I was a member of this list when it was very active, back in the early 1990s. There was lots of discussion, especially of the then-recent Sting albums, which at least at the time sounded be pretty decent. There seemed to be a lot of momentum and enthusiasm from the still relatively recent Police era. There was always hope and anticipation of a reunion. In retrospect, it seems obvious to me that Sting's albums were pretty uneven, and sometimes just awful: I know at least a few members of the list thought so at the time, but perhaps some of us just appreciated the familiar voice. (And I gave up after the one with "Desert Rose" on it, whatever that was.) After what I considered a very lacklustre "reunion" in which no new music was produced—how can three musicians tour the world without coming up with anything new?—it seems that's kind of the end of the discussion. I haven't really chosen to Sting or the Police in years, and though I usually don't change the channel when a song comes on, it's increasingly rare to hear one of their tracks anywhere. I guess it's partly that I'm not a "classic rock" kind of person; there is a lot of amazing new music available today, and easier to find than ever. So my question is: has the band simply passed into pop music history now? They're not top-of-mind in the popular imagination any longer, for obvious reasons. Sting hasn't released new music in years, as far as I'm aware (maybe the others have, but with the exception of the few years immediately following '86, they've been ignored). This list is dead; when I received the latest digest today, it seemed three of the four messages were spam or related. Is there any point in thinking about this band, thirty years after Synchronicity? (As I'm on the digest, it's likely I won't receive any replies to this for weeks, unless I'm cc'd.) Chris
Hi Chris, I am a classic rock person, and lately I've been hearing some relatively rare tracks, like Tea in the Sahara and Canary in a Coal Mine. I wrote to the list after Sting's appearance on the Grammys (a crummy show, imho). Yes, there's nothing really new with any of them, but their music is still being played, at least on classic rock and satellite radio. And I still enjoy it! I hope the list will stay active, even if the group is not! Who knows what tomorrow may bring? -Holly On Mar 13, 2013 11:09 PM, "Chris Ryan" <sharprichnorth@me.com> wrote:
I was a member of this list when it was very active, back in the early 1990s. There was lots of discussion, especially of the then-recent Sting albums, which at least at the time sounded be pretty decent. There seemed to be a lot of momentum and enthusiasm from the still relatively recent Police era. There was always hope and anticipation of a reunion.
In retrospect, it seems obvious to me that Sting's albums were pretty uneven, and sometimes just awful: I know at least a few members of the list thought so at the time, but perhaps some of us just appreciated the familiar voice. (And I gave up after the one with "Desert Rose" on it, whatever that was.) After what I considered a very lacklustre "reunion" in which no new music was produced—how can three musicians tour the world without coming up with anything new?—it seems that's kind of the end of the discussion.
I haven't really *chosen* to Sting or the Police in years, and though I usually don't change the channel when a song comes on, it's increasingly rare to hear one of their tracks anywhere. I guess it's partly that I'm not a "classic rock" kind of person; there is a lot of amazing new music available today, and easier to find than ever. So my question is: has the band simply passed into pop music history now? They're not top-of-mind in the popular imagination any longer, for obvious reasons. Sting hasn't released new music in years, as far as I'm aware (maybe the others have, but with the exception of the few years immediately following '86, they've been ignored). This list is dead; when I received the latest digest today, it seemed three of the four messages were spam or related.
Is there any point in thinking about this band, thirty years after * Synchronicity*?
(As I'm on the digest, it's likely I won't receive any replies to this for weeks, unless I'm cc'd.)
Chris
_______________________________________________ Police mailing list Police@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/police
Still here, still waiting for something new, unusual, authentic. Perhaps Sting's happiness was his creative downfall. Now we're all old farts, maybe he could cater to our nostalgia. diggie ________________________________ From: Holly Mollo <hollywhhs@gmail.com> To: Chris Ryan <sharprichnorth@me.com>; SDFT <police@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2013 11:50 PM Subject: Re: [Police] Does anyone listen any more? Hi Chris, I am a classic rock person, and lately I've been hearing some relatively rare tracks, like Tea in the Sahara and Canary in a Coal Mine. I wrote to the list after Sting's appearance on the Grammys (a crummy show, imho). Yes, there's nothing really new with any of them, but their music is still being played, at least on classic rock and satellite radio. And I still enjoy it! I hope the list will stay active, even if the group is not! Who knows what tomorrow may bring? -Holly On Mar 13, 2013 11:09 PM, "Chris Ryan" <sharprichnorth@me.com> wrote: I was a member of this list when it was very active, back in the early 1990s. There was lots of discussion, especially of the then-recent Sting albums, which at least at the time sounded be pretty decent. There seemed to be a lot of momentum and enthusiasm from the still relatively recent Police era. There was always hope and anticipation of a reunion.
