With all this talk of a reunion (and what it may bode for this April's Coachella) I went and nabbed The Police's Message in a Box set (uppable by request if you need it) and I think I forgot just how great these guys were.

Maybe its because Sting becoming a pompous knob has overshadowed their initial run. Maybe its them being so tied to early MTV, so you end up remembering charicatured ideas of video images more than the actual songs.

But what songs! Man, its weird to think of them as a three piece, but there they are. Plus I think that Andy would fit well in that list of guitarists with distinct sounds we had goin a week or two ago.

Now Im really psyched for a reunion.

Hopefully these guys can keep their personal shit in check, and also keep Sting from trying to shoehorn "Love Is The Seventh Wave" into the set each night with some Ethiopian gourd thumpers and shit.

"ghost in the machine" is in my top 10 albums of the 80s. i like it a lot. just that whole "one world is enough for all of us" vibe that they got going on that album. very positive.

"synchronicity" is good too. especially the second half of the album.

Some classic tunes, but boyoboy they could be quite monotonous.

"I Can't I Can't I Can't Stand Losing...(repeat 3x)"

"Oyo-yo-yoyo...keep it up....(repeat 5x)"

"Turn on the red light!...Turn on the red light!....(repeat 10x)"

Hey, you'll enjoy THIS thread!!!

Seriously, guys... "Omegaman"... so awesome.

Just listened to "Zenyatta Mondatta" for the first time the other night (Which I apparently own on vinyl, who knew!) and it was really good. I think my favourite song off of there was "Man In A Suitcase" which I always thought was an AFI song, given their covering it on one of their older albums before the lead singer became a woman.

Stong becoming a pompous knob is the correct answer for why we tend to forget about the Police.

Tyler, I'd definitely be interested in that set if you felt like upping it.

Sure, Ill get her goin.

Please tell me that this is an awesome, widely recognized nickname, and not some sort of typo.

I bet they were exciting as hell back in '78, but the stuff's a little dated now. I'd rather listen to Petty.




















k

Message in a Box - 1 of 4

hxxp://www.stingspace.com/file/ojebz4

great band.

and for about a year, they ruled the world.

wish i could man. wish i could.

2 of 4

hxxp://www.stingspace.com/file/81zaf7

"King of Pain" is incredible,... fav Police song

This disc is 100% unfuckwithable

definitely one of my alltime faves, along with "Can't Stand Losing You" "Next to You" "Every Little Thing..." and "Bring On The Night"


i'll now brace myself for the string of inevitable & boring SOMB Police-bashing posts.

I've been listening to the Police for the past 15 minutes or so. Shit like "Truth Hits Everybody," "Invisible Sun," "Can't Stand Losing You," and "Omegaman" is so great, you'd think that Stong didn't turn into a shitty old guy immediately after disbanding his awesome group of awesomeness.

That Stong. Always pulling this shit. Suck a dong, Stong.

Prediction: "Stong" will be the name of a character in the next "film" created by The National Lampoon.

i laughed like 3 times in 4 seconds.

3 of 4

hxxp://www.stongspace.com/file/0vt21s

So at this particular stage in my life, I would be likely to pick Ghost In The Machine as my Police experience of choice. How about that.

thanks for upping these tyler. looks like a great set.

which disc has Stong's experimental lute recordings?

No problem.

Here be details:

Disc: 1

1. Fallout
2. Nothing Achieving
3. Dead End Job
4. Next to You
5. So Lonely
6. Roxanne
7. Hole in My Life
8. Peanuts
9. Can't Stand Losing You
10. Truth Hits Everybody
11. Born in the 50's
12. Be My Girl - Sally
13. Masoko Tanga
14. Landlord [Live]
15. Next to You [Live]
16. Landlord
17. Message in a Bottle
18. Reggatta de Blanc
19. It's Alright for You
20. Bring on the Night
21. Deathwish

Disc: 2

1. Walking on the Moon
2. On Any Other Day
3. Bed's Too Big Without You
4. Contact
5. Does Everyone Stare
6. No Time This Time
7. Visions of the Night
8. Bed's Too Big Without You [Mono Version]
9. Truth Hits Everybody [Live]
10. Friends
11. Don't Stand So Close to Me
12. Driven to Tears
13. When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still
14. Canary in a Coalmine
15. Voices Inside My Head
16. Bombs Away
17. De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
18. Behind My Camel
19. Man in a Suitcase
20. Shadows in the Rain
21. Other Way of Stopping

Disc: 3

1. Sermon
2. Driven to Tears [Live]
3. Shambelle
4. Spirits in the Material World
5. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
6. Invisible Sun
7. Hungry for You (J'Aurais Toujours Faim de Toi)
8. Demolition Man
9. Too Much Information
10. Rehumanize Yourself
11. One World (Not Three)
12. Omega Man
13. Secret Journey
14. Darkness
15. Flexible Strategies
16. Low Life
17. How Stupid Mr. Bates
18. Kind of Loving


Disc: 4

1. Synchronicity I
2. Walking in Your Footsteps
3. O My God
4. Mother
5. Miss Gradenko
6. Synchronicity II
7. Every Breath You Take
8. King of Pain
9. Wrapped Around Your Finger
10. Tea in the Sahara
11. Murder by Numbers
12. Man in a Suitcase [Live]
13. Someone to Talk To
14. Message in a Bottle [Live]
15. I Burn for You
16. Once upon a Daydream
17. Tea in the Sahara [Live]
18. Don't Stand So Close to Me '86

Lately, I've been thinking of him as STNNNG.

