does is magic” is my personal fav moment among many

― comedy khadafi (voodoo chili)

and the one before the EEEYOHHHH part.

Love the coda to that song as well

A lot of Police songs, I often have trouble figuring out the drum parts. There is a lot of overdubbing, a lot of effects, stuff like that that clutter up the performance. Depending on the song really. But Copeland is so creative in how he puts it all together that it really doesn't matter if he has two arms or four or six.

copeland is the best cymbalist in rock music

Hell yeah. I voted for Peter Gabriel's "Red Rain" in category three - apparently they hired Copeland just to play the hi-hat. Like they spent the money and flew him out just for that, and it opens both the song and the whole album.

(his hi-hat that is, it opens the track all by its lonesome)

I recall reading once that one of the pitches Lanois made is that after a couple albums of no or few cymbals, what if Gabriel did an album that was *all* high-end bright, with an *emphasis* on cymbals. Manu Katche did a pretty good job capturing Copeland's splashy expressiveness, but with more discipline. Copeland if I recall correctly plays hi-hat on Red Rain and most of the drums on Big Time, but that's it.

I also voted for the “Red Rain” hi-hat. His Sonic signature. Also otm about the Every Little Thing intro.

I’m not gonna tip my hand or nothin but let’s just say that def left an impression on my ballot. just a preposterous talent, tho you can see why every now and then the songwriter might not want to compete…

I knew about Red Rain, as it was a huge influence

But must have forgotten - or that he was on Big Time! It's funky but it's played pretty straight. Frankly uncharacteristic - perhaps I just mentally blocked out the liner notes because it seems close to what Manu would have played.

Sorry about work Bee but glad I can submit a late ballot.

xpost It's honestly really hard to tell, because a lot of the tracks on So are a combination of Manu, Stewart, Jerry Marotta and drum machines/programming. Just an incredible production all around.

btw, am I the only one that always thought Jay-Z's "Can I Get a ..." sampled "Walking in Your Footsteps"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH8Ps8jeTrU

listening to Reggatta de Blanc tonight, it would appear Mr. Copeland is very nice at the hi-hats

god if I tried to play the Bring on the Night riff my head would probably explode

Using traditional grip, too.

hey is Reggatta de Blanc a play on “white reggae”? I had always wondered how the spelling mistake made it to production, it’s been staring me in the face the whole time.

yes it is

I have owned that record nearly 40 years and never twigged

I know that now, but at the time I thought it was something to do with a sailboat race

Before the “white reggae” thing clicked I used to think it was some kind of commentary on “white race.”

My earliest memory of the Police as a 6 or 7-year-old is that stark, glowering black and white image of them in their short blond hair and THE POLICE in big letters. A neighbour had a giant black sheet or towel of it hanging off his balcony. They looked like scary Nazis.

hey is Reggatta de Blanc a play on “white reggae”?

I'm gonna continue to think of it as not, I have always liked those first three album titles as conveying the feel of some made-up Esperanto-like language. I sort of wish they'd kept up with it and called the next album Fantomo Machinisto or something

My brother's review of the record for his college newspaper also said that the conventional title was evidence of a drop-off in quality.

lol. Trend of two.

30 years ago i asked a french-speaking friend what 'zenyatta mondatta' meant. without hesitation he responded 'high and mighty'

i think of this every single time i hear any song from the record

Very loosely translated, indeed

I thought it was zenyatta = zenith, mondatta = world? in like a combo of 3 different languages

Reggatta is such an obnoxious title since it's the only instance I can find of that extra "g" being in there. probably not a big deal in pre-internet times but still annoying when you gotta spell it in say, the iTunes search

I think it's just kind of made up.

I have to say I never knew that g was doubled

Outlandos d'Amour is the truly genius one IMO

"It means everything," he yelled back. "It's the same explanation that applies to the last two. It doesn’t have a specific meaning like ‘Police Brutality’ or ‘Police Arrest’, or anything predictable like that. Being vague it says a lot more. You can interpret it in a lot of different ways. It’s not an attempt to be mysterious, just syllables that sound good together, like the sound of a melody that has no words at all has a meaning."

https://web.archive.org/web/20030215094654/http://www.infinitedensity.net/music/copeland/Stingchronicity%20Interview%20Archive,%20Stewart%20Copeland%20interview,%20Musician's%20Only,%20Oct%201980.htm

I have had a very intense week at work, there was no way I could have run this thing this week. It's after hours now and thinking about what ahead a bit. Confirmation emails are next then...I'm stuck on images and can't figure out what I want this poll to look like. So instead, I'm going to throw it out there. Does anyone want to help out with images? If so email this box and we will talk. I'm terrible at these type of things anyways, so any help would be amazing!

Getting amped for this poll

Email confirmations have been sent, if you did not get a reply please resend your ballot.

Sent!

was just going through a pile of disco records and wow, there's a strong resemblance between this bohannon-produced caroline crawford tune and 'demolition man':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5FtxthqjnE

whoa youre not wrong ha (and i dig it)

Voted! Although I just realised I missed one of their best songs.

c'mon kp tell

I forgot to vote for Driven To Tears which should have been top ten.

i will re-listen thx!

Hello kitchen person, you may modify your ballot until you get the confirmation email which should be by tomorrow.

Only a few more hours to go...

Hello kitchen person, you may modify your ballot until you get the confirmation email which should be by tomorrow.

― Bee OK

Thanks Bee! Just sent it.

so Andy played all the parts on "Behind My Camel"? if so is he trying to imitate the way Stewart rides the hi-hat? kinda funny

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

i just came searching for something about that guitar figure in TMI. glad to find comments. damn i love that songs like, construction.