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

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)