And finally

hxxp://www.stongspace.com/file/wcq98g

4 of 4

What about past tense?

STANG

you're probably aware, being from up in this area, but there's a great local Twin Cities band called STNNNG (pronounced Stunning)

Huge Police fan. They will always hold a place in my heart, as they were the first concert I ever went to. Synchronicity tour at the Horizon. WHAT a show...unbelievable stuff.

Message in a Box is one of the best, most important and surprisingly cheap music purchases I've ever made in my life. So much greatness. I will even defend songs like "Everyone Stares" and lines like "There's a house on my street/it looks real neat/I'm the chap who lives in it". Listen to Sting fuck that bass guitar in "Bed's Too Big Without You". I refuse to believe that that guy was not considered really fucking cool at some point in space and time. There's a belief that the Police were a "good singles band" and that totally undermines their catalogue. "Tea in the Sahara", "Truth Hits Everybody", "Canary in a Coalmine" and dozens of other songs show that they were capable of writing great songs and jumping from style to style effortlessly.

Can we officially all agree that when Sting jumped the shark, he became Stong?


Haha, I'm still laughing at "Fucking Stong. Always pulling this shit."

Fuck yeah, "Does Everyone Stare" is just a fine, fine song.

Hell, "On Any Other Day" rules, too.

God bless you, Stewart Copeland.

Ha, what the hell, I'm not the kind of poster who says, "God bless you." Other posters say, "God bless you" better than I do.

I say it badly.

I'm in as long as they never play "Roxanne" ever again.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/33682

My favorite album from Stong and the boys is "Zenyatta," followed very closely by "Outlandos," "Ghost in the Machiine" and then "Regata de Blanc." "Synchronicity" is OK, but not as awesome as those first four.

I thought the Dead 60's did a very admirable job of ape-ing "Outlandos"-era Police with the s/t.

there's also a Keith Moon song called "Waspman" which is mostly him yelling "Stiiiiiing! Stiiing!" over and over.


anyway, yeah....Sting Stong.

Sting Stong should be the new spokesman for the Ding Dong King Kong Sing Song Burger.

Stong: "It's so big! It's fuckin' GREEEEAT! WHY MUST I BE!!! WHY MUST I BEEEEE!!!" (launches into "Man in a Suitcase" bassline)

This cocksucker dragged me down here, I dont know

my dvd player came with a stong dvd. no foolin.

yea, and the one thing i remember is the pompous knob was immediate. as a young police fan, i remember sting's entire presentation upon going solo was a turn off...the fact that this cocksucker starting making sophisticated music wearing a black fucking turtleneck while copulating to environmental injustices was enough to make me revisit judas priest. long live the police...fuck sting and his re union.

I think he means "cashed in"

He made a great bellboy

Great band, but got tired of the hits. Still like So Lonely best. Really: they equal lots of bad songs mixed with some good ones. Overall I like Synchronicity best.

Been a fan since grade school. Never saw em live. I snagged a bunch of the boots from Complain.
My take on live stuff is that the early gigs outweigh the later stadium shows. I hold no hope for a real reunion with these characters cause they're still too pissed off at each other. I'll believe it when I see it.

Stong, making copies. The Stongmeister, the Stonganator, Stong-a-long-a-ding-dong. Stong!

There's a version of "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" on the SACD version of Every Breath You Take: The Classics that is outstanding, but not transferrable or hearable to anything other than SACD players.

I saw the Stongmeister at Poplar Creek on the Nothing Like the Sun tour. He commented that there was one street in Chicago that never would have been named as such in the UK: Wacker Drive.

Oh you lie. So the Genny thread typo was intentional?

Suddenly less funny.

All the drummers I know are just gushing w/ praise for Stewart Copeland. It's as if they've all come out of the closet and are admitting that he's the reason they play drums more than anyone else.

Yet another late 70's-early 80's band whose non-hits were far superior to the hits.

Possibly because those hits were played to death, but also because the non-hits were more clever.

There's about 20 Police non-hits that are among my favorites songs.

I have been known to shout out; "Sting! Where is thy death?"
But I have to admit that a large reason for my hatred of Sting's solo career is because of how much I loved The Police and how I heard nothing of what I loved. Also, there was no excuse for "Russians".
One can see a pre-Police Sting in "The Filth And The Fury". He helps in hijacking Steve Jones' car. He is wearing the black and yellow sweater that gave him his name.
Cheers,
Janine

I love the Police, but this is hilarious.

Death. Where is thy Stong?