Which is the Best Song on the Police Singles Compilation "Every Breath You Take: The Singles"?

man y'all are so lucky i fucked up the html on that opening post image.

but because i'm a sadist:

http://www.thedailyrash.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/sting_duck.jpg

a squished joel mchale

would've voted for DSSCTM if it was the original, went for roxanne instead

Without listening, I'd say it's between "King of Pain" and "Wrapped Around Your Finger".

xpost to Joel McHale comment: lol

as much as i like the Police and have been marinating in these songs since birth, i don't really have strong favorites. i could go for "Roxanne" or "Every Little Thing" or "Wrapped," it's all good really.

Is Synchronicity good?

(And to show I'm not totally partisan about the later stuff, I might have voted for "So Lonely" if it were on the list.)

yeah i'd probably vote for "So Lonely"

challops time: I adore the '86 version of "Don't Stand So Close to Me"

TTTHHHHE TEACHER
SSSO JEALOUSSSSS

As Charlie Brown said: I can't, I can't, I can't stand Lucy!

heh i woulda voted for "so lonely" too

Any of those Synchronicity side-twos.

where's "Tonight She Comes"?

and "New World Man"?

voted "Don't Stand So Close to Me" before realizing that there was a '86 there. is that version that different?

...and "Synchronicity II"?

it's the remix they recorded specifically for the compilation (with programmed drums because copeland had broken his collarbone)...pretty frightening apparition of the band they could've become if they'd continued into the late 80s imo

xpost

there are later CD era best-ofs that are more comprehensive, this is the first one that had to fit on 2 sides of vinyl

I remember reading that the band realized they hated each other after they spent weeks programming the synclavier in "Don't Stand So Close To Me '86."

First thought is "Can't Stand Losing You" - did the Police have any other songs that are so power pop?

"So Lonely" probably

Hm, weird, after listening to everything (except the ones I already know I dislike)), I might be leaning towards "Can't Stand Losing You". Most of the songs feel like they should end sooner for some reason, unless I'm just feeling impatient tonight.

"Invisible Sun" was the only song I didn't recognize instantly from the title. I might not have ever heard it before tonight!

"CAn't Stand Losing You" harmonies that come in on the end of the verses and carry into the chorus are really good.

every little thing

i was a notorious hater of the police among my peers back in the late 70s early 80s, finally came around a bit for synchronicity (probably because it was vaguely prog). don't really hate them at all now, but will never become a fan

Message in a Bottle...and it wasn't even a tough choice. LOVE that track.

"Message In A Bottle" for me too. Loved it so much I wrote a set of parody lyrics about the same time this compilation came out.

Either Don't Stand, Message or Every little thing.

the chorus of the '86 "Don't Stand So Close To Me" is kinda neat, but yeah I really do wonder what would have become of them had they stayed.

kinda weird that none of these are jumping out at me but "Wrapped Around Your Finger" is the one that really stands out to me right now

in the absence of "so lonely" i went with "message"

Man, no love for the Synchronicity singles, eh?

Tough call between Roxeanne and Wrapped for me.

Copeland's hi-hat work on Roxeanne is all time.

I like them. "Every Breath You Take" and "King of Pain" are probably my numbers two and three here.

xp

Wait so what's with the diff versions of don't stand? Can someone link youtubes or something? I'm confused.

I always wished this album included "So Lonely" and "Synchronicity II" but I guess they weren't monster hits. But "Invisible Sun" was?

the one you've probably heard a zillion times is the original, but on this album they did an "86" version which kinda languishes in 80's hell and cuts out Copeland completely

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1hVOz_NwXI

Yeah wtf is that? I have never heard that. woah.

sending out an sos

*copeland does crazy shit*

yeah, i resend my vote. that pretty much sucked all the life out of the song.

apparently the entire album was supposed to be like that, I kinda wished they'd have finished it
I mean if you like the Police you really should just get all 5 albums, so many people got by with like just this and Synchronicity and IMO that really kinda misses how great they were, get Reggatta de Blanc at least

The half-step down in the chorus of "Invisible Sun" is my shit. So sinister. <3

Voted that.

So is ANYONE gonna give "Walking on the Moon"' due props here?

does anyone else hear this strange, kinda astral "whirrrrrr" noise in the background of that tune? b/c I do

It's a great song, almost certainly the massivest, dubbiest baseline ever on a no 1 hit. I'm considering it alongside Message in a Bottle and Roxanne.

also the drumming is amazing, that's the pinnacle of white guy reggae drumming right there

decided to vote for "Roxanne" because i shudder to think of it doing poorly in the results

Man, the cassette of this album was a staple in people's cars all through high school, so I got to know every song -- even DSSCTM '86 -- intimately.

voted "Don't Stand So Close to Me" before realizing that there was a '86 there.

ditto

No Sue Lawley no credibility etc..

