The Police

[uwe]

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.

[Aussie Mark]

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

[patman]

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.

[Hornisse]

I liked this one.  Not much afterward though.  I liked Darryl Jones playing!

[Freuds_Cat]

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    hit the nail on the head.   I wish you would be less ambiguous though. 

[Chaser001]

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. 

[uwe]

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:



Even as the Police they still made music with Schoener:



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:



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:



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.  

[Chaser001]

This is interesting pre-Police music.  I had read a few things about that, but hadn't actually heard any songs from that era. 

[Highlander]

Whilst in Curved Air, Mr Copeland walked off with the star prize...

[Chaser001]

Quite an impressive prize.  It looks like there were quite a few other things that were curved besides air.

[uwe]

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

[chromium]

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.

[Chaser001]

I really liked that "Backstreet Luv" clip, despite numerous computer problems while I was trying to watch it. 

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

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.

[Chaser001]

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."