2003 Interview: Stew Names Favorite Police Album

[Divemistress of the Dark]

http://www.vh1.com/artists/interview/14 ... lice.jhtml

Hey guys, was digging around for something else when I found this interview, conducted around the time of the Rock 'n Roll Hall induction.

Heh. Stew also calls out "Masako Tanga," one of my favorite tracks, and "One World," another favorite (although I'm not sure I'd call it 'underappreciated'. It does feature Stew busting on the kit in grand fashion, however.) Disappointingly, tho, SC is fairly dismissive of "Zenyatta," which may be my personal favorite.

OK, I'll grant you Zenyatta is lighterweight than the other records. But dammit, it has both "Man in a Suitcase," which is really evocative of what being in a rock band must be like, and "Canary in a Coalmine," which features such great Beatlesesque harmonies that it's nearly pure pop perfection.

Come to think of it, the accomplished musicians amongst us may be able to tell me if those two songs are joined spiritually by a similar riff. Seems like the chord progression moves along similarly.

(I am a poor to middling guitar player myself, tho I own two Rickenbacker 325s. Busted my elbow a couple years back - stepped in a ditch, though the story is so boring I took to telling people I got popped in a bar fight - and fell off the wagon vis a vis practicing.)

[Divemistress of the Dark]

While I'm at it, here's a Washington Post interview that mentions there may be some Klark Kent projects afoot. HM! I'd read this before, but glossed right over the KK segments...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01460.html

[Marshmallow Jones 1]

I think I know why Stew puts One World out there. The classic Copeland drumming he does on that song (probably the most numerous and most interesting fills ouside of Driven to Tears) were done in one, (count 'em) ONE take. He dropped a mike on the other side of the room and ramped up the compression and just hammered it out. Talk about being on the top of your game. I think he said it was his favorite bit of drumming unil he put down Muder by Numbers which is a 3/4 beat on top of a 4/4 song structure. Pretty funky stuff.

[Divemistress of the Dark]

It is some mighty goshdarn drumming. I dare you - right now, go ahead - to put that song on the hi-fi and remain seated.

[cpriddims]

Zenyatta is my alltime favorite. I could be stranded on a desert island and survive only with that record....well...and something to play it on. I own it on 3 forms of vinyl, 2 cd's, 2 cassettes, and even...yep....8 track! (it plays). I even have the tour poster from zenyatta I found on ebay.

I think Zenyatta's my fav because it sounds more spontaneous than all the other records as a whole. At least it feels that way to me. Stewart sounds more free on that one. No "less is more policy." It could also be because that was the one that got me hooked. Then again.. there are alot of fills in Ghost!

[Divemistress of the Dark]

I'm going to try to draw up my own list of the 'good drumming' songs. Sheez, it's hard, because they're all good, you know...?

Honestly, I'd have to throw in there:

* Every Little Thing She Does (the subtlety of the fills in the intro really grabs me...we all know Stew's a powerhouse, and yet a softer approach really makes this song. He's also in perfect time here) Update: I just read, while searching for something else, that the hi-hat was recorded once but fed through digital delay. Interesting.
* Next to You (Early Stew drum attack - yowza!)
* Driven to Tears (similarly subtle drum fill. Interesting that Stew says jazz reminds him of The Man, and yet this is the best jazz drumming you could ever hear)
* Rehumanize Yourself (man! It's fun!)
* Bed's Too Big (Stew doesn't overplay here. The hi-hats are perfectly timed and subtle, tho I realize that may simply be a feat of production...OK, truthfully I love the guitar riffs in this song, but Stew could have insisted on being mixed further forward and it would have set off the balance)

Think I may have to sit down and concentrate...these are a few right off the top of my head...(edited as I got more time to think about it)

[Marshmallow Jones 1]

Well you have to keep in ind that Stewart, being the clever musician that he is, very often used echos and layered tracks when putting down the drums in the studio. Good examples of that are Darkness, Every Little Thing, Walking on the Moon and Message in a Bottle I remember reading an article with Stewart where he said he used to love watching drummers in cover bands play Message, trying to play all the parts because there are about 6 layered drums tracks in that song. I know I used to find it frustrating at the start of the 'sending out an SOS' part when he plays hi hat and bass drum on the 1,2,3,4 and you'd hear the snare and ride bell at the same time on the 3's. I knew his ride was on his right, like most righty drummers, and I thought how the hell is he hitting that bell so cleanly on the other side of his kit while not missing any 8ths on the hi hat? drove me nuts

anyway my other favorite Copeland drum songs are the aforementioned Walking on the Moon, On Any Other Day (he progressively plays more of the ride bell with each chorus, in the 3rd chorus the bell is just so awesomely cutting and loud), Demolition Man (another song with several drum layers if I'm not mistaken), Wrapped Around Your Finger. I was pretty young and just barely into the drums when I saw that video. I couldnt for the life of me figure out how he was getting a rimshot sound by using brushes and hitting an octoban. Later I realized the video director and Stewart were taking 'poetic license' you might say.

Also love the way in Around the World he changes up the drumming in De Do Do Do. sick...

ok, ok I gotta do SOME work today. if my boss only knew...

[Divemistress of the Dark]

"Man in a Suitcase." Damn, I love this song....jeez, there's a lot going on here. You've got Andy playing like a madman and yet sounding like the Specials meets early Elvis Costello...a really spare punk aesthetic. OK, I love the bass line in this. Stew has an Afro-Caribbean beat going into the last verse, until - BAM! There's the full sonic assault for which he's so famous - yet it's still restrained. Kind of a like a spitting Tasmanian devil dressed up in a suit and sitting behind a desk. (Is that the worst metaphor you've ever heard? Thought so.

(OK, I'm listening to Masako again so I'm already distracted...I've got a "Police" folder in Itunes I often run on shuffle, just to mix up the track orders a little...I've also got the Animal Logic, Orchestralli and Oysterhead stuff in there...)

[olivier]

Stewart mentioned "Reggatta" as being his favorite album, it's mine too because it contains all the components of The Police sound, and Stewart's drumming is amazing (uh... as always by the way) particularly in songs like "Walking On The Moon", "Reggatta", "Bed's Too Big" or "Deathwish".
That was more sophisticated than "Outlandos" (which is the second album of my list with almost equality) with new guitar effects such as analog delays, flangers and the contribution of synthesizers like the Minimoog and Taurus Moog pedals ("Walking", "Contact", "Does Everyone Stares" 3rd verse).
There's is a particular athmosphere in this album which, when I listen to it, bring me back in 1979/1980 when I was just a kid discovering the GOOD music. Full of images suddenly came back to me !