I actually like the '86 version a lot!

My mum had this on vinyl, I remember reading the lyric sheet as a kid and being weirded out by some of the imagery ("There's a king on a throne with his eyes torn out"?!). I don't think The Police ever made a great album but on the other hand a collection like this doesn't really do them justice. I tend to prefer the later singles these days but my overall favourite is 'Walking on the Moon', such amazing production.

"Walking on the Moon" slightly over "Message in a Bottle." Throw in "King of Pain," a pretty song with an awful title, and that's all I'd ever need from these folks.

Roxanne, Moon and Message are way better than everything else. I like the verses of Every Little Thing and Wrapped Around Your Finger, but not so much the choruses.

I don't think The Police ever made a great album but on the other hand a collection like this doesn't really do them justice.

this is otm, they're in kind of an awkward spot where none of the LPs is a top to bottom masterpiece but just the hits doesn't quite cut it, which i think might be rare for a band of their stature.

Elton John's another one.

in the days of C-90 comps Elton, Wings, and the Police were just MADE for assembling a cool mix of album tracks and B-sides for friends who'd never heard them.

"walking on the moon" love the atmosphere of it & the drum performance is incredible

but another vote that might have been for 'so lonely,' that song is a jam / dance party floor filler (w/ the right crowd)

'dont stand so close to me' is aite but the "that book by Nabokov" line always makes me lol

ah good call w/ Elton

in the '86 version he adds that "FAMOUS" book by Nah-buh-kov.

i remember seeing Sting (i think in the Police interview on Elvis Costello's show) talking about how much shit people give him about the Nabakov line and he's like it's not like it's supposed to be a good serious lyric!

either way it's preferable to the early incarnation of the verse in a rarely heard demo, "he'd like to pump her and dump her/ just like the big homie Humbert Humbert"

its not that its not good its that it takes you out of it

i mean, i guess thats like saying 'its not good' but ... its like hes expecting you to suspend disbelief that he didnt get a chance to ask someone or recall the name of the book in between writing the lyrics & recording the song just so that he could get a rhyme in ... its totally weird!

at least he never shoehorns liner notes like "based on a theme by Prokofiev" into a pop lyric.

Yeah agree... Never made a great great album but had so many deep cuts ('Bring On The Night' 'Does Everyone Stare' 'Close To You')...Went for 'Spirits'...love Copelands drumming and the 1980 Monserrat vibe...

well remember this is the luminary who thought ending each verse with "That's my soul up there" was a bright idea.

i mean, i guess thats like saying 'its not good' but ... its like hes expecting you to suspend disbelief that he didnt get a chance to ask someone or recall the name of the book in between writing the lyrics & recording the song just so that he could get a rhyme in ... its totally weird!

― D-40, Saturday, August 27, 2011 1:01 PM (25 seconds ago) Bookmark

it's not the art of pretend forgetfulness "ah what's the name of that book OK but it was by Nabakov" -- it's just an indirect reference, lots of those in any number of songs

anyway i agree that it kind of pierces the foreboding mood of the track but i mean he seemed to want people to know that that, or at least the goofiness of the line, was intended

i feel like saying 'that book by nabokov' rather than just 'lolita' has to be justified for at least one reason besides "i couldnt think of anything else to rhyme with"

have you heard any other Sting songs?

also pretty lol argument coming from a huge rap fan!

how bout "like the guilty man Raskolnikov"

ha im not saying this was his only clumsy lyric!

rap lyrics operate differently & there are plenty of times when a close reading takes me out of the mood of the song that can be distracting that i'll criticize !

yeah i agree, "rhyming for rhyming's sake" tends to come off worse in rock lyrics but it's still just kinda funny

if Sting ever starts posting to ilx we'd have to unlock the "unfinest display names" thread

I stan pretty hard for the Police but OTM that they were a C90 mixtape band.

Synchro II was my favorite off the last album, might've voted for that if it was on here. As it is I'm thinking "Every Little Thing..." which still intoxicates me and has most of the things I love about these guys in it (lemme take a moment to praise that snare sound!)

"Wrapped Around..." is tempting too though just cause it has that awesome fake mystic trip. I WILL turn your face to alabaster, don't make me.

also maybe lock the TMI board (xpost)

King of Pain > Message in a Bottle > Roxanne > ????

i feel like saying 'that book by nabokov' rather than just 'lolita' has to be justified for at least one reason besides "i couldnt think of anything else to rhyme with"

The only justification I can think of is that it sort of makes sense if you imagine that it's supposed to reflect a student's perspective. I just made that up though. I always found the line ridiculous.

hes the teacher!

