OP10 - Police

he deserves it!

None of them as excellent as "They Dance Alone" though...

TPL gets to the corporate best of for The Police, as opposed to their actual best: http://nobilliards.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/the-police-every-breath-you-take-singles.html

Love when Copeland comes in on “spirits .” Like he’s saying to summers and stink “ok guys, now we’re playing in this groove instead - better get with it”

it's one of my very favorite police songs, and when he finally comes in with the backbeat is an amazing moment. don't short his incredible hi-hat groove during the verses tho.

*shortchange

i started to listen to ghost in the machine off soto’s 1981 p+j list. ive never listened to it on dece phones with attention. first song is spirits and i quickly realized that outside the chorus i could absolutely NOT figure out wtf was happening. so i kept replaying bits and i am still baffled. i went looking on ilm just to see if it was just me. tbf without the guitar and bass there i’m not sure what i could do

what in particular is baffling?

i think i'm just too unaware of how drumming works or musically disabled ha. the decent rip i'm listening to really presents the bass drum clearly in the mix, and instrumentation is clearer than when i hear this on the radio or wherever. So when i hear this now, the bass drum seems v irregular, sometimes it's a single kick or a double maybe? but it never feels aligned or consistent with the spaces i expect to be in, then the chorus begins and that clean snare and everything lines up and then...back to me not being able to sort where we are, then chorus again and...ok i get this.

perhaps the reason why the bass drum seems irregular is that it comes in on the 2's and 4's during the verse, instead of the 1's and 3's as it does in many thousands of other rock songs.

and copeland alternates in a fast pedal pattern that lines up with sting's skittering bass part

Yeah the accents in the verse are the opposite of the accents in the chorus, and the first snare of the chorus is the point at which it changes (which is why it sounds both offbeat and awesome)

I’ll be honest with you I usually don’t check what thread I’m posting in

there is only one thread, i'm on the same page. literally

if you keep walking in a circle you'll find yourself back where you started anyway. just pick a direction and go

‘King Of Pain’ needs more love...in fact The Police need more love...don’t defund The Police

I think what they have should last them a while.

anyways if I had to OP10 it might be

Can't Stand Losing You
Message in a Bottle
It's Alright for You
On Any Other Day
Does Everyone Stare
Canary in a Coalmine
De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
Spirits in the Material World
Synchronicity II
Every Breath You Take

good list, props on including 'does everyone stare.' i think 'can't stand losing you' is my opo.

BTW Copeland wrote "Does Everyone Stare" in 1973 for a music composition class; the teacher downgraded it for having parallel fifths in three places.

He is a dorkwad and a goofball, and sometimes I get annoyed with him. But I think his songs are underrated (while his playing is almost universally praised).

And now I'm looking at that list and wondering why I have "Every Breath You Take" instead of "Roxanne."

Regatta de Blanc has a lot of awesome deep cuts on it

always appreciated how cool this band sounded, especially in the Regatta/Zenyatta period. even the crap songs sounded great

Agreed, the whole Regatta de Blanc album is slammin. "It's Alright for You" is not a masterpiece of songwriting but its energy is infectious. Not an ounce of fat on it.

totally agreed on Copeland, I think his tunes were pretty great....Does Everyone Stare, Bombs Away, Rehumanize Yourself, even Miss Gredenko, he has this knack for super catchy songwriting

the stuff he did as Klark Kent is a bit underproduced (and Copeland ain't exactly the best singer) but I think of it as being like a 6th Police album, its closer to their sound than anything Sting did.

if you're interested he did an album under the name Gizmodrome which was pretty good, featuring Adrian Belew of all people, though he doesn't actually sing much on the album for some reason. their live shows featured a lot of Police/80s Crimson material. a live album by them would be awesome but for some reason they never released one.

I saw Oysterhead live once, and even his playing wasn't enough to make up for that insufferable shit.

ctrl-f "Voices Inside My Head" - 1 result

smdh

It's kind of amazing how many Police songs, like that one, were clearly the product of jamming, and barely made it past that point. The difference is that that one, unlike, say, a lot of the stuff on Ghost in the Machine, is actually pretty effective.

I'll take the entire first album, swap out "Be My Girl/Sally" and "Peanuts" for "Message in a Bottle" and "Walking on the Moon" and I'm good.

The second side of GITM is my favorite Police: "Omegaman," "Rehumanize Yourself," "Darkness," etc.

iirc Trey's stuff is pretty good, it's Claypool who really amps up the obnoxious factor

Well as we’re doing this...

