The Last Bass Outpost
Main Forums => The Outpost Cafe => Topic started by: Chaser001 on February 26, 2011, 08:20:24 PM
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I was never really much of a Police fan. Their music was something I could take or leave. Suddenly, I'm finding myself not being able to get enough of their music. Plus, I'm wanting to learn the bass to everything that Sting plays.
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....... Plus, I'm wanting to learn the bass to everything that Sting plays.
Um, I think that professional help is in order ;) ;D
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Um, I think that professional help is in order ;) ;D
If you're talking about how easy it is, that is true. But it looks fun and it's something I've almost ignored to this point.
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easy or difficult means little as long as the bass part works. lots of folks believe otherwise imo
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easy or difficult means little as long as the bass part works. lots of folks believe otherwise imo
I agree. I want something that works, something that is melodic and adds something to the song. Not bass which is unmelodic and complex just for the sake of being complex. I'm really liking the melodic bass lines that Sting plays and the odd timing. There is something about this that I really identify with. It's strange that it has taken me so long to appreciate his bass playing.
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easy or difficult means little as long as the bass part works. lots of folks believe otherwise imo
I am of the same opinion on both accounts. If it serves the song I'm happy with it. While Sting's Police playing is a bit idiosyncratic, it fits the band and the songs quite well. I had a two or three year run in the late 80's after their heyday where I sort of discovered the Police and listened to them a lot. Not so much since but I can still appreciate their stuff (so long as I don't have to hear Mr. Sumner speak at all).
Edit: Chaser, you beat me to the punch while I was writing! ;)
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They were a great live band as well. I saw them here in Austin during the Ghosts In The Machine tour. Sting was playing his Steinberger L2. I listened to Zenyatta Mondatta non stop during my sophomore year in college. Those 5 LP's they released are all great IMHO.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyOghZum-Io
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Police are kinda hit or miss for me, but some stuff I love - like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDs9zbiumDc
No doubt Sting can play, and I could only hope to turn on a top 40 station nowadays and hear something that piques my interest like this.
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Police are kinda hit or miss for me, but some stuff I love - like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDs9zbiumDc
No doubt Sting can play, and I could only hope to turn on a top 40 station nowadays and hear something that piques my interest like this.
This is my fav song of theirs too! Sting's brilliant.
Stew is an AMAZING drummer too!
Both their autobiographies are good!!
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I was aware of them from very early on, even seeing them just just after Fall-Out was released (supporting Spirit, of all things - talk about mismatch - the prog advertised the imminent release of Roxanne) - I have not really followed their post Police careers... I do rate Stewart Copeland as a player though...
If you want to try "The Police" without Mr Sumner, try this, vox by Stan Ridgeway...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j6Tln0lN0c
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easy or difficult means little as long as the bass part works. lots of folks believe otherwise imo
That's the same school I went to ;D.
As for Police music, I can't remember if I liked Roxanne before the Movie 48 Hours or not, but in any event, Eddie Murphy definately ruined it for me forever >:(.
Rick
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Early on I absolutely loved the police. Sort of drifted away for various reasons. Actually saw them the first night they played in the states. Stewart is a real player and Sting's ability to sing and play in odd timings is really his talent. His parts, though simple, just worked perfectly in the songs. Andy was rather weak.
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The Police? :bored: Just my humble opinion. Saw them in '85 I can't say it was the best concert I ever saw.
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Huge Police fan. It took until their third album, and suddenly my ears opened up to what they were doing. Great drumming, great guitar textures, cool, sparse, angular, and identifiable bass lines, AND catchy pop hooks. Lots of subtle prog elements too by then. I DO blame Sting for my mullet though. LOL! Saw them in 82 and it was one of the most high energy shows I'd ever seen. They did it right - 5 great albums and OUT! Their reunion tour DVD is great too.
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Let me add I still have a day job so what do I know? Just never my cup of tea. Besides I'm digg'n on Black Oak Arkansas right now ;D
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I remember seeing Police at a German TV show in the late seventies, their debut had just come out. They played I can't stand losing you. I was stunned and immediately thought: Those guys will be huge. And they were. Unlike AC/DC and U2 which I also saw in their flegling days and was utterly convinced they would go nowhere. :-[
In those very early days the Police also supported Whitesnake (Coverdale thought they would be huge too) and at a rock festival in Germany Barclay James Harvest (who then ruled the earth in Germany) and Dire Straits. At that festival they were bottled off the stage and had to cut their set short, the Barclay and Dire Strait fans didn't want no "punk band".
I've always thought that Gordon Summer's bass playing is unique in its counterpunctual placing of notes. And he sang to that stuff too. Copeland (I even have some of his work with Curved Air) and Andy S. were extremely original, breath-of-fresh air instrumentalists (Andy Summers played guitar on Jon Lord's Sarabande), but it was Sting's songwriting that propelled them forward and made them more than just a clever New Wave band. My liking for them diffused as their arrangements became more and more orchestral and left the trio sound behind. The magic of Police is encapsulated in those first two albums for me, Zenyatta Mondatta already floundered and the next two still had their moments but not the urgency and commitment of the first two. By then they were multi-millionaires carefully crafting their output and it was all a little safe.