Well, if it's supposed to be loose talk in the classroom.

guys there's a context in which you can say something like "that shark is like something out of that spielberg movie" that doesn't literally mean you can't remember the title of jaws

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5b/King_of_Suede_Cover.jpg

this is otm, they're in kind of an awkward spot where none of the LPs is a top to bottom masterpiece but just the hits doesn't quite cut it, which i think might be rare for a band of their stature.

No way! All their albums are worth owning. Besides Reggatta I don't think any of them are really amazing but there are so many great songs that weren't hits that I think it's best to just spring for the box set.

It still kind of sounds like a forced rhyme and an awkward reference that's trying too hard to call attention to itself.

xpost to some dude

yeah, it's not a good lyric, but the song is so good I think you can look past it

I realize that Sting got a little ridiculous lyrically on later albums but "Synchronicity II" and "Wrapped Around Your Finger" are pretty great in this regard, occassionally he could hit the mark

i had a cd comp in high school that was 'the best of sting & the police' so it also had the song about how he hopes the russians love their children & all-time classic 'englishman in new york' and fields of gold + a bunch of police hits

it also had a puffy remix of 'roxanne'

not joking

lol yeah i've heard that one and its terrible

"worth owning" and "not a top to bottom masterpiece" are not mutually exclusive in the slightest fyi

"Russians" is probably the worst set of lyrics ever penned.

tbh it's pretty stupid to mix Sting and the Police's hits, they're totally different and they each deserve their own comp

i was a sap for 'brand new day' & 'desert rose' when that dropped

true, but they go together about as well as any band and related solo act (xpost)

some dude - what I'm saying is I really don't agree with their reputation as a "singles" band, they're not in an "awkward spot" any more than Depeche Mode or Gary Numan or anyone else

but some dude also doesn't agree that they're a singles band

yeah "not amazing albums but have great non-hits" is basically a rephrasing of what i said pitched as a disagreement

ahhh yeah - sorry this thread is moving too fast

it's cool

btw here's the results of the Sting poll:

Englishman in New York – 4:27 6
Fields of Gold – 3:39 5
Fortress Around Your Heart – 4:36 5
Russians – 3:58 4
Fragile – 3:53 3
We'll Be Together – 3:51 2
They Dance Alone (Cueca Solo) – 7:10 2
If I Ever Lose My Faith in You – 4:31 2
All This Time – 4:55 2
Be Still My Beating Heart – 5:32 1
Why Should I Cry for You – 4:50 0
When We Dance – 5:59 0
If You Love Somebody Set Them Free – 4:15 0
This Cowboy Song – 5:00 0

FOUR people voted "Russians". wow

not sure if this is the most deadpan thread of all time or if... yall like the fucking police?

Yeah you gotta have the complete works box.

xpost we like the Police. OTOH I for one can't take a minute of solo Sting.

i'd love to do a "best Police B-side" poll but I don't know if enough people have heard them

If I Ever Lose My Faith in You – 4:31 2

this is worse than russians imo

that song is one of his best!!

Def not worse than Russians

i just hate the melody of it i guess

haha yeah i was thinking "damn that song shoulda won"

Interesting point, I'm trying to audio-visualize Russians as pure music... it's not so bad in that sense...

not sure if this is the most deadpan thread of all time or if... yall like the fucking police?

― some jock-bully out to take down the hipsters (history mayne), Saturday, August 27, 2011 1:37 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark

post ITT if u hate pigs

"not amazing albums but have great non-hits"

Police, Elton Johnn...

any more good examples?

i'd say that could be a thread of its own but the premise seems designed for every single act suggested to be eagerly refuted by somebody else

Tom Petty

i was a sap for 'brand new day' & 'desert rose' when that dropped

― D-40, Saturday, August 27, 2011 1:32 PM (58 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^^

xpost Rush in the 80s too

ah yeah Tom Petty good call

Voted "Every Little Thing." Ghost is my second-favorite album after Regatta. (Has it ever been ILM polled? I don't remember.)

Lest we forget, candles:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svWINSRhQU0&ob=av3e

Voted "King of Pain" in the end.

i got this through bmg or columbia house as a teenager in the late 80s and had always liked the police but never really thought about them, i guess. i distinctly remember making my bed and folding clothes while listening to the synchronicity hits and lol digging the 'i will turn your face to alabaster' line! which prompted me to listen harder to the rest, etc.

voted message in a bottle in a walk, tho

distinctly remember making my bed and folding clothes while listening to the synchronicity hits

how most music should be listened to

I have only come here seeking gnaw-LEE-idge

I thought this was gonna be a no-brainer vote for "Can't Stand Losing You" but I started thinking about "Roxanne", "Message In A Bottle" and "Invisible Sun" and now I'm totally lost

part of that may be because I am drinking Harpoon with mIo in it

king of pain, barely edging out the surprisingly sinister invisible sun.