Darkness
Bring on the night
Roxanne
Spirits In The Material World
Every Little Thing
Roxanne
Don’t Stand So Close
Bed’s Too Big Without You
King Of Pain
Next To You

Honourable mention for the two tracks on the ‘Brimstone And Treacle’ soundtrack’I Burn For You’ and ‘Only You’

I like that list too! OP10 is a challenge here.

(sonnyboy, hate to tell you this but you have Roxanne twice)

agree on:

Bring on the Night
Roxanne
Don’t Stand So Close
King Of Pain
Bed’s Too Big Without You

Next to You is cool but overlaps with Canary in a Coal Mine, So Lonely, and numerous other uptempo raveups. Every Little Thing, meh

Whoops...ok add in ‘Does Everyone Stare’...’Next To You’ is such great opening track...Been on a major ‘Police’ jag lately...’Ghost In The Machine’ much better than I remember it esp side 2

Every Little Thing is a great pop song...

(sonnyboy, hate to tell you this but you have Roxanne twice)

now you understand the peril of listmaking

avoiding all the hits here

Truth Hits Everybody
Reggatta De Blanc
Deathwish
Contact
Low Life
Voices Inside My Head
Canary in a Coalmine
Rehumanize Yourself
Omegaman
I Burn For You

clearly the product of jamming

Regatta de Blanc and, I suspect, When the World is Running Down fall into this category

lol @ Alfred

Darkness
Invisible Sun
Bring On The Night
Canary In A Coal Mine
Wrapped Around Your Finger
Spirits In The Material World
Every Breath You Take
Message In A Bottle
Synchronicity II
Contact

Oh dang, "Contact" is awesome! How did I miss that one?

The hits are so good that the album tracks get largely overshadowed:

Message in a Bottle
King of Pain
So Lonely
Invisible Sun
Synchronicity II
Walking on the Moon
Every Breath You Take
Roxanne
Omegaman
It’s Alright For You

relistening to Ghost in the Machine today, I think this is probably their most solid album? "Rehumanize Yourself" is such a great tune

cant believe I used to think these lyrics were deep at one point, LOL

great job with that sax Sting. you nailed it!!!

"Ghost" could indeed possibly be their most "solid" album in the sense that it's pretty consistent, this despite the fact that ironically much of it is clearly filler. But at least it's well-performed, entertainingly jammy consistent filler, and maybe it helps that fwiw the deep cuts on this one literally get stuck at the very end (and the hits/singles foregrounded at the start), which makes said jammy filler in a lot of ways the focus of the album.

I’ve always been partial to Regatta tho I would be hard-pressed to argue it’s their best album

Idk if they ever made a 10/10 album, tbh. tho a list of their 20 best songs could stand up to any band’s

The Police have been my lockdown reappraisal project...being the first band I ever got into I hadn’t really listened to them in nearly 40 years!!!...they were superb...fuck the haterz...I have a real soft spot for the first 2 albums...‘Regatta De Blanc’ prolly has better songwriting but ‘Outlandos’ has a great energy...’Zenyatta’ hasn’t aged well imo but has some great moments...’Ghost’ is the one that surprised me the most...Didn’t listen so much to it when it came out( I’d put away childish things by this point) but the 2nd side is much better than I remember it...I remember thinking it didn’t sound as Police-y as before but realise that they’d changed things up a bit (Hugh Padgham?)...‘Synchronicity’ is a bit patchy but I still love ‘King Of Pain’...White Reggae rulez!!!

Regatta for me forevs.

Alphabetically:

Bring on the Night
Demolition Man
Does Everyone Stare
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
I Burn for You
Man in a Suitcase
Synchronicity II
Truth Hits Everybody
Walking on the Moon
When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIJkRhd1CTY

Can I buy Stew a beer? Love this

It was really good I thought, self deprecating and entertainingly self aggrandising in appropriate measures. Generous to Sting and Andy in ways I didn’t expect.

lotta discusson about it on this thread:

The Police: Classic or Dud, Search and Destroy

I liked it a lot too, yes he's kind of obnoxious but he's also a guy who's earned the right to be. plus I do think he's kinda funny

wish they'd talked about his non-Police stuff more but oh well

Frogbs, you may be interested in his memoir, which is like 60% non-Police. All the eclectic post-Police middle-eastern ensemble material is covered in rich detail. Plus? Polo. So much detail about polo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgSt06JAk0A

(That’s my soul up there)