martes, 24 de mayo de 2011

The Police


I´ve known The Police since very little, since my parents had some compilations of Sting and The Police. I really dig into them when I was about 16 and they quite blew my head. This was due to the fact that even though I knew their hits, I haven´t listened to their studio CDs in which you can find very interesting an unique things. They have some experimental songs in all of their CDs, combined with some classics. For instance, in their first CD, Outlandos d´Amour, they have classics such as Roxanne and Can´t Stand Losing you along with really extrange ones such as the last two, Be my girl and Masoko Tanga.

Another thing that amaze me is that they had a very short, yet fast, carrer. Their first CD is from 1978 and by 1984 they had splitted after recording 5 CDs, all of them, big successes. Another remarcable fact is that of the change in their style. The first two CDs have a clear punk influence with a bit of reggear. But in the third one we find ourselves listening to a good example of New Wave music. Finally, their last CD shows a great maturity regarding their sound and it´s their CD I like the most. With thier discography, they set the path for most of 1980´s rock
Finally, I would like to highlight the quality of them as musicians. Stewart Copeland is one of the greatest drummers in history. He has the characteristic of being able to play really fast and hit lots of things in a matter of seconds, yet remaining simple and not overblown. Andy Summers is a unique guitar player. I haven´t listen many musicians using his effects and his style. Sting is a gifted bass player but a mediocre singer, at least in the period of time in which The Police existed. One curiosity about Sting is that he was a teacher for two years at St. Paul's Middle School, after getting his diploma in Northern Counties College of Education, (which later became part of Northumbria University)
As usual, I leave some videos:
Every breath you take

Message in a bottle (live)

Synchronicity (live)

King of Pain (live)


Band members:

Sting: lead vocals, bass guitar, backing vocals (studio only)
Andy Summers: guitar, backing vocals (live only)
Stewart Copeland: drums, percussion, backing vocals (live only)

Discography:
1978 - Outlandos d´Amour
1979 - Reggatta de Blanc
1980 - Zenyattà Mondatta
1981 - Ghost in the Machine
1983 - Synchronicity

Related sites:
The Police (http://www.thepolice.com/)
Sting (http://www.sting.com/)
Andy Summers (http://www.andysummers.com/)
Stewart Copeland (http://www.stewartcopeland.net/)


Wikipedia says:
The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. The band consisted of Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar, vocals) and Stewart Copeland (drums, vocals, percussion). The Police became globally popular in the late 1970s and are generally regarded as one of the first New Wave groups to achieve mainstream success, playing a style of rock that was influenced by punk, reggae, and jazz music. Their 1983 album, Synchronicity, was number one on the UK Album Chart and the US Billboard 200, and sold over 8,000,000 copies in the US. The group disbanded in 1984, but reunited in early 2007 for a one-off world tour lasting until August 2008. The Police have sold more than 50 million albums worldwide, and were the world's highest-earning musicians in 2008, thanks to their reunion tour.

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