worst sting solo song would be a much harder poll imo. so many choices.

worst Sting solo song is super easy ("Russians", if you don't pick this song you are just flat out wrong)

i will admit to liking the first sting album, apart from the random frolicking in the fields

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wSxmjpC1RaM/R6PB5NgUNdI/AAAAAAAAAGI/cjta_KXn3r8/s400/sting.bmp

hm. yeah, that's fair.

so second worst solo sting song would be a much harder poll imo. so many choices.

as disgusting as "We'll Be Together" sounds, it's not as gross as "Russians."

englishman in new york is also an unspeakable abomination.

with russians, at least, you have to fuck with prokofiev as well as sting

although that might be worse, dragging him in

There is no monopoly in common sense
On either side of the political fence

de doo doo doo de da da da

"de doo doo doo de da da da" is shakespearean compared to the lyrics to russians

"We'll Be Together" sounds great

"Englishman In New York" can be handwaved if you're feeling generous but it kind of is his 2nd-worst song

wait are we rating anything he's done in the last 20 years? because i have no idea after 'soul cages'

neither does he

also englishman in ny needs a little extra for its covers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSOINigFU2E

they dance alone; if i ever lose my faith in you; fields of gold; love is stronger than justice; all for love; when we dance; this cowboy song; brand new day.

terrible.

We did this last month. The Soul Cages produced his best singles: "All This Time" and the believably bitter "Why Should I Cry For You."

I must admit I love the 'new' Cant Stand So Close To Me. It sounds like the most '1986' thing I've ever heard.

First ten or twenty seconds of 'De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da' would win.

The Soul Cages is one of Kevin Smith's favourite albums. Very interesting.

Don't Stand, do'h

Englishman in ny is an A+++++ classic and I won't hear anything against it. The microphone fiend drum break! Branford's sax solo!

The weird 12" mix that became a reggae night staple!

nothing says "reggae night staple" like a sting solo song.

I never cared about solo Sting (or even got that intense about the Police tbh) but I've always thought "Englishman in New York" was a really good tune. I had no idea it was hated!

This is a good Sting song, rippin' off "The Long Black Veil":

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

Actually, I heard one of his John Dowland interpretations on the radio once and liked it. He did a nice vocal on "'Round Midnight" on Andy Summers' Monk tribute album too.

"Invisible Sun" gets my vote because it is flat out amazing

"nothing says "reggae night staple" like a sting solo song."

Don't ask me, it rlly is!

i'd love to do a "best Police B-side" poll but I don't know if enough people have heard them

― frogbs, Saturday, August 27, 2011 5:39 PM (Yesterday)

"Once Upon a Daydream" fyi

Generally a fan of the "Synchronicity" album, which has to deal with way too much critisism on ILM. "Every Breath You Take" was actually great (not as overplayed in Norway as in the UK), but their best moment remains "Wrapped Around Your Finger".

As for the 1986 DSSCTM, it is........ different, but I kinda like it. Perhaps because it was my first introduction to the song and I didn't hear the original until later. Mind you, I also liked the first three Sting albums.

i'm hearing "fragile" in my head and it doesn't sound half bad. voted ELTSDIM, love the dynamics and the chorus is sooooo euphoric

This is tough. I love half these tracks. Maybe "Walking on the Moon" or "Wrapped," slow and moody, given Andy some space to fill. Fave deep cut, btw, is "Bed's Too Big Without You." I want to say at least two more of the '86 remake songs from the proposed album are in circulation.

I like the second Sting album just fine. Third one, too. Then I can't take it anymore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlesUq8U7KM

Huh, looking back the other direction, a 1977 Sting solo demo of "Magic," which shows how horrible he could have been even back then without the other guys:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFZ7-fgmQqk

can't stand losing you

I should vote for one of those "cool" Police reggae songs but I voted "Don't Stand So Close to Me" without much thought.

Voted for 'Spirits', have always loved the guitar solo on that.

Sting basically left poor Andy no place to solo (and toward the end, pretty much no place for guitar, period - his [very good] book has lots of tales of squeezing in cool parts into Sting's otherwise totally complete demos).

One of my fave shows, actually, was Sting in the summer of '93, in Spain, in a bullfighting arena.

I just read the credits of my cassette copy of The Dream of the Blue Turtles and, well, Sting gets credit for the guitar playing (no one else).

