Police tracks stingified not policified

[hollo]

I've been searching on youtube for tracks that the police performed at the whisky a go go rehearsal and it seems that tracks like voices inside my head that they performed are similar to arrangments sting does on his solo tour circa 2005/2006.
I don't want this. I want police songs that they will perform to be policefied and not akin to something sting does on his solo tour. I want the police to do it their way and do something new and different. I want copeland and summers to put their mark on the songs and not let sting to treat them like hirelings. It has to be a democratic method of arranging the songs. I am worried that summers and copeland will cowtow to sting because he has had all this success for years and has more symbolic power than them.

Roxy music started off as a democratic band but as time went on bryan ferry asserted more power on the band until the stage where he controlled everything.

Is anyone else troubled by the possiblity of the police performing songs in a stingified way. I have no interest in sting's solo studio albums. It's watered down and pales in comparison to the songs in his police days.

Stewart said at the press conference that he just wants to play drums. No, i want stewart to have a creative imput like he and andy did in the old days.If tension resurfaces because of stewart and andy trying to assert their influence then this is good because it will make the music work better. They fought tooth and nail over the music. Great, it's all good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ephlakXM ... ed&search=

[Wait and See]

It remains to be seen what the ultimate result will be. What is most important is that they figure out how to get along with each other and avoid the mistakes of the past.

"Voices/World Running Down" from the Whisky did bear some resemblence to Sting's recent attempts (although much faster than the clip you posted), but "Can't Stand Losing You" and "Message in a Bottle" were just like the old days. Roxanne was closer to the latter than the former. I think there is reason to be optimistic. Stewart seems to think so.

[hollo]

The clip from rehearsal part 1 filled me with some optimism because i liked the eltsdim guitar version as it had a nice feel to it. The other plus point was the grammy award show where roxanne was tight and closer to the studio version than say a sting version would be.

I want stewart and andy too knock out sting's jazzy tendencies. Perhaps we'll see a mixture of all three things - Sting's solo sound, a new police sound, classic police sound. I hope first part 1 will be diminished though.

[samburusunset]

Andy and Stewart haven't been sitting around with their thumbs up their butts for the last 20 + years. Their work and style has grown and changed too. I don't expect to hear every single song to sound like the recordings. There's always some improvization.
From the interviews and such that I've heard/read it seems that they've matured and are very much looking forward to it. Stewart's not a shrinking violet. I don't think he'd holdback to placate Sting. He want's to rock. It's still HIS band. This is a major undertaking. I really don't think A & S would agree to this if they thought it was going to be a glorified Sting tour.

[Wait and See]

I think part of the reason for optimism is that Sting has been doing what he wants for a long time. He probably will not be as determined to follow his own ideas exclusively as he was when the band split. The other part is that they all seem to be very positive about the whole experience, including Sting. So I think there is reason to believe they can get along much better this time around than in the past.

[PhilippeC]

I think so, too.

And after all those years (and remember, they reunited only a few weeks before the Whisky, so things can change until the start of the tour), it is absolutely normal we find Sting's influences on the Police work of today. And as mentioned above, these arrangements are only found on "Voices / When the World...". We can remain optimistics. And what about Andy's guitar? It sounds more like his solo stuff than the original Police studio versions. It's normal, they evolved since Synchronicity.

So, Police 2007 will probably be the addition of all these experiences and of all of three. I think it is their force: they're not trying to sound like 1983, but just like today. They matured and they won't play for nostalgy, but for pleasure. That's a very good point.

[georgygirl]

Sting playing Police's songs without Stewart and Andy, sounds very poor, it doesn´t matter if he wrote the song. His partners give it soul, if you understand what I mean...

Phew, Thank God Sting recalled his mind!

[sockii]

I don't want the concert to be a time-capsule, trying to recreate exactly how they sounded thirty years ago. That to me is a recipe for disaster and disappointment, quite honestly.

Let's wait and hear what happens...as others have said, they've all done a lot since the end of the Police, their styles have changed and matured...I'm looking forward to hearing how they could take the old material in new directions. No, I don't want to just hear Stewart & Andy playing backup on Sting-solo versions of the Police tracks, but I really doubt that's going to happen. Even if they start out with versions more close to the way Sting has been playing them in recent years, I fully expect plenty of twists and turns. And FWIW, the Voices/When the World performance was my favorite part of the Whisky show...Andy's solo was just scorching! I can't imagine any of Sting's guitar players from his solo years turning out something like that.

[Spec A!]

To be honest there is that little glimmer of "now I will finally get to see them like I never could when they were together". But then reality kicks in telling me almost 30 years have passed and I realize how awesome it will be JUST TO SEE THEM.

[i]please don't ever forget just how lucky we all are to see them back together after all these years.[/i]

I know Sting can't reach those high notes, and just can't really R O C K like he could when he was in his 20's and 30's. Those times are past, and lucky are the few that got to see them when they did in that era. I have no doubt that this tour will be incredible, that Stewart will rock like never before, that Andy will be simply amazing, and that Sting will be great. Above all seeing all three of them together is truly beyond words for me at this point.

