The Police

[Paul Wesley 3,303]

1 hour ago, oSuJeff97 said:

They were in ‘83-84 what U2 became after The Joshua Tree.

Good comparison.  U2 made the same transition from sparse, low-budget records with the punk influences of the late 70's UK (simplicity, defiant attitudes) ---> to giant-budget big arrangements with tons of layers.  And both guitarists - at least in the beginning - were into texture and space, and didn't try to be up-front at every moment of every song.  

I think the Police made that transition way more successfully than U2 (and the Police also quit while they were ahead).  U2's records since the late 80's sound more or less like those of Nickelback and Creed, with shit tons of relentless, grid-perfect distorted guitars, and all the sonic characteristics of a chainsaw.   

Get off my lawn.

[NAVY 6,868]

Fabulous reinvention of their catalogue. Tokyo 2008. 
 

 

[Buzzrock 15,032]

Yup, I never saw them either.  Probably my biggest missed-concert regret.  Them or LZ.

I caught them at Bonnaroo in 2007 and while it was awesome to get to check them off, they weren’t tight. And didn’t seem to be getting along all that well.

Still, best reggae band ever.

[yoladu 4,172]

On 3/11/2021 at 11:08 AM, baboso said:

Here you go, yoladu.  Now I'm off on a Rick Beato video trek the rest of the afternoon.

 

thanks... i lost a whole afternoon watching videos on that guy's channel!

[Cheeseweasel 26,438]

31 minutes ago, yoladu said:

thanks... i lost a whole afternoon watching videos on that guy's channel!

He's one of my You Tube go-to's. Great stuff that goes REALLY deep into music production.

[OWLVIS 562]

Rick went to New England Music Conservancy with my ex' wife's oldest brother   its not like i know him They and a friend played at our Cape Cod reception summer after the wedding. When I first saw his videos I wondered why he looked so familiar,  wish I had paid more attention at the time, I would have asked him questions

 

 

now the ex's family hates me and I hate to bring it up and ask him a question

[Scooter Monzingo 821]

On 3/10/2021 at 1:55 PM, jimmyjazz said:

If I HAD to pick a favorite (today), it would be this:

 

Exactly, and it is not even close. 

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

On 3/12/2021 at 1:32 PM, Paul Wesley said:

Good comparison.  U2 made the same transition from sparse, low-budget records with the punk influences of the late 70's UK (simplicity, defiant attitudes) ---> to giant-budget big arrangements with tons of layers.  And both guitarists - at least in the beginning - were into texture and space, and didn't try to be up-front at every moment of every song.  

I think the Police made that transition way more successfully than U2 (and the Police also quit while they were ahead).  U2's records since the late 80's sound more or less like those of Nickelback and Creed, with shit tons of relentless, grid-perfect distorted guitars, and all the sonic characteristics of a chainsaw.   

Get off my lawn.

U2 got all preachy and shit. That got tiresome.

[hullabelew 3,724]

I was going to compare The Cars as well, but I just looked it up and they released an album in 87 that I don't think I knew existed.  Door to Door.  

[ztejas 43,777]

Pretty heady stuff. 

@jimmyjazz I think this is the best song they ever recorded. 

I know I did a short-form review of all of their albums. I'll find it. 

Edited October 22, 2022 by ztejas

[ohchaucer 1,443]

Great thread. I think I’ll follow today’s game with a little listening party.

I, too, have Zenyatta as my overall favorite but I will say Synchronicity II --> Every Breath You Take —> King of Pain —> Wrapped Around Your Finger is a killer string of songs on one album. Just a murderer’s row of melodies.

Also, I think Copeland is one of my top 5 favorites and easily one of the best and most innovative drummers in rock music. And his snare sound is like no other. And about once a week I check Reverb for a deal on one of his signature Tamas.

[jimmyjazz 46,526]

3 minutes ago, ohchaucer said:

And about once a week I check Reverb for a deal on one of his signature Tamas.

More info on these?

[ohchaucer 1,443]

It’s a brass 14x5 with 10 lugs and a die cast batter hoop. It’s thicker than most (1.5mm… most brass shells are closer to or even thinner than a mm thick). It really has a crazy “crack” and breakthrough sound.

I’ve got same sized Black Beauty and even tuned super tight it doesn’t quite have the same pop. That said, the BB is, in my opinion, the best sounding and versatile snare you can buy.

[jimmyjazz 46,526]

1 hour ago, ohchaucer said:

It’s a brass 14x5 with 10 lugs and a die cast batter hoop. It’s thicker than most (1.5mm… most brass shells are closer to or even thinner than a mm thick). It really has a crazy “crack” and breakthrough sound.

I’ve got same sized Black Beauty and even tuned super tight it doesn’t quite have the same pop. That said, the BB is, in my opinion, the best sounding and versatile snare you can buy.

Interesting ... I messaged Jim Eno of Spoon after their Austin City Limits taping, asking specifically about his snare drum, which had a massive "crack" (my words).  He said it was a Ludwig hand-hammered bronze.  Sounds like y'all are on the same page.