Comp should have Fall Out on it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Av29Jp8Ryk

Andy is probably one of the most marginalized guitarists in a gtr-bass-drums combo in history, but he still made the most of his role w/ textural choices and seems pretty well respected for it.

surprised there arent more votes for 'walking on the moon'. evocative atmosphere, melody & some incredible drumming

alex lifeson has to be the most marginalized guitarist in gtr-bass-drums combo history right?

i think some songs like "Walking" and "Roxanne" are such established key songs that the relative lack of discussion/championing of them itt probably doesn't rule out them doing really well in the vote

ha balls i was about to start a thread on the subject and mention Lifeson as well

hmm roxanne was always a major song but i guess i never thought of walking on the moon as being any bigger than 'stand so close to me' or 'wrapped around your finger' or any of the other ones ppl are mentioning here

not 'bigger' per se (all the Synchronicity singles are probably technically their biggest hits) but the drums alone on "Walking" are so legendary that i feel like it's kind of a given as a standout track

ahh fair enough. well now that its mentioned im happy

(all the Synchronicity singles are probably technically their biggest hits)

"Every Breath You Take" is their biggest hit. I'd say "Message In a Bottle", "Walking On The Moon", "Don't Stand So Close To Me" and even perhaps "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" to be bigger than any of the other "Synchronicity" singles (save maybe for "Wrapped Around Your Finger")

xpost Andy is more marginalized than Lifeson (though neither is really marginalized). A guitar part like the one in "Every Breath You Take" is so perfect it's almost ... not invisible, but definitely subtle. Until you realize just how hard the part is to play, and then it totally leaps out and taunts you. Or, in Sting-speak, it ties you up and rapes you.

Andy's book is really worth a read, btw. Because of his age, he intersected with a lot of '60s rock icons at their most formative stages. Want to say he gives Eric Clapton his first guitar, for example. Bits of stories of him touring with Soft Machine and (hard to believe) the Animals.

"Every Breath You Take" went through all kinds of horrible cogs to arrive at its present state.

Yeah I enjoyed Andy's book. And I like his account of recording the "Every Breath" guitar line, how he immediately knew he'd made something indelible. I hadn't really thought about it much before reading that, because it's so much of a piece with the song that you almost don't notice it. But the whole song rides on it.

And I guess it's fair to call Andy marginalized, by guitar hero standards. But even as a 12-yr-old Police fan I knew how important the guitar was to their whole weird sonic thing. (When I picked up on Fripp and Adrian Belew a few years later, it gave me a sort of reference and context for what Andy was doing in the Police.)

ah good tip, i wanna check that book out now

enjoyed Copeland's super 8 doc of early Police tours, although it was obv very erratic and low budget

'every breath you take' chart peak: 1
'king of pain' chart peak: 3
'wrapped around yr finger' chart peak: 8
'synchronicity ii' chart peak: 16

'every little things she does is magic' chart peak: 3
'don't stand so close to me' chart peak: 10
'de do do do, de da da da' chart peak: 10
'message in a bottle' chart peak: 79
'walking on the moon' chart peak: did not chart
'roxanne' chart peak: 32

'roxanne' or 'every breath' is probably their biggest hit at this moment, i hear 'roxanne' alot more on classic rock/oldies stations but 'every breath you take' i hear on ac, comparable amount of plays for both on 80s stations. if i had to guess which is 3rd right now from current airplay i'd say three way battle between 'message in bottle', 'every little thing she does is magic', and 'wrapped around yr finger'. i hear 'walking on the moon' about as much as 'invisible sun' or slightly more than 'driven to tears' or 'canary in a coalmine', but my experience of hearing any of this group on the radio is pretty much tied to two stations so major outlier is possible here. in the uk where 'walking on the moon' hit #1 can totally picture it being a bigger recurrent hit than 'roxanne' (part of me wonders how much of this song's place in the firmament is due to eddie murphy) which didn't do that great in the uk iirc.

"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" narrowly over "Breath"

"King of Pain" is the biggest hit I never hear anymore.

same here! i heard it on the radio the other day and it was like hearing 'fall out' or something. sounded great truth be told, i always thought it was such a ludicrously clumsy song, i still nearly burst out laughing at every 'that's my soul up there'. i think i hear 'synchronicity i' more nevermind the big hits.

"synchronicity ii" you mean. That's definitely the biggest wtf omission from this. It's been added to later comps.

Tho not to this one...

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51gBaVn6fGL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

I love that cover, btw. The way "The Police" are reduced to three tiny guys perched on Sting's shoulder -- and one of the tiny guys is Sting, too!

"Synchronicity II" might possibly beat "So Lonely" for me if it were on this comp, actually.

Something about the vocals on "Synchronicity I" make me think a little of Yes, somehow.