I am sooo excited to see what they will do with these old songs that have been in my head for years on end. You know that there will be bits and pieces and maybe whole parts that will be played just like they were 25-30 years ago. And then there will be new stuff to wrap my head around and enjoy. I agree that I don't want to see a glorifed Sting Tour. But there's no way in hell it could ever be, because it's Andy and Stewart playing with him. It's not Sting and The Police- It's THE POLICE!

I'm also a big RUSH fan. I got into them late in the game in the mid 90's. Luckily for me they are still playing/recording/touring, albiet inbewteen a couple 5 year hiatuses. All three can still rock really well and if anything are better at their instruments than they've ever been, but Geddy can't quite sing like he could 20 years ago. Most of their arrangements really haven't changed much which has kinda made it stale even in the 6 or so times I've seen them live in the last 10 years. That's another reason why The Police are going to be amazing. Not only are they back together after all these years, but they have so much experience now, are truly masters of their instruments, and will bring new life to everything they've done (for me at least)!

I watched that When the World is Running Down video on YouTube, and I didn't think that the arrangement sounded bad- all I could think of is "Man! I can't wait to see what Stewart and Andy will do with it!!!!"

We've already caught a glimpse.... CAN NOT WAIT!!!

[Wait and See]

I think actually that a large majority of people going to the shows...meaning not necessarily those hardcore enough to be posting on the internet about it...actually will be expecting something as close as possible to the way they used to sound. I also think Sting, Andy and Stewart are aware of that, and will seek to balance a few new twists against generally faithful renderings of the songs as people know them.

The positive thing is that all of this talk about how they've "aged" is overblown, from what I've seen. Sting may have lost a small bit of his vocal range, but not much. Stewart has lost nothing, and Andy will certainly have his part squared away by the time the shows start. As I said above, their renditions of "Message" and "Can't Stand" at the Whisky were extremely close to what they used to do. They were a little sloppy and maybe a tad slow, but stylistically, it was just like the old days.

[ghostinthepolice]

[quote="sockii"]I don't want the concert to be a time-capsule, trying to recreate exactly how they sounded thirty years ago. That to me is a recipe for disaster and disappointment, quite honestly.

Let's wait and hear what happens...as others have said, they've all done a lot since the end of the Police, their styles have changed and matured...I'm looking forward to hearing how they could take the old material in new directions. No, I don't want to just hear Stewart & Andy playing backup on Sting-solo versions of the Police tracks, but I really doubt that's going to happen. Even if they start out with versions more close to the way Sting has been playing them in recent years, I fully expect plenty of twists and turns. [/quote]

YES!

[quote]And FWIW, the Voices/When the World performance was my favorite part of the Whisky show...Andy's solo was just scorching! I can't imagine any of Sting's guitar players from his solo years turning out something like that.[/quote]

YESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!

[DirtyMartini]

[quote="samburusunset"]Andy and Stewart haven't been sitting around with their thumbs up their butts for the last 20 + years. [/quote]

SS, I heart you.

If someone goes to the concert expecting The Recordings, yeah, I think they will be disappointed. But those same people would have been disappointed back in the day as well since their live performances were never just recreations. Live is a different monster than Studio.

But if someone goes to the concert looking to see what three brilliant musicians with decades of experience can bring to the table, then I think they will be blown away. Will it be different than the sound of their youth? Of course it will. If it weren't, then The Boys wouldn't be the brilliant musicians that they are.

Will Sting influence the sound? Of course he will. Will Stewart and Andy influence the sound? Of course they will. And they will do so in an effort to entertain us and entertain themselves. I have faith in their personalities and their abilities to trust that what they create will be an amazing hybrid of old tunes and modern sensibilities.

As for the high notes, Sting didn't always sing them even when he was younger. It's much easier to hit them once for a recording than over and over every night for months at a time. I'd be more worried about him losing more hair than more vocal range.

On TPT, I saw a thread called "Let Stewart Be Stewart" -- which is a great phrase. But I think most people, Sting included, would be hard-pressed to STOP Stewart from being Stewart. That's part of what defines Stewart, personally and musically. I have faith that our Commander-in-Chief will make us proud. He always does. He already has.

[Divemistress of the Dark]

I may not agree with all Sting's musical directions, but he's not a stupid man. Surely he can see that a.) without S&A, these stadiums would not be selling out in five minutes, and b.) they both would add a lot to whatever musical direction's up next.

Stewart's going to hate me if he reads this, but I suspect this may be a lot more like some really great jazz shows I've seen - these guys are all really accomplished players now, with 20+ more years of experience under their belts than in the days of yore. I figure there's pretty much no way imaginable these live shows are going to be anything but phenomenal.

[georgygirl]

[quote]I figure there's pretty much no way imaginable these live shows are going to be anything but phenomenal.
[/quote]

Yeah, it will be cool. I agree with you Dive.

[theskydoctor]

Andy wrote in his book that in the early days, they had to improvise and stretch out the songs in order to fill their allotted time on stage. Even on the Ghost tour they were doing that when, by that time, they definitely had enough material. For talented musicians, that's how you keep it fresh for yourselves, mixing it up night after night, never really knowing what path you're going to turn down next. To be able to be there in person when it's happening is akin to being there when a mad scientist makes a new discovery or when an explorer discovers a new world. I'd love to be able to be there every night of the tour to see how the songs morph from the first show to the last.