 

 

[ohchaucer 1,443]

Yeah those bronze ones are nice and loud. A little darker sound than brass, usually. But they can all be tuned across a range of tones to really pop. Copelands sound was very well known and distinct and shifted a lot of drummers sounds from the more resonant snare sound to what then was more prevalent in the 80s onward (and was also in a lot of pop electronic drum sounds, aka the hand clap).

[locodos 5,435]

 

[ztejas 43,777]

On 3/9/2021 at 6:40 PM, ztejas said:

So I relistened to all 5 today in order of release and jotted some notes down for each. I'll save this thread the wall of text and spoiler it.

I highly recommend. A lot of stuff I already knew/my notions were confirmed, but some new stuff jumped out at me and there were some tracks I had forgotten about. If we're ranking, because we always have to rank everything, I'd list them best to worst the same as their order of release, only swapping Ghosts In The Machine and Synchronicity.

  Hide contents

Outlandos - I still think front to back, as a cohesive project, this is their best album. The energy and rhythm and pacing is great - it's the most guitar-forward of any of their albums. Even though they don't seem to set themselves apart from their contemporaries as much as on later records the groundwork for being The Police is still present - notably the reggae influence which is there from the second track. I'm not sure there's a bad song. Born in the 50s is a little cheesy, Masoko Tanga is kind of messy, Peanuts isn't super noteworthy, but outside of that they are all extremely repayable home runs. 

Reggatta - If you can forgive some of the back half, the high points here serve as a very good argument for this being their best album. The opening four songs are pretty much unfiltered genius. Even It's Alright For You shines as a great little stopgap between Reggatta De Blanc and Bring On The Night. I'll stand by my take upthread that Message in a Bottle is the best track they ever made. Reggatta is a phenomenal little jam that really no one else could have recorded in 1979. The opening of Bring On The Night is kind of mind-blowing when you think about the landscape of music at the time. That sound just wasn't a thing. I'd put that opening 15 minutes against any album ever made. And then Walking on The Moon is 2 tracks later. On Any Other Day always gives me a kick. Unfortunately I think the back-end drags a bit and nothing really shines through. 

Zenyatta - I can totally see why this is the favorite of some of you on relistening. Their sound is fully refined at this point. Everything sounds effortless and is beautifully recorded and mastered. They push some more effects on guitar that they began to experiment with on Reggatta and all of it works. The bass is heavy and allowed to star a bit more - producing some ass-shaking worthy moments (see When The World). This is probably Sting's peak lyrically and vocally. I think I have the same hangup as I do with Reggatta, in that it seems to lose some steam towards the end - like they frontloaded all of their best ideas - but also like Reggatta, their best ideas are incredible and it results in a great fucking album. 

Ghosts - Yeesh. Again, my initial take upthread is what I'll stick with. I'm sure some folks have Every Little Thing being the redeeming factor here but Christ, I'm not sure I even like that song that much (although the outro jam with the high notes on the keys is probably the best part of the entire album). I might like Spirits In The Material World as the best track on this one. Most of it is just boring and uninspired and kind of sounds like they didn't really give a fuck at this point. The saxophone they repeatedly throw in there is... bad. Ironically I think it's a bit better towards the back end with the last few tracks being more listenable than some of what's in the middle.

Synchronicity - The 80s got the best of them a little bit. Or maybe The Wall got the best of everyone. I think at times it's a little difficult to sus out what exactly they were going for on this one. It does feature their biggest song ever, for better or for worse. And I really, really love Synchronicity II. It's one of the coolest intros ever and a certified ear-bleeder. I think it's the last great song they made that stayed true to who they were from the beginning and capitalized on that "it" factor that separated them from the pack. Every Breath You Take is a great song but it feels almost as much a product of 1983 and Sting getting ready to do his own thing than The Police as a collective. King of Pain is a great song and a bit of a hidden gem. Wrapped Around Your Finger isn't bad. For the album overall - it's nowhere near as bad as Ghost as the bad parts are at least interesting and the highs are much higher, but it's also a good step below their first 3 records. There are a lot of artists that could have made most of this record in 1983. 
 

 

Hah - here it is (in the same thread - I'm retarded). I spoilered it which is why I couldn't find it. 

Edited October 26, 2022 by ztejas

[Rimbo 26,482]

On 3/7/2021 at 1:16 PM, jimmyjazz said:

Kinda like Rush peaking at "Moving Pictures".

Personally, I like "Counterparts" as much as, if not more than, "Moving Pictures," but it's really 2a and 2b to me.

For some reason, no Rush album gets more play from me than the David Bottrill remix of Vapor Trails.

To bring my comment back to thread relevance, it's telling to me that Neil Peart considered the Police one of his favorite bands around the time "Moving Pictures" was released.

[jimmyjazz 46,526]

dp

Edited October 27, 2022 by jimmyjazz