Subconcious influence - absolutely. My boyfriend and I find that we're both drawn to 80s-sounding stuff, because it resembles the music we heard when we were young kids. Joe would've been around for band practices and gigs at times during the Police era, which is bound to have influenced his singing style. And the band paid their dues for years, going out of their way to avoid the impression that they were trading on Sting's name. What gets me is that in any other profession you get people who get opportunities through friends or relatives in the same line of work. If you're working hard on your own to begin with, I don't see anything wrong with taking a chance, and I find it hard to believe that most people (including most music journalists) would resist the chance of a lifetime to open for a band like the Police. The implication of criticisms is, of course, that you're not keeping it real if you had help. I think the whole quest for authenticity in music is often pretty bogus, depending as it does on what is, at any given time, fashionably considered to be authentic... In the end what bugs me most about this is that now less people will give a great band a chance. Hopefully when they start getting airplay in the UK the music itself will be a counter-influence... Ang On 8/22/07, musictogetherbyjoan@netzero.net <musictogetherbyjoan@netzero.net> wrote:
I have to wonder if these people who do the reviews even listen to the whole cd. If that is the case, then they are so focused on listening for Sting/Police similarities that they miss the brilliance of FP's music and lyrics on a standalone basis. Left Side of the Brain is a cd that just gets better and better the more you listen to it. And they put on a raucous live performance that cannot be overlooked.
There isn't one song on that record that is a total Police copycat. There are sections of songs that have the reminiscencse of Andy's guitar, and Sting's bassline and shades of Stewart's drumming but they are just bits of the whole.
And besides that, what band that is alive today and grew up in the age of the Police could NOT be influenced by them, if even on a subconscious level? The Police are great musicians who changed the way music is played and heard.
Music reviewers can be really off the tangent. As they say about any other profession, those who can't do it write about it. They are jealous of Joe's good looks, talent, success and geneology. I mean, who wouldn't want to have Sting in their family?