"makes"

Yeah, it's proggy but manic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A154OavghI

no i meant 'synchronicity i'. i definitely hear 'synchronicity ii' more, but that's somewhat understandable - 'king of pain' was a bigger hit, but they were both big hits so it's not too bizarre. what's more indicative of how 'king of pain' has been reduced to an afterthought almost is that ime i hear 'synchronicity i' as much as it, and 'canary in a coalmine' or 'driven to tears' more. now this is just based on like two radio stations so small sample size but 'king of pain' was their second highest charting single, a huge enough hit that weird al parodied it, and now i doubt it's among their top ten songs played on radio. not suggesting there's any significance at all here, just curious.

I heard it in a grocery store the other day. Maybe it's just been consigned to Muzak.

INteresting how those first four - the four I love the most - all feature codas that are disproportionately long. Gonna go with "Roxanne", just 'cause it's still one of the most rhythmically tricky hit singles I've ever heard. Also the only one I distinctly remember hearing for the first time (mesmerised me, it did.)

'every breath you take' chart peak: 1

'king of pain' chart peak: 3
'wrapped around yr finger' chart peak: 8
'synchronicity ii' chart peak: 16

'every little things she does is magic' chart peak: 3
'don't stand so close to me' chart peak: 10
'de do do do, de da da da' chart peak: 10
'message in a bottle' chart peak: 79
'walking on the moon' chart peak: did not chart
'roxanne' chart peak: 32

"Message In a Bottle", "Walking On The Moon" and "Don't Stand So Close To Me" were all UK chart toppers. I find UK chart performance a more relevant criteria when talking about a UK band. But, sure, the "Synchronicity" singles were in a league of their own as far as US popularity went.

lyrics of "Synchronicity II" are fucking awful

Every Little Thing makes me jump up
And dance every time but I remember being absolutely stunned by the production and bassline on Walking On The Moon as a kid. I used to play my dad's copy over Nd over again and even sped up and looped the intro to that song in an early cut'n'paste scenario - probably years before I got into music at all.

xpost I want to say one of the (many) ways Stewart used to egg Sting on was by calling him Jon, as in Anderson.

"Walking On The Moon" forever.

Funny how I enjoy this album in full but any individual part seems too silly to reward with the crown. But my freshman year college roommate - who initially listened to "delilah" and budget classical tapes before discovering classic rock by senior year - said his favorite song of all time was "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" so I'm voting for that.

I seem to recall a reveal in the Def Leppard "Classics Albums: Hysteria" doc that "Love Hurts" basically rips off the guitar part from "Every Breath You Take."

"Love Bites," that is.

Or maybe it's "Hysteria" that rips off the Police?

"Hysteria" would make more sense

I had a college roommate who played this collection pretty frequently, so I got to know it well, even though I've never owned a Police album. My favorite would probably be either "Message in a Bottle" or "Walking on the Moon".

Funny to read the "Walking on the Moon" love. I know it was a Brit #1 but it's the Big Single I never heard at all growing up.

Yeah I've noticed that about "Hysteria" before.

I never saw what was so original about "Breath"s' guitar part myself - always just sounded to me like a variation on your standard doo-wop progression. Although maybe it was that vague familiarity that helped make it such a big hit.

Most of the songs feel like they should end sooner for some reason

This is actually one of the things I like about the Police -- thay sort of do violence to the notion of the perfect pop song by dicking/vamping around (e.g. the "it's a big enough umbrella" at the end of "every little thing") and somehow I buy it.

Surprised by how hard this was; I kind of like most all of this stuff but there's not really a song on here that I _love_. Like many others, I would have voted for "So Lonely" if it were on here. But if "So Lonely" and "Next To You" were both on it I would have voted for "Next To You."

I voted for "Message in a Bottle" because it does such a good job at the kind of vague uplift that Sting was so tragically unable to pull off in his solo career.

Comp should have Fall Out on it.

This is my favorite Police B-side by virtue of being the only one I know -- are there others this good?

VG: Uh, yeah. Of course, the biggest song of last year and a lot of people would say the biggest single of the decade so far was "Every Breath You Take". Of course, Sting wrote the song and it is a simple sort of fifties-sixties chord pattern. But, the guitar figure in there, if I am not mistaken and I know I am not because you have told me this once before, the guitar figure and the way it was formatted came from you and didn't that come from something you were working on out of Bartok and out of Fripp/Summers or something that was somehow changed or altered for that song?

AS: Yeah, in between finishing the album with Robert and then going on to record another Police album and thinking about doing another album with Robert. I was in various sessions with myself in the kitchen where I live playing into a tape recorder. I was working on one of those little riffs that we had done on the first album, which was sort of Bartok, "Painting and Dance" it was called.

this is called 'lick my love pump'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig7yqVQv5Mo

stretchy chords

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBPeS_7AZug

Yeah, basically the dude is just a monstrously talented jazz and classical guitarist who applied those chops to Sting's dopey songs, which resulted in really novel harmonic approaching to simple stuff, a nice contrast.

while Sting is the monster.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5mCksi7JYNw/STXwTMc9i7I/AAAAAAAAABE/y4jp-g448Fk/s400/sting+2.jpg

That's just adding a 9th to every chord in the I-vi-IV-V progression, isn't it? It's a nice touch and it works for the song but I'm just wondering if he explained what the connection to Bartok was.

