great post, mark. here's to all of you that realize the police are a product of 3 musicians... rich --- Mark Tigges <mtigges@shaw.ca> wrote:
You know, this whole Sting vs. Stewart & Andy debate is so old already. We each of us have our opinions on the matter and I highly doubt that's going to change no matter how much it gets rehashed and how many times the insults get hurled around.
It's the insults that make it tiresome. Intelligent debate is fine ... it's always new to someone. It just occured to me that there is another viewpoint that is justifiable. I believe that had Sting not met Stewart we wouldn't have Stings songwriting to enjoy (since it wouldn't have reached it's current popularity without the police). The bottom line is that Sting pre-police has more in common with Sting post-police than he has with the police. The aforementioned justification is the recording of "Everything Little Thing She Does Is Magic" that is purchaseable on Police Academy by Strontium 90. Some may think it's an anomolous example but I think Stings choice to record it slowly with Congos only is indicative of a deep-rooted style that is a little less pop than the rest of the world. The reason I don't think it is anomolous is that prior to meeting Stewart and Summers he played stand up in a jazz band (Last Exit I believe it was called). Clearly very different from the police. Now, Sting knew he couldn't support a life solely on Last Exit and we _know_ he didn't want a "Dead End Job" so he took off for London and forsaked what he really wanted musically to start up a punk band (punk being the _popular_ rage at the time). Well, we know how well that worked out. If you measure them as a punk band it turned out poorly. If you measure it by Stings yardstick (whatever it seems will be successfull) it was unmeasurable. It is my belief that the police were a vehicle for Sting. The musical record before the police supports this, the musical record after the police supports this, and his breaking the police up when he did supports it. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure he enjoyed it, and I'm sure he's grateful, after all by my argument it attained for him what I think he hoped it would. And I'm one very happy fan for his choices.
I love the vast majority of The Police, and I love the vast majority of Sting. I think he is the greatest songwriter pop music has seen in his generation. And I'm very glad that he has the clout to do things now the way he wants. Personally I think he has made some poor choices in recent years regarding production, but the songwriting is still there. (And before people start complaining that he's even borrowing from himself ... everybody borrows from everybody ... even themselves. Sting is not alone AT ALL in this regard. There are only so many modes that fly in pop, and only so many progressions.)
I hope I haven't bored people, I hope I haven't insulted people. As I began debate is good. The bottom line is nothing can be taken away from any of the triumvirate for their police work and nothing can be taken away from any of them for their post-police work. It is all worth listening to to someone, just as there are people who would feel none of it is worth listening to.
All the best and happy halloween, I need another beer!
Mark.
NB: An interesting tune regarding this discussion just came up over my random ogg player. "Seven" by Bowie from "Hours". I love this song. Can you imagine the arguments on a [BOWIE] mailing list concerning his changes. To paraphrase Kipper (I know that will antagonize a few here ;) "If I were surrounded by people who didn't change, it would be very boring."
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