Sting's solo career has left me totally cold. His music epitomizes the kind of "rock" people hear who don't really like rock. Off their Bang & Olufson stereos which are not supposed to clutter up the interior design of their apartments. Yuck.
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I agree with the honourary member for Frankfurt. First 2 albums = great. Sing and play the lines Sting played = very good. Copeland's drumming = great. Summers' guitar = very good. Sting's solo catalog = stinking pile of crap
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Like the Police a lot..
Don't mind solo Sting music...but I can't get past my perceptions of his attitude. Turned me off to the point where I don't give the music much of a chance.
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I liked this one. Not much afterward though. I liked Darryl Jones playing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSGl3d4KOMk
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I agree with the honourary member for Frankfurt. First 2 albums = great. Sing and play the lines Sting played = very good. Copeland's drumming = great. Summers' guitar = very good. Sting's solo catalog = stinking pile of crap
Hahah :mrgreen: hit the nail on the head. I wish you would be less ambiguous though. ;D
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Sting's solo career was never much of a concern for me, but I've found these comments about his tenure with the Police to be interesting.
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Before Gordon and Andy became 2/3 of the Police, they earned their money playing German prog rock with German classical music composer and director Eberhard Schoener (known from Jon Lord's Windows and Sarabande - which also featured Andy Summer - projects), Sting wasn't such an unbusy player back then:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVC89gp6HvI
Even as the Police they still made music with Schoener:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FH7fchjFe4&NR=1
Schoener has claimed that it was him who encouraged Sting to sing more with his falsetto:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_z0eiRENmY&feature=watch_response
But if you listen to Gordon Summer's mid-seventies prog-blues-jazz trio work, he was hitting those high notes well before he met Schoener:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy0PRsQqbVU&feature=related
And in case you thought that a more conventional rock guitar solo was beneath Andy Summers, then listen here at 2.22:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBJCnatEKkE
Nor are Herr Summers' abilities limited to strange Telecaster bar chords loaded with effects in mock reggae rhythms, he can play classical guitar adeptly as well, that's him here at 1.22:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq2x_jiPSoU
It explains why initially the fashion- and trend-conscious English music press thought that a band consisting of a Deep Purple organist and Kevin Coyne sideman (Summers), a big band jazz bassist (Sting) and a prog rock drummer - Curved Air - whose brother managed Wishbone Ash (Copeland) weren't the most credible representatives of neo punk New Wave, dyed blond hair and boilersuits or not. They were perceived as old musos/wannabees (Sting!) hopping the new wave train. Kind of like Marcus Miller, Al di Meola and Lenny White getting together today and saying that they are now a grindcore band. :mrgreen:
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This is interesting pre-Police music. I had read a few things about that, but hadn't actually heard any songs from that era.
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Whilst in Curved Air, Mr Copeland walked off with the star prize...
(http://www.curvedair.com/Graphics/SonjaFeathers.JPG)
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Quite an impressive prize. It looks like there were quite a few other things that were curved besides air.
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Sonya Kristina. Her relationship with Stewart Copeland ended at the height of Police's fame, when the stretch limos finally came to pick her up in her capacity as the superstar drummer's significant other, albeit not as the frontwoman of a proggie band.
Curved Air were also home to Eddie Jobson at one time (he was 17 when he joined, his parents had to give their ok), before he moved on to Roxy Music and to UK. He still plays with them occasionally today, unlike with Roxy he has happy memories with them.
To me, Curved Air always sounded a bit as if Jefferson Airplane had listened to too much English folk - Jefferson Airplane meets Renaissance and along the way they stumble about a couple of odd meters! -, Sonya certainly had some Grace in her (this is a pre-Copeland and pre-Jobson line up):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKpYq9zxLhc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUnjMI81vAA
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To me, Curved Air always sounded a bit as if Jefferson Airplane had listened to too much English folk - Jefferson Airplane meets Renaissance and along the way they stumble about a couple of odd meters!
I like some aspects of 'Air Cut' for those reasons. That album had more of a pulse, IMO.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlEJ_9UBR4U
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I really liked that "Backstreet Luv" clip, despite numerous computer problems while I was trying to watch it.
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The Police were singing & playing for their lives at first.
There's a certain rawness & intensity to their early stuff that is great!!
I love the later stuff too tho.
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Since I posted this topic, I've accidentally come across some comments from someone named Darren Robbins in an article. He maintains that he has always been amazed by Sting's "ability to craft highly melodic bass lines in very odd non-rock & roll time signatures, and then effortlessly sing over the top of them."