In retrospect, it seems obvious to me that Sting's albums were pretty uneven, and sometimes just awful: I know at least a few members of the list thought so at the time, but perhaps some of us just appreciated the familiar voice. (And I gave up after the one with "Desert Rose" on it, whatever that was.) After what I considered a very lacklustre "reunion" in which no new music was produced—how can three musicians tour the world without coming up with anything new?—it seems that's kind of the end of the discussion.
I haven't really chosen to Sting or the Police in years, and though I usually don't change the channel when a song comes on, it's increasingly rare to hear one of their tracks anywhere. I guess it's partly that I'm not a "classic rock" kind of person; there is a lot of amazing new music available today, and easier to find than ever. So my question is: has the band simply passed into pop music history now? They're not top-of-mind in the popular imagination any longer, for obvious reasons. Sting hasn't released new music in years, as far as I'm aware (maybe the others have, but with the exception of the few years immediately following '86, they've been ignored). This list is dead; when I received the latest digest today, it seemed three of the four messages were spam or related.
Is there any point in thinking about this band, thirty years after Synchronicity?
(As I'm on the digest, it's likely I won't receive any replies to this for weeks, unless I'm cc'd.)
Chris _______________________________________________ Police mailing list Police@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/police
_______________________________________________ Police mailing list Police@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/police
Ditto from down under! On Thu, Mar 14, 2013 at 3:44 PM, Diggiedog <diggiedog@prodigy.net> wrote:
Still here, still waiting for something new, unusual, authentic. Perhaps Sting's happiness was his creative downfall. Now we're all old farts, maybe he could cater to our nostalgia.
diggie
------------------------------ *From:* Holly Mollo <hollywhhs@gmail.com> *To:* Chris Ryan <sharprichnorth@me.com>; SDFT < police@mailman.xmission.com> *Sent:* Wednesday, March 13, 2013 11:50 PM *Subject:* Re: [Police] Does anyone listen any more?
Hi Chris, I am a classic rock person, and lately I've been hearing some relatively rare tracks, like Tea in the Sahara and Canary in a Coal Mine. I wrote to the list after Sting's appearance on the Grammys (a crummy show, imho). Yes, there's nothing really new with any of them, but their music is still being played, at least on classic rock and satellite radio. And I still enjoy it! I hope the list will stay active, even if the group is not! Who knows what tomorrow may bring? -Holly On Mar 13, 2013 11:09 PM, "Chris Ryan" <sharprichnorth@me.com> wrote:
I was a member of this list when it was very active, back in the early 1990s. There was lots of discussion, especially of the then-recent Sting albums, which at least at the time sounded be pretty decent. There seemed to be a lot of momentum and enthusiasm from the still relatively recent Police era. There was always hope and anticipation of a reunion.
In retrospect, it seems obvious to me that Sting's albums were pretty uneven, and sometimes just awful: I know at least a few members of the list thought so at the time, but perhaps some of us just appreciated the familiar voice. (And I gave up after the one with "Desert Rose" on it, whatever that was.) After what I considered a very lacklustre "reunion" in which no new music was produced—how can three musicians tour the world without coming up with anything new?—it seems that's kind of the end of the discussion.
I haven't really *chosen* to Sting or the Police in years, and though I usually don't change the channel when a song comes on, it's increasingly rare to hear one of their tracks anywhere. I guess it's partly that I'm not a "classic rock" kind of person; there is a lot of amazing new music available today, and easier to find than ever. So my question is: has the band simply passed into pop music history now? They're not top-of-mind in the popular imagination any longer, for obvious reasons. Sting hasn't released new music in years, as far as I'm aware (maybe the others have, but with the exception of the few years immediately following '86, they've been ignored). This list is dead; when I received the latest digest today, it seemed three of the four messages were spam or related.
Is there any point in thinking about this band, thirty years after * Synchronicity*?
(As I'm on the digest, it's likely I won't receive any replies to this for weeks, unless I'm cc'd.)