Walking On The Moon belongs in the same category as UB40's Food For Thought as white reggae doen pretty well:

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

Half of UB40 were black fyi.

okay, "cod" reggae, for want of a better term.

Even that's a little unjust imo, I kind of think of them as contempories of other UK reggae bands like Steel Pulse or Aswad.

Maybe the Clash would be a better comparison if you're considering white dudes of that era playing reggae?

okay, "cod" reggae, for want of a better term.

― Sonny Chevrotain (dog latin), Tuesday, 30 August 2011 11:05 (26 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Demeaning to Cod, I reckons.

Yeah, Signing Off is just a great reggae album. No comparison with the Police imo.

A lot of people justifiably rushing to UB40's defence here, perhaps unnecessarily so, when "cod" and "white" reggae aren't pejorative terms in my vocabulary - just a slightly stilted Westernised version of the style: something I genuinely enjoy listening to if done well. I think "Food For Thought" has more in common with "Walking on The Moon" than any Steel Pulse stuff.

I see what you guys mean about UB40's early stuff being more in alignment with actual UK reggae acts than the Police, but they were also very much a pop/rock band with reggae influences from then on.

Anyway, I didn't want to read too much into Police vs UB40, just that those two tracks correlate in my head.

If anything, it's because "Walking On The Moon" is so convincingly reggae/dub compared to a lot of the other stuff the Police did did.

I know what you mean, because I was listening to the Specials' second album the other day, and the Beat's third, and I thought, well, is it "authentic?" No. But would a band from Jamaica ever do this? No.

Xpost The real hard part of "Every Breath" is, yes, the stretchy chords. Same with "Message in a Bottle" (plus speed and syncopation). Lots of physically hard to play parts. But I guess it's how he adds all the little harmonic filigrees - stacked fifths and stuff - combined with the use of effects that makes him such a great player (vs. say, the Edge, who is much more effect than technique). Plus, I think a lot of what sounds like synths in the Police is Summers as well. Basically, he's doing some really cool stuff without really ever being allowed to solo. (Though his solo on "Mother" is a direct nod to Fripp's solo on Eno's "Golden Hours").

Something "Bed's Too Big Without You" is totally dub-afied, but again, not close to anything you'd ever get from Jamaica. Which is what makes it a cool hybrid.

Yeah, I'm a big advocate for what you're talking about Josh. I am a huge reggae fan, but as I've mentioned a few times before (notably in the disco-reggae and 7 ages of bands threads), I get a perverse pleasure from rock and pop bands doing reggae. Normally this gets derided as "cod" or "pastiche", but seen as its own genre, on its own terms, a lot of it can be delightful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxrOkpr8xUg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO5VV5PISHU

The real hard part of "Every Breath" is, yes, the stretchy chords. Same with "Message in a Bottle" (plus speed and syncopation). Lots of physically hard to play parts. But I guess it's how he adds all the little harmonic filigrees - stacked fifths and stuff - combined with the use of effects that makes him such a great player (vs. say, the Edge, who is much more effect than technique). Plus, I think a lot of what sounds like synths in the Police is Summers as well. Basically, he's doing some really cool stuff without really ever being allowed to solo. (Though his solo on "Mother" is a direct nod to Fripp's solo on Eno's "Golden Hours").

I'm not denying any of that. As a Bartok fan, I was really curious what the connection was, though.

I voted for "Message in a Bottle" because it does such a good job at the kind of vague uplift that Sting was so tragically unable to pull off in his solo career.

"vague uplift"? What do you mean by this? I think "Message In A Bottle" is one of the most devastatingly depressing singles they ever did.

Dan, Sting wasn't really stuck on an island when he wrote that.

ohhhhhhhhhhh

Cod-Islander

Sending out a vague note taped to my living room window.

Here's to the good old Police
The band of the reggae that's cod.
Where Copelands speak only to Summers.
And Stings speak only to God.

also, "Walking on the Moon" matches the rhythm you can see on the film of guys walking on the moon.

"Fields of Gold" moves like the stately meandering of wind across a field of barley.

Walking In Your Footsteps feels like you've just trodden in dinosaur poop.

Where does the term "cod" come from, to mean inauthentic or pastiching? I only really see it appended to "reggae".

It's kind of apt though. If proper reggae is fish'n'chips, that's lovely - but sometimes you can't beat a fishfinger sandwich, even though you know it's a bit shit.

