The Police

I had a whole page of full Police reviews, but they weren't that great, so I trimmed them down to a couple of bitter lines each (I can't be bothered spending too many words on one of the more overrated bands out there). Enjoy.

Outlandos d'Amour

(1978)
Too unconvincing to be a good punk album and too simplistic to be a good pop album despite some strong songwriting from a young and earnest Sting. Not much of note beyond the hits, 'So Lonely', 'Roxanne' and 'Can't Stand Losing You'.


Regatta De Blanc

(1979)
Don't have this.

Zenyatta Mondatta

(1980)
Great sound, great drumming, two great singles, but not much else. Zenyatta Mondatta is eminently likeable, but not particularly essential.


Ghost In The Machine

(1981)
Too many horns and synths, but finally, one great Police song that didn't make the Greatest Hits record ('Omegaman').


Synchronicity

(1983)
Most consistent set of songs from Sting, despite some obviously crap from Summers ('Mother') and Copeland ('Miss Grandenko'). Classics like 'King of Pain' and 'Tea In The Sahara' do push close to adult contemporary territory.


Greatest Hits

(1992)
While I don't find any of their albums particularly outstanding (although I'll reserve final judgement until I hear Regatta de Blanc), each Police release features some outstanding tracks. The Police's best tracks are far and away their singles, and throughout their tenure The Police produced a golden run, including as 'Message in a Bottle', 'De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da', 'Walking on the Moon', and 'Every Little Thing She Does is Magic'. The trio of Andy Summers, Stewart Copeland and Sting had a tight and distinctive sound, fitting jazz virtuosity into concise pop songs. These are documented on Greatest Hits, along with the whole brilliant second side of Synchronicity. 1992's Greatest Hits contains everything that a casual fan would be interested in, and is clearly superior to 1997's The Very Best of Sting and The Police which omits classics like 'King of Pain' and 'So Lonely' in favour of Sting's inferior solo hits. Greatest Hits reveals a great legacy of songs, but unfortunately Sting hasn't shown appropriate respect for his back catalogue, taking horrible liberties in a vain attempt to gain credibility with a young urban audience. Puff Daddy's exploitation of 'Every Breath You Take' appeared positively meritorious in comparison to the remix of 'Roxanne' on The Very Best of Sting and The Police. Worst of all is the reworking of 'Invisible Sun'. In the original version, the dark Irish political commentary was augmented with an austere performance. The new sunny reggae duet with Aswad is as sincere as a boy band. Although they only contributed a minority of songs to the group, Summers and Copeland have every aesthetic right to sue Sting to stop him besmirching The Police's reputation.

Feedback: from Nick Reed
Comments: Just stumbled upon your site and checked out your Police reviews. I take it you aren't much of a fan (obviously), but I don't think you're giving them a fair chance! I love the band, and think they're one of the most consistant bands of the 80's (I really like XTC too, in fact even more than the Police, but I do think Sting had a tendacy to recognize a great song when he writes one better than Patridge). I will admit their greatest hits collection is awesome, but to say 'the band was made for this' seems a little ignorant to me. I will say this, however, I think Reggatta de Blanc is their best studio album...but if you really didn't like Zenyatta or Outlandos, you probably shouldn't bother.

But I will give you credit for this - a lot of people who pan the Police will say, "man, the music is okay, but I can't STAND Sting!" I thought that might be why you weren't rating their albums very high, but it turns out you rated "The Soul Cages" better than any Police album. Certainly I can't agree there (personally I find "Blue Turtles" his best), but at least your low scores of Police albums aren't based on some unfair bias.


Sting

The Soul Cages

(1991)
The Soul Cages was Sting's attempt to come to terms with the death of his father, also invoking the sea and Catholicism. Fortunately for Sting, the inherent pretentiousness of the concept is eased by the use of traditional folk textures such as the Northumbrian pipes. The use of these textures makes Sting more palatable, compared to his standard classy jazz/world music backing. 'Why Should I Cry For You' is a beautiful ballad, with enigmatic enough lyrics to prevent it from becoming a sentimental piece of tack; arguably the best song of Sting's solo career. Elsewhere Sting isn't particularly concise, but the stories that he tells are engaging; when the ship takes away Billy to the 'Island of the Souls' at the end of the title track, Sting even draws an emotional response. I dislike 'All This Time' and 'When The Angels Fall', but due more to their atheistic viewpoint than an perceived musical shortcomings. While The Soul Cages suffers from the same features that deter me from Sting's solo career, they are minimalised somewhat and its lyrical confessionalism deserves attention and Sting himself nominates it as his best album. Ludicrously, the title track won a Grammy for best rock song in front of Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'.

Feedback: martin writes
sting engoys his music pop or rock or jazz or blues sting is good. (good pop)
THE END
I LOVE YOU STING!

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For their sixth album, each member of Genesis submitted a potential story for a thematic project.



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Written 2001-2009, Graham Fyfe