"DEAR STEWART": Are The Vaults Well & Truly Locked Forever?

[New Zealand Promoter]

Dear Stewart,

Thankyou for all of the music you have created over the last few decades or so. You bring us musical therapy and inspiration, beautifully detailed percussion tracks to meditate upon and obsess over, and definitive evidence that the old joke about the thing that has "three legs and a c$nt" is but mere whimsy.

....and we want more.

Specifically, I am referring to more vintage Copeland sounds.

What do bands like U2, Genesis and the Beatles all have in common?  They've all had - and continue to have - a veritable smorgasbord of previously unreleased recordings officially restored and released for their adoring fans. Where are the Police archives? The live recordings? The alternate takes? The demos? The TV appearances? What the heck happened to the massive opportunity to release all this stuff during the reunion tour?

The "Greatest Hits" collection has been repackaged and re-sold half a dozen times since the 1990's, and since then we've seen numerous box sets by the above mentioned bands carefully compiled.  These are not all active bands, obviously, and the enormous success of the Police Reunion tour would indicate that there's a sizeable market for a Police archive release if it was done properly. Any *fan* of the Police knows that you guys completely took off on stage, hence all the devotion to collecting and archiving live recordings. Arguably, most of the Police's recorded output is in the form of live recordings which are all sitting on studio shelves or archived in the harddrives of the elite collectors who were fortunate enough to get themselves copies. Yet there has only been one solitary live (double) album officially released (ie from the classic era).

An essay by Lee Marshall from Popular Music (2003) thoughtfully explains some of the reasons these kind of releases are so valued - and successful - "...allowing an appreciation of aspects of an artist’s career and work that may not have been well documented by official releases...In live performance there is no safety net; the artist cannot start again or make an overdub....Because the live concert relies on the humanity of the artist rather than the mechanisation of the production line, the live experience is where differences arise, where the same song is different night after night. Each concert is therefore perceived as a unique experience..."

Live recordings aside, what about the alternate takes? BBC sessions (heck, even New Order got a BBC CD release!)? Tracks which never made it onto albums? (Nothing could be as shambolic as "Flexible Strategies" - Let's hear 'em) The various revisitations and permutations of "Truth Hits Everybody"? Demo versions?

Every time a new U2 or Genesis box set is announced (as much as I love those bands), I can't help but wonder, screamingly, why Police fans get nothing but the same re-releases and re-packagings year after year, and have to continue scraping and digging for whatever grubby, mangled bit of third generation bootlegged tape we can find.

So I thought I'd ask you directly - will we ever see / hear something from the vaults?  Will there ever be a proper archival release?

Rant / plea over. 

We love you.

xx Ben

[alex]

Very well said. I would buy anything that ever comes out, no questions asked. And I'm glad you posted this so I don't have to. Because I could only do it after a few drinks, and the tone would be something like this.

After a couple of drinks, I'd come up with your great idea. I'd start putting it down with grandeur, and you'd all love it. Then after a couple more drinks...

Something would get me agitated, usually something simple, like a fly buzzing around that I can't kill because my reflexes are a little bit off. I'd start thinking theres like 10 albums of unreleased material. Then I'd tell myself, you're crazy, have another drink...

Now I'm loaded. To make matters worse, there's a second fly annoying the crap out of me. I start blaming Sting for everything, including the constuction on my road, and of course the fly problem in the world. I need to calm down. No more beer. I'll have a shot of whisky...

Now I'm flying. My reflexes are back. I have a fly swatter in each hand. I kill those two bastards. I'm exhilarated! The hunter became the hunted, and I killed both those flies. The sense of accomplishment makes me feel like I should have another drink...

Oh, oh. Remorse is setting in. Why did I kill those poor innocent creatures? Why did I go off on Sting like that? What purpose did it serve for me to write in my post that I was the best drummer in the world? I've never even had a lesson. I apologize like crazy in the post. I'm sobbing, thinking about the reunion tour. I'm a bad, bad fan. Only made 6 shows. Go ahead and ban me Gio. I'm not worthy, as I wipe the tears from my face. I have to go to bed. I can't take it anymore...


Now with a serious hangover. Was I on Stewarts site last night? I'd better not check. So thank you for writing this. You saved me a lot of grief

[sockii]

Another voice added to the choir of "yes, please," but I have my doubts we'll ever see it. Look at how some fabulous sounding Police projects - books and documentaries about the band - have been squashed already by (apparently/allegedly) someone else & their upper management? (*cough*)

I would seriously freak out and LOVE it if we could some day enjoy something like the Pink Floyd Immersion box sets that have recently been released...multiple album mixes, alternative takes, demos, live performances & video from the time period of the album, etc. But I'm sadly not holding my breath for it to happen.

[LARNOULD THERESE]

HELLO Ben
welcome here!!!
nice to read something interesting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kmart]

I think this was a great post. I agree with what you said tj7. Stewart said one time that they had all the footage from every concert on the reunion tour, the video that was shown on the big screens for those in the nosebleeds. When he was asked if it might be released he said something to the effect of: no, it will be locked away forever because its a bunch of close up shots and not really suitable, and who wants to see thier faces? I, for one, would love those close up shots and think it would be great to be able to buy an official dvd of the video from the concerts I attended.

I have a few audience shot concert dvds from the reunion shows, some of which were so far back they focused on the video screen more than the Police themselves, and while the sound is bad, I thought the video was good.

[smudge]

[quote="kmart"]I think this was a great post. I agree with what you said tj7. Stewart said one time that they had all the footage from every concert on the reunion tour, the video that was shown on the big screens for those in the nosebleeds. When he was asked if it might be released he said something to the effect of: no, it will be locked away forever because its a bunch of close up shots and not really suitable, and who wants to see thier faces? I, for one, would love those close up shots and think it would be great to be able to buy an official dvd of the video from the concerts I attended.

