The Police: A Forgotten Band?

Ok, but I do.

 

I'll pass...

 

Thought you might.

 

... mm...

 

I'm late into discussion and will only add this: The Police were a good band to me, not exceptional, with some seriously catchy and well-written tunes. The best renditions of Police deep cuts are on Sting's "Bring on the Night" LP in my opinion - of those, the original studio recordings can't hold a candle to those later live cuts made by one single original band member, so that should say something.

I listen to their stuff on Spotify - they really are a band of which I don't need any physical copy. Typical radio band for me - too polished for punk, too MOR to be considered representative of any genre in particular. They don't bother me but I probably wouldn't miss their music if it didn't receive any more airplay.

 

I guess I'm not the only one who feels annoyed when someone posts a vague opinion and then won't attempt to explain it!

"Sting did to the Police what Phil did to Genesis!"

"What does that mean?"

"Oh, I can't be bothered to tell you!"

 

Sting, who?

 

I'm late to this thread as well but I'll chime in. I think this thread poses a legit question. I've noticed it too. The Police were at one time a very well respected band and deservedly so. But now they are viewed as some kind of commercial sell-out band. I don't think that's fair at all. Imo Sting's solo career has painted The Police with that brush. Sting is viewed more and more as an easy listening sell out so people assume The Police were the same. Btw, Sting's first 2 solo albums are pretty great but it was after that where he didn't seem to care as much and started releasing crap albums.

 

Sting just became unbearable at some point with his nude photography, his tantric sex, his lute, his awful facial hair evolutions, his reading of classic poetry... It’s hard to like a guy that comes across as that deeply narcissist for too long.

I think The Soul Cages was his solo peak, a very nice sounding record on reconciling his father’s death. That’s probably the closest thing we’ll get to emotional honesty. His follow up to that was also good. Everything after that got progressively less enjoyable.

Now he seems keen to rehash his material. He’s just a very hard personality to like at this point and it kind of poisons the well for all related works.

 

Sting would probably ask you to stop building these fortresses around your heart.

 

I quite like much of the Police's music as well as Sting's. Not all in either case, but much of it.

 

Even though I think you're a great poster @DrJ I gotta take issue with your assertion that The Police had more ska influence than reggae. The reggae was much, much more prevalent in my opinion. In fact, I don't think they even played a lick of ska until Zenyattà Mondatta, most obviously on the tracks "Canary In A Coalmine" and "Man In A Suitcase" and then on "Spirits In The Material World" from Ghost In The Machine. Now I will admit I am very adamant about the differences between ska, rocksteady and reggae while many people may not know the difference. It's hard to describe online, but basically there's a different emphasis But I just wanted to point this out. The early Police tracks like "Roxanne", "Can't Stand Losing You", "So Lonely" and others are reggae based, not ska.

If one wants to hear the difference between ska and reggae, use The Wailing Wailers "One Love" from 1965 and Bob Marley & The Wailers "One Love/People Get Ready" from 1977. The differences will become quite apparent.

I will post these songs in my next two posts to demonstrate.

 

The Wailing Wailers "One Love"

 

Bob Marley & The Wailers "One Love / People Get Ready"

 

We can agree to disagree! I think it's a continuum between reggae and ska anyway and especially when filtered through the other influences the Police incorporated, not black and white.

Of the 3 early tracks you mention only "So Lonely" has both the kind of syncopation (especially the heavy drum accent on the third beat of every measure) and slower pacing/tempo (at least in the verses - not the chorus!) that I associate strongly with reggae. "Walking On the Moon" from the 2nd album is another very obvious example.

"Can't Stand Losing You" has accents on the 2 and 4, and while a lot of ska has even accents four beats to the measure (often on the "ands" between the beats - like "One Love" as you posted), not ALL ska has that accenting pattern, sometimes it's 2 and 4. Think of Desmond Dekker's "You Can Get It If you Really Want It" - which most folks would classify as ska - very similar vibe to "Can't Stand Losing You," accents on the 2 and the 4.

It's interesting to really think about "Roxanne" and "Can't Stand Losing You," I think in some ways Copeland played some kind of hybrid beat - between ska and reggae (or maybe ska overlaying reggae), or not quite either but flirting with both. They don't fit neatly into either category to my ears, when you really break down the accents and feel.

And FWIW in my post I was thinking more of the later Police, from ZENYATTA on.

Anyway it's cool, I think it all boils down to classifications only being rules of thumb with music and not rigid - especially with categories like reggae and ska which have overlap and for which there are no clearcut boundaries and when we're dealing with a band that mixed up a whole slew of influences - and I respect your opinion.

 

People like to blame Sting's ego for demise but Stewart is equally at fault (poor Andy stuck in the middle).

Shame they didn't just write all the songs together and split royalties like many bands do.

 

That is what I would call an album band, as well as a quite brilliant singles band.

 

Another way to consider how relevant they are in people's minds nowadays would be to establish what the sales are like for the box set, compared to say, recent ones by bowie and kate bush...does anyone know where we would get those figures for the first few months sales?

 

I'm not sure of the sales figures, but I barely scraped in a copy of last year's boxset, which became scarce within a few months. Apparently the popularity of this 'forgotten' band was underestimated.

The Police were the first band I got into as a teenager, so their albums were played to death, and they still haven't lost their shine although I rarely listen to them these days. I liked that they had very little in the way of filler, and in retrospect perhaps it's good they went out on a high. I saw them during the 2007 anniversary concert and was not disappointed.

I followed Sting's first few albums until he drifted into banality. His obnoxiousness and self - importance never bothered me as I'm OK separating the art from the artist.

 

What boxed set? A vinyl affair?

 

Yes. Comparing the recent vinyl box set sales 1 to 1.

 

Can’t agree. His first 2 and Bring On The Night kept the standards but then he made it clear he needed a good editor. Yawn....

 

That's a good trait to have.

 

My attitude is rather that if one doesn't have plenty of time for weird sex stuff, one's priorities are f-ed.

 

I first saw Sting in Quadrophenia and thought he was great;

I then heard the hits on the radio and didn’t immediately hit the next pre set;

I next found myself picking up my best friend’s Zenyatta and Ghost cassettes he left laying on the ground in his bedroom, looking at them and hearing him say “There is one or two good songs on each one and that’s it;”

Finally, I watched and listened to Synchronicity duke it out with Thriller for lunchtime boom box rule at my high school and deciding I had no dog in that fight.