My Police Best Drum track poll!

[Spec A!]

Sorry SkyDoctor, no offense but I had to post this after reading your thread.

[theskydoctor]

none taken. there are so many good ones to choose from it was hard to narrow it down

[georgygirl]

My vote is to:

Regatta De Blanc!

[blueboy]

Where is "One World"?

I think even Stewart has mentioned this as one of his best tracks on record.

Edit: Just saw the other poll and voted for One World.

[Wait and See]

He kicked a$$ on pretty much everything, so it's not easy to pick out one song. I think I'd put in a word for "Man in a Suitcase", though. What he does on that track is not flashy, but there's not a missed or wasted beat in it, and it has a lot of tricky, well-executed fills, and a great feel. I also like the production on that song. The sound of the rhythm section is ideal-- punchy, crisp and clear with plenty of low end (at least for the time)-- the bass and drums are locked in, dead on, and the mix is perfect. It moves your speakers exactly the way a good track should. Actually the whole album (Zenyatta) is their best-sounding album from a recording standpoint IMO, even though the songs put it a little below the first two on my list. I don't know why they felt the need to go get a different producer, because they already had their sound nailed if you ask me. That was part of what was wrong with Ghost and Synchronicity. They don't sound as good. Sometimes simplicity is better, especially when your band can actually play their instruments.

[ghostinthepolice]

1) Walking on the Moon
2) Driven to tears
3) No time this time (He 'rollin' on the drum like a six hand man...)

[Spec A!]

Jesus Wait and See- get out of my head!!!! I couldn't agree more

I was thinking about Man in a Suitcase and One World but adding those would just seem to add too many to pick from.

Walking on the Moon and No Time This Time are almost there for me. No denying the awesome fills and frenetic pace of No Time, and the simplicity of Walking, but those in the poll just have some sort of magic for me that these just don't. Personal preference I guess.

[DirtyMartini]

Damn, Spec A! -- this poll is like Sophie's Choice!

And amen, W&S, and bravo.

[Secret Journey]

i would say if were talking album wise from the list driven to tears and not on the list one world but live it would have to be specific performances;
Driven to tears - Frejus 1980 & Gateshead 1982
Regatta de blanc - Outlandos to synchroncities video
Next to you - Police around the world
Beds to big without you - rockpalast first time 1980
One world - either sync concert or gateshead
Shadows in the rain - Gateshead 1982

[Kim]

Yeah, where's One World? That one still knocks my socks off.

[nathanarizona]

W&S - Re: changing producer after Zenyatta. Not sure if you've read Andy's autobiography but here's what he says: "Large piles of white stuff are placed in front of us, but we don't want to do this - we are short of time, need this album, can't fuck around. Further compounding this problem are Nigel's disappearances to the red-light district in Amsterdam, and he wants us to go with him. We are pissed off by this because we have to get this album recorded, and the process is being jeopardized." He later characterizes the production/engineering on Zenyatta as "a debacle."

[Wait and See]

Well, that explains it. Still, it must have been a conscious decision to make the albums less natural-sounding and more heavily produced.

[nathanarizona]

I hear ya. Later, when he's describing the Synchronicity sessions it sort of makes me wonder how much influence Nigel or Hugh had on things in the first place. When things hit bottom Andy visited George Martin to see about helping out. Interesting (to me at least) because he makes no mention of seeking help from Hugh to try and patch things up.

[GinaSuperCat]

re: Zenyatta, ya they finished recording it at 4am the day they left for the world tour...we all know what finishing something under those conditions is like <grin>

Stewart's drumming on live Driven to Tears just lights me up...definitely an e ticket ride, no doubt <giggle>

[blueboy]

When I hear these comments about Nigel vs. Hugh it makes me laugh. Nigel is a dentist and recorded almost like a hobby. While he did an OK job of capturing the Police to tape, I wouldn't go as far as to call him a brilliant producer.

Here are some comments about Nigel's work from another band he produced:

http://www.thepassions.co.uk/biography2.html

[quote]In retrospect its clear that a manager who knew what they were doing would have been more able to represent the band’s interests. Instead the band were booked into Surrey Sound Studio in Leatherhead to record the follow up single and album with Nigel Gray producing. Nigel had previously worked with the Police and Siouxsie and the Banshees. The results were a follow up single ‘Skin Deep’ and the album ‘Thirty Thousand Feet over China’, the latter containing the two Pete Wilson produced tracks ‘The Swimmer’ and ‘German Film Star’. The differences between the two producers are glaringly demonstrated. (The Nigel Gray produced tracks being rather thin and flat compared to the sparkling Pete Wilson stuff). The band always felt at the time that Nigel Gray was very distracted and distant during the recording sessions. The combination of an inappropriate, non-commercial follow up single and completely different sound was a disaster for the Passions. [/quote]

Hugh Padgham is an amazing engineer and accomplished producer. His work with the Police was most likely limited mainly to getting the sounds and making sure the vocals were in tune...and I highly doubt it was his choice to throw a horn section and keyboards all over GITM (as an example).

I think people are misinterpreting Sting's desire to expand the musical horizon of the Police's sound with the influence of a new producer. It was Sting's show at that point....and Hugh just helped make his vision happen!

If Hugh had recorded the first albums (with their simpler and grittier approach), I feel confident in saying that they would have blown away what Nigel had done. Yes, the early albums have a certain "charm" to them, but they are certainly not shining examples of sonic nirvana.

Hugh's resume on the other hand, speaks for itself.

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=am ... qlgldte~T4

I don't mean this to be a knock on Nigel personally, but just a realistic view of his work as an engineer/producer.

GITM and Synch are still to this day, benchmark albums for sonic quality, as are many of the other albums Hugh has worked on.