I have a few audience shot concert dvds from the reunion shows, some of which were so far back they focused on the video screen more than the Police themselves, and while the sound is bad, I thought the video was good.[/quote]

A great post indeed - thanks tj7. I think Sockii's right though - it probably won't see the light of day. Not sure I'm unhappy about that if I'm honest. It's selfish and luddite-like of me, but I don't really want a 'directors cut' of a tour I got to see/hear in person. Oh Gong! Yup. That is selfish...

[secretjourneyranch]

You finally snapped eh Ben?
Is it a hot summer?

Its good to be a Stones fan these days...it finally happened there, I suppose it could happen here.

[New Zealand Promoter]

Ah, the Pink Floyd box sets - I knew I'd forgotten a recent one!
Sigh - Floyd, Rolling Stones... It really seems that the Police are about the *only* major rock band
of the '70's - '80 's to not have a proper archive release. I can't even count the almost 20 year old Message in A Box
package because it actually contained nothing that hadn't already been commercially released. I hoped that there might even be a "classic albums" episide for one Police album, but nope...
Insert violins here.

[giovanni]

For what I know, there isn't that much that can be released beyond a few radio shows well recorded. At the same time there is no intention at all from all the parts.
I would love to see a box set of REGGATTA DE BLANC for example (well, there is a box set that I wouldn't like to see of each of the 5 albums?), with the original cd, some related live recordings, all the b-sides, maybe a live show on dvd about those days and, let me see...the whole set of 7" of each song.
Said that, I guess most of us have already all this stuff.
Maybe Craig can tell us if there is something interesting that can be added that most of us do not have.

[New Zealand Promoter]

[quote="giovanni"]
Maybe Craig can tell us if there is something interesting that can be added that most of us do not have.[/quote]

For sure. Craig mentioned here ages ago that he had worked hard on a couple of archive projects but they were not endorsed by someone's management (Universal were apparently keen). One need only glance over Craig's site to answer yr question -The fact is, there is loads of unreleased material which would be suitable for a Pink Floyd / Genesis etc type box set or disc release.

Things like the alternate takes of various tracks (many were recorded and still exist), live videos and tapes (US festival, tapes left over from "Around the World" and "Urgh!", the "Truth Hits" sessions from the '80's, the various BBC sessions, and the dozens of live tapes that exist from various shows recorded on tour.... and this is just some of what's out there. Collectors who have some of this stuff are understandably very guarded about this material because distributing it would compromise their relationship with whomever they get their recordings from - but at least the Craigs of the world let us know there is a lot out there that could be compiled and released so that it's not just Pink Floyd and U2 fans who get goodies every few years...!

[New Zealand Promoter]

[quote="Craig"]I have been speaking with Universal over the past few weeks with a proposal regarding making Outlandos d 'Amour available as part of Universals Deluxe Editions. [/quote]

Woah, man. Sounds promising! Thanks for sharing the update. God knows there is loads of support here for such a
release - and more. Good luck on your mission, Dr. Betts!

[NoOneYouKnow]

I think it's pretty well documented that Sting really isn't into this sort of thing, unfortunately.

Not to name names or anything.

[giovanni]

The bad thing would be if someone will ever release this stuff when no-one of us will be here anymore (amen!), that means, maybe in 100 years? Well, you never know how things will turn up, maybe in the next century there will be a 'collection of artists of the 1900', with bonus and unreleased tracks...WHO WILL CARE ABOUT THAT??? Surely someone into rock music of the late 1900, but the thing is WE would love to have that stuff; so no artists and no fans who experienced that band will enjoy such a release, but only the people of the future, who won't understand how it really was...can you understand what I mean? That would suck, really.

[giovanni]

the good thing is that anyway some of us has already part of that stuff, earned by years and years of trading and collecting, but just a few of us can enjoy that, and this goes back to my previous post.
I have no problem in letting people listen to some outtakes or rarities that I have, when they come home, or when I do some special Police night in some clubs; I can't send them over to others as I have promised not to do so, to the people who gave them to me; in these cases you need to respect the will of who owns this stuff, and for one reason or another, they can't be sent over to anyone (have you ever heard of bootlegs???).
I remember I videotaped a Sting show in London years and years ago, and there was no intention on my side to sell it or make profit of it, no way, never did that...a few months later I saw a dvd of THAT show, with a decent artcover graphic, and all the details, on sale at Camden Market in London. Ok, I did buy a lot of bootlegs in the past, good, but when I saw MY recording was there and saw that someone was earning from it...well, I have decided not to send over all the stuff that I have as easily as I did in the past.

Said that, I do the best that I can to let my friends listen to this stuff, so if you come to Milano one day, be ready and clean your ears very very well...

Craig, I'm sure (well, I know...ahahah), you have way much more than what I have, I guess; if you feel like behaving as I do, and I guess you do, I will clean my ears very very well, if I will ever come and visit you...ahahaha!

[New Zealand Promoter]

You guys should totally hook up a listening party...!

In a more ideal world, one could argue that the best way to prevent bootleggers from making money from such recordings is to simply share them freely, via sites like dime or through trading networks. There are dozens of bootlegs which come up on ebay every day and they don't sell for much because most fans know they are freely available elsewhere. That's what trading really should be about. It's like when alcohol was prohibited - a huge black market grew - and as soon as it was legalised, the bootleggers had nothing to sell anymore.

Having said that, I have to respect that collectors will want to honour the agreements they have made to their sources and not risk damaging relationships (and the possibility of future releases etc) by distributing or trading certain recordings.

Hence the rant about something - anything - being officially released. That really is the ultimate way to kill off bootlegging... and to satisfy the fans who seek the unreleased stuff!