Don't see much love for them ever around these parts. Is anyone else into them?

I think they're a fantastic band, with great energy, especially in their earlier days.

Fav releases in order:
01 Outlandos d'Amour
02 Zenyatta Mondatta
03 Synchronicity
04 Ghost In The Machine
05 Reggatta de Blanc

Some fav tunes:
Too Much Information
Next To You
So Lonely
When The World Is Running Down...
Truth Hits Everybody
Man In A Suitcase
Can't Stand Losing You
Flexible Strategies
Synchronicity II
Spirits in the Material World
On Any Other Day
Canary In A Coalmine
Walking In Your Footsteps

Let's not get into Sting at this point, just The Police.

i've never been a real big fan....

Love a lot of their singles, not familiar with album tracks unfortunately.

I like 'em fine enough. I've got a few of their albums but could probably get rid of them in favor of some kind of comp. Don't think they ever made a classic album, although, Zenyatta Mondatta comes close.

Steve

Quite a lot of good singles, although I can't say that I've listened to it in quite some time. I think this group was seriously overplayed for me.

While Sting's solo career has put an undeniable blemish on his previous band's catalogue, they still fucking killed.

Not a bad album in the bunch.

Ever check out their live album? Why couldn't they capture THAT dangerous energy on their studio releases? I still love pretty much everything they put out.

Not that it matters, but Elvis Costello has had a major stick up his ass regarding the Police basically since their inception.

Steve

I liked them so much in middle school/high school that I'm still not completely over the backlash.

I listened to them a ton a couple weeks ago, when I was transferring all their albums on vinyl to CD for a friend. They really never put out a bad album. Sting's solo stuff seems to have tainted them a bit from many people's perspective, but I don't really think it should. They were one of the few mega popular bands of the 80s that actually put out great music on a regular basis.

They sounded very distinctive, while stuill remaining listenable. They were creative, with each album having a uniqoe sound, while still retaining a constant thread to hold 'em all together.

My order of preference...

Outlandos d'Amour
Ghost in the Machine
Regatta de Blanc
Zenyatta Mondetta
Synchronicity

Stewart Copeland is awesome.

so whats the story?

I really don't know. I've read a bunch of Costello interviews over the years and he's always taking swipes at them. Even did so at their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction.

Steve

I got the boxset .....I like it alot...Don't listen to it that much though...May have to change that...

Here are Police songs I feel dispel any notion that they sucked and which can be evaluated beyond overplayed hits. Listen to them sometime (slsk or whatever) and try to rid your brain of Sting-isms and put yourself in the shoes of a late 70's Clash-Bob Marley audience that was just discovering how interesting melding genres could be. Also rid your brain of aging, smirking post-punk hipsters who will quote you chapter and verse about what hacks The Police were and about exactly which obscure bands did this sort of thing much better (because you shouldn't give a fuck if you like the actual tunes):


Next To You
So Lonely
Hole In My Life
Peanuts
Can't Stand Losing You
Truth Hits Everybody
Born In The 50's
Masoko Tanga
Regatta De Blanc
It's All Right For You
Walking On The Moon
The Bed's Too Big Without You
On Any Other Day
Contact
Does Eveyone Stare?
No Time This Time
Driven To Tears
When The World Is Running Down You Make The Best Of What's Still Around
Canary In A Coalmine
Voices Inside My Head
Bombs Away
Man In A Suitcase
Shadows In The Rain
The Other Way Of Stopping
Invisible Sun
Too Much Information
Rehumanize Yourself
One World (Not Three)
Omegaman
Secret Journey
Darkness
Walking In Your Footsteps
Miss Gradenko
Tea In The Sahara
Murder by Numbers

awesome!

I like them quite a bit. I agree about that live album - man, that's some great stuff.

For the studio albums, here's my order of preference:

Ghost in the Machine
Outlandos d'Amour
Zenyatta Mondatta
Regatta de Blanc
Synchronicity

I'm kind of glad they split when they did, because with Synchronicity they were definitely starting to lose the spark, but it's still not a bad album. Quite a transformation they took from "Fallout" through Synchronicity though, no? My favorite song depends on my mood, but often it's "So Lonely". They should have never released that '86 (or whatever year) version of "Don't Stand So Close To Me." Man, what dreck that was.

I've been guilty of this at times in the past, but when it comes to bands that had some big hits in the late 70's-early 80's, some also had great non-hits and I don't see the point in dismissing them completely.

Men At Work are a prime example.

I'm a fan, and Phil I am with you on the live album---it smokes.

I must respectfully disagree with a stock dismissal of Sting's solo cannon. It may not be as consistent as the Police, but dude has some really awesome songs---some I would argue are much more realized than the Police.

The problem is that you have to own a large amount of material to make these judgements. I don't but I used to live with Busty and he does. It honestly changed my mind on dudes work.

I like every Sting album through Ten Summoner's Tales, though not so much some of the hits or the slickness of the man himself.

"I Hung My Head" is a cool Sting song, even though I think J.R. Cash does it much more justice.

I agree. Also, if you get around a bunch of musicians while listening to his records they will start gushing about the complexity of some of his songs. Weird time signatures, well placed fills with obscure instruments, etc.. I'm mostly talkig about late 80's Sting though. Can't stand "Brand New Day" Sting.


I dig the Police. I only have the hits collection and Outlandos. Outlandos is great record and I agree with others that "So Lonely" is the shit. If you find yourself in a bar after a few drinks and "Roxanne" comes on I challenge you to try and not sing it. Impossible.

It's amazing how cool Phil Collins, Sting and Rod Stewart once were.

Sometime successful people get the suck. Real bad.

Looks like I'm in the minority, Regatta is my fave followed by Outlandos. They're the only two I need, along with the singles.

Andy Summers kicks ass.

Sting however...