Just about the best mother fucking thing from 1983. Beware. I don't care if John D. jumps on my ass. I really don't care. I'll willingly take a beating for this record.
― Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You, Sunday, 10 August 2008 02:13 (fifteen years ago) link
There's a little black spot on the sun today.
― Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You, Sunday, 10 August 2008 02:15 (fifteen years ago) link
something i remember: sitting in 8th grade art class and telling john crichton (who wasn't a particular friend of mine, just the kid sitting next to me) that synchronicity was coming out the next day. he looked at me and said "so what?" i said something like the police were the best band in the world and he just kind of shook his head.
in retrospect i think it's the least of the police, but that's a relative measure and i'll defend most of it on one ground or another.
― tipsy mothra, Sunday, 10 August 2008 02:42 (fifteen years ago) link
(but it's not the best thing from '83, even if i thought so then)
― tipsy mothra, Sunday, 10 August 2008 02:43 (fifteen years ago) link
KING OF PAIN
― Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You, Sunday, 10 August 2008 18:33 (fifteen years ago) link
Listen to the fucking BASS on that!
"Synchronicity I" is pretty underrated.. and I still love "Oh My God" and "Tea In The Sahara."
― billstevejim, Sunday, 10 August 2008 18:46 (fifteen years ago) link
and then there's 'mother'
― mookieproof, Sunday, 10 August 2008 19:15 (fifteen years ago) link
yup..
"Mother" adds character. Police albums aren't complete without at least 1 huge WTF moment.
― billstevejim, Sunday, 10 August 2008 19:19 (fifteen years ago) link
And I like that "Mother" is in 7/8.
many miles away there's a shadow on the door of a cottage on the shore of a dark scottish lake many miles away
― kamerad, Sunday, 10 August 2008 21:39 (fifteen years ago) link
oh scottish monster please listen don't devour me
― mookieproof, Sunday, 10 August 2008 22:08 (fifteen years ago) link
I WILL LISTEN HARD TO YOUR TUITION
― Mr. Snrub, Sunday, 10 August 2008 22:15 (fifteen years ago) link
ska horseshit is horseshit
― Poliopolice, Tuesday, 12 February 2013 01:16 (eleven years ago) link
I know they get no respect these days but I still feel - walking on the moon - if it comes on in public. I love the double snare hit near the end and the subsequent hi hat solo of sorts
― calstars, Wednesday, 19 April 2017 20:22 (seven years ago) link
Cool Copeland and Summers bits more than make up for even the band's worst moments.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 19 April 2017 20:40 (seven years ago) link
even sting's depths in to wretched irrelevance and this photo
http://https%3A//pbs.twimg.com/media/BNnKXTeCIAAohZo.jpg
cannot destroy how good the Police are
― akm, Wednesday, 19 April 2017 21:47 (seven years ago) link
bah https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BNnKXTeCIAAohZo.jpg
― akm, Wednesday, 19 April 2017 21:48 (seven years ago) link
The horror
― calstars, Wednesday, 19 April 2017 21:50 (seven years ago) link
Sting in bringing the tantric lute jams SHOCKAH!
― to fly across the city and find Aerosmith's car (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 19 April 2017 22:20 (seven years ago) link
Let "Tantric lute jams" never again be spoken of on ilx
― calstars, Wednesday, 19 April 2017 22:59 (seven years ago) link
fuck tha Police
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 19 April 2017 23:02 (seven years ago) link
My favorite Sting and Police. No "Russians," sadly.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 20 April 2017 13:51 (seven years ago) link
i absolutely love everything about the police except the words. sometimes I just want to pitch a tent in their sound.
― iris marduk (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 20 April 2017 15:11 (seven years ago) link
when I get that urge I usually just listen to I Advance Masked
― sleeve, Thursday, 20 April 2017 15:14 (seven years ago) link
love that record, so joyfully underachieving
― iris marduk (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 20 April 2017 15:22 (seven years ago) link
best Fripp solo ever on the title track, imo
― sleeve, Thursday, 20 April 2017 15:23 (seven years ago) link
The guitar solo on Mother is almost note-for-note an echo of Fripps guitar solo on Enos Golden Hours.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 20 April 2017 15:32 (seven years ago) link
/ darkness / is good! Double tracked hi-hats in stereo
― calstars, Thursday, 20 April 2017 16:19 (seven years ago) link
indeed. their 4-disc boxset is great from start to finish, plus its great to get to hear their progression from one year to the next. there's almost something Beatles-like there, the way they evolved so quickly over only 6 or 7 years. even the minor songs have awesome moments on them - that neat little guitar lick on "Contact" during the chorus, for example.