Codpiece, prob.

cod & hake = fake

Also:

What does "cod reggae" have to do with fish, anyway?

xpost Got me on the Bartok! I know Fripp was big into the Bartok, too, but I don't know enough about him to explain how the stuff he did found its way to Fripp and Summers.

Contrapuntal stuff? Anyway, maybe you can discern what he was talking about here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Oob9spB25U

Oh, it makes a little more sense if the Bartok connection was with Fripp/Summers rather than with "Every Breath You Take".

If you dig up that "Painting and Dance" track you can hear the connection between the bunch - Summers, Fripp, Bartok, "Every Breath You Take" - more clearly.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I think "Message In A Bottle" is one of the most devastatingly depressing singles they ever did.

truly interested in where you get this, i take it as pretty straighforward "everybody else feels just like you, chin up bro"

Everybody else feels just like you
(that's my soul up there, bro)

it's no use, he sees her, he starts to shake and cough, bro
just like the consumptive early 20th century Canadian lady in that book by Alice Munro

"Does everyone feel the way you do...?
(oh yeh yeh yeh yeh yeh yeh)
I only feel this way it's true
(woh no no no no no no)"

the brolice

truly interested in where you get this, i take it as pretty straighforward "everybody else feels just like you, chin up bro"

Dude is a metaphorical castaway, right? Desperately flinging a message out to reach/connect with someone, to end his isolation and integrate with others... and at the end of the song, he sees everyone he is trying to reach is as desperate and isolated as he is. There's nothing to actually integrate with, just a bunch of isolated, lonely people looking for someone to assuage them, with no sign or indication of anyone out there capable of actually doing the assuaging. It doesn't come across to me at all as "everybody else feels just like you, chin up bro"; it's way more "everybody else is just as fucked as you, here is my recommendation for effective razorblades" (buoyed by the middle verse where the love being sought is acknowledged as the cause of dude's torment and misery).

I think it could make sense both ways. On the one hand, he sends out an SOS and all he gets is a hundred million other desperate messages. On the other, the fact that he's not alone in being alone does offer a certain kind of connection/community/shared experience.

It's about twitter, basically.

the closing "sending out an SOS" refrain that closes the song is catchy but doesn't feel very 'uplifting' to me

Yeah, that coda does seem to negate hope.

Mark G: Ha.

in honor of this poll, I listened last night to Ghost in the Machine (okay to pretty good) and Dream of the Blue Turtles (I couldn't make it past the third track).

id say its hopeful but not optimistic

the closing "sending out an SOS" refrain that closes the song is catchy but doesn't feel very 'uplifting' to me

Better:

"Kinda LOL but mostly sad..
Kinda LOL but mostly sad..
Kinda LOL but mostly sad..
Kinda LOL but mostly sad..
..."

I think it starts out hopeful and becomes increasingly fatalistic as the song goes along

xp: okay ha

You guys do realise you're giving serious consideration to Sting lyrics here right?

Sting is not always a terrible lyricist

well okay, Sting BACK THEN was not always a terrible lyricist

Yeah I'm not sure he gets really embarrassing until Zenyatta -- with rising levels of cringe from there on out.

For me, up through Ghost, there are cringey lyrics but it doesn't matter cause the music and affect just fuckin' sells them. On about half of Synchronicity it can't sell them anymore.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

correct

"De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" – 4:06 2

oh come on now.

^^^^

pretty poor showing for "Wrapped Around Your Finger"

THERE'S A LITTLE BLACK SPOT ON THE SUN TO-DAY

poor choking skeletonne ;_;

holy shit Sting is releasing a 3CD+DVD $100+ box set of his "greatest hits" **head explodes**

Where can I get a comically large pair of glasses like what Sting wears in the “Can’t Stand Losing You” video?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH0vjLwMyc4

I wish they had put out Greatest Hits in the U.S. instead of Every Breath You Take: The Singles. Amusingly, Greatest Hits is actually the more complete and accurate representation of their singles.

Yeah The Singles is probably the first hits compilation I bought that was missing songs I was expecting to be there (though certainly not the last). "So Lonely", "Canary in a Coalmine", and "Synchronicity II" were all played on my local station. The latter is probably my favorite Police song, to boot

I'd rank it second to "Roxanne", so yes, it's a big omission.
The redone "Don't Stand So Close to Me" is better than "Fame '90" but nowhere near as good as the remixed and resung "Wuthering Heights".

Yeah the inclusions of “so lonely” and “synchronicity ii” are crucial

conversely, I've never heard "Invisible Sun" anywhere except when listening to that album!

I love how you can hear bits and pieces of what Sting may have internalized and recombined into "Every Breath You Take":

The groove

The vocal melody (from Greil Marcus's "Ask Greil" per Robert Mitchell)