― frogbs, Thursday, 20 April 2017 16:25 (seven years ago) link
i absolutely love everything about the police except the wordsi
...and even when the words finally fucking stop they go so hard on the dey-yo-yo-yos
― del esdischado (NickB), Thursday, 20 April 2017 17:19 (seven years ago) link
been hitting 'shadows in the rain' a lot lately, lyrics are actually okay on that
― del esdischado (NickB), Thursday, 20 April 2017 17:23 (seven years ago) link
don't listen to zenyatta much but voices / shadows / camel / stopping are all gold
― del esdichado (NickB), Thursday, 20 April 2017 17:26 (seven years ago) link
I see your yoga lute and raise you one chessboard.
http://imgur.com/a/JSmQa
― dinnerboat, Thursday, 20 April 2017 18:33 (seven years ago) link
― dinnerboat, Thursday, 20 April 2017 18:35 (seven years ago) link
just the way copeland hits a snare. why does a simple backbeat from him make me jump around so bad? (NB i have read several articles explaining why but there is still a mystery at the core of it IMO)
― iris marduk (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 20 April 2017 19:04 (seven years ago) link
XP oh hell no
― calstars, Thursday, 20 April 2017 19:46 (seven years ago) link
Is there a Stink / Police song that uses a chess metaphor? I'm sure there is but I can't remember
― calstars, Thursday, 20 April 2017 19:47 (seven years ago) link
Jon, totally agree. Tight and tasty
― calstars, Thursday, 20 April 2017 19:52 (seven years ago) link
I read that he had his snare head cranked so tight they had to beef it up with tons of fx, 1980s or no.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 20 April 2017 19:56 (seven years ago) link
Yes that's part of it, he tightened them til they were on the verge of failure
― iris marduk (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 20 April 2017 20:08 (seven years ago) link
"The guitar solo on Mother is almost note-for-note an echo of Fripps guitar solo on Enos Golden Hours."
yeah it's a complete lift of it. I love that.
I Advance Masked is really good, better than Bewitched certainly.
I don't have a problem with 99% of the Police's lyrics.
― akm, Thursday, 20 April 2017 20:17 (seven years ago) link
what the hell is going on with those pictures, they look like the cover of a CD-ROM circa 1996
― frogbs, Thursday, 20 April 2017 20:23 (seven years ago) link
Man, those pix with the lute etc are f-ing hilarious! Stinks' pretence and lack of reality checks is nearly unparalleled.
― VyrnaKnowlIsAHeadbanger, Friday, 21 April 2017 12:52 (seven years ago) link
blame david lynch imo
― mark s, Friday, 21 April 2017 13:34 (seven years ago) link
Not all the lyrics are terrible, but even when they are the rhythms and soundscapes mostly make up for it. (And don't forget Sting's playing as a key part of the sound -- don't throw the bass out with the bathos.)
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Friday, 21 April 2017 13:51 (seven years ago) link
cheery finns, huge lutes, upturned tables: https://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/wikla/Kuva_arkisto/Nordmaling2001/100-0086_IMG.JPG
― mark s, Friday, 21 April 2017 14:03 (seven years ago) link
Sting's Police lyrics are a strange contrast of hyper pretentious and totally stupid. I could have sworn when they reunited that they retroactively claimed the dumb rhymes were on purpose, but I have my doubts.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 21 April 2017 14:26 (seven years ago) link
That said, musicianship, including Sting, is so across-the-board great. I love how even at their most indulgent and overproduced and overdubbed, they rarely sound like more than three guys in a room. Even though there are all sorts of little nuances and stuff added and tweaked and embellished.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 21 April 2017 14:28 (seven years ago) link
Like, songs with three or four guitar parts that are so subtle and well arranged that it sounds almost just like one guitar. Until you pay close attention.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 21 April 2017 14:29 (seven years ago) link