Chris
_______________________________________________ Police mailing list Police@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/police
_______________________________________________ Police mailing list Police@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/police
_______________________________________________ Police mailing list Police@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/police
On Mar 13, 2013, at 11:50 PM, Holly Mollo wrote:
Yes, there's nothing really new with any of them,
I disagree - Stewart is (as always) very busy with tons of projects: his YouTube channel which is regularly showcasing some delightful new jams, his different musical productions and commissions around the world (a lot of my friends are planning on going to his opera production coming up in May)…it's just not the kind of stuff that gets mainstream attention. Andy has the Circa Zero project coming up soon, which sounds really interesting, and I was fortunate enough to see his documentary last fall in New York - I really hope it gets wider or DVD release sometime soon. I think it's more the case that mailing lists, as forms of communication and keeping up with such things, are pretty much dead to be honest. When fans can interact directly with Stewart on Twitter and Facebook, when there are a bunch of fan groups there (like the PoliceWiki group sharing interesting collectibles and trivia regularly), when there's message board forums where it's easier to keep track of just the conversations you're interested in… to be honest this is pretty much the last place I look to when Police & solo-related conversation and news any longer (and yeah, I've been a lurker here on and off since the 90s myself…) As far as hearing Police music on the radio, I still do quite often when I'm listening to classic rock stations (or even on the "soft rock" station at work.) They definitely have their younger fans, too - but they're all hanging out on Tumblr and would probably look at us cranky old dinosaurs funny about the idea of a "mailing list"… sockii
This is how I feel too. I don't even check this email account every day. And I believe that the way people listen to music has changed. I've loaded all my Police material into iTunes, so I usually end up listening to at least one song per day. Do I listen to entire albums of them anymore? No. But I don't listen to anyone else's albums intact either, unless I'm listening to an old CD that I'm burning onto my hard drive. Chris On Mar 14, 2013, at 7:21 AM, sockii wrote:
On Mar 13, 2013, at 11:50 PM, Holly Mollo wrote:
Yes, there's nothing really new with any of them,
I disagree - Stewart is (as always) very busy with tons of projects: his YouTube channel which is regularly showcasing some delightful new jams, his different musical productions and commissions around the world (a lot of my friends are planning on going to his opera production coming up in May)…it's just not the kind of stuff that gets mainstream attention. Andy has the Circa Zero project coming up soon, which sounds really interesting, and I was fortunate enough to see his documentary last fall in New York - I really hope it gets wider or DVD release sometime soon.
I think it's more the case that mailing lists, as forms of communication and keeping up with such things, are pretty much dead to be honest. When fans can interact directly with Stewart on Twitter and Facebook, when there are a bunch of fan groups there (like the PoliceWiki group sharing interesting collectibles and trivia regularly), when there's message board forums where it's easier to keep track of just the conversations you're interested in… to be honest this is pretty much the last place I look to when Police & solo-related conversation and news any longer (and yeah, I've been a lurker here on and off since the 90s myself…)
As far as hearing Police music on the radio, I still do quite often when I'm listening to classic rock stations (or even on the "soft rock" station at work.) They definitely have their younger fans, too - but they're all hanging out on Tumblr and would probably look at us cranky old dinosaurs funny about the idea of a "mailing list"…
sockii _______________________________________________ Police mailing list Police@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/police
I listen to whole Jethro Tull/Ian Anderson albums. And the fact that they/he aren't in the Rock Hall yet is a disgrace. Ditto Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. Ditto the Moody Blues. On Mar 15, 2013 10:41 PM, "Chris Babcock" <crisp8@cfl.rr.com> wrote:
This is how I feel too. I don't even check this email account every day.
And I believe that the way people listen to music has changed. I've loaded all my Police material into iTunes, so I usually end up listening to at least one song per day. Do I listen to entire albums of them anymore? No. But I don't listen to anyone else's albums intact either, unless I'm listening to an old CD that I'm burning onto my hard drive.
Chris
On Mar 14, 2013, at 7:21 AM, sockii wrote:
On Mar 13, 2013, at 11:50 PM, Holly Mollo wrote:
Yes, there's nothing really new with any of them,
I disagree - Stewart is (as always) very busy with tons of projects: his YouTube channel which is regularly showcasing some delightful new jams, his different musical productions and commissions around the world (a lot of my friends are planning on going to his opera production coming up in May)…it's just not the kind of stuff that gets mainstream attention. Andy has the Circa Zero project coming up soon, which sounds really interesting, and I was fortunate enough to see his documentary last fall in New York - I really hope it gets wider or DVD release sometime soon.
I think it's more the case that mailing lists, as forms of communication and keeping up with such things, are pretty much dead to be honest. When fans can interact directly with Stewart on Twitter and Facebook, when there are a bunch of fan groups there (like the PoliceWiki group sharing interesting collectibles and trivia regularly), when there's message board forums where it's easier to keep track of just the conversations you're interested in… to be honest this is pretty much the last place I look to when Police & solo-related conversation and news any longer (and yeah, I've been a lurker here on and off since the 90s myself…)
As far as hearing Police music on the radio, I still do quite often when I'm listening to classic rock stations (or even on the "soft rock" station at work.) They definitely have their younger fans, too - but they're all hanging out on Tumblr and would probably look at us cranky old dinosaurs funny about the idea of a "mailing list"…
sockii _______________________________________________ Police mailing list Police@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/police
_______________________________________________ Police mailing list Police@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/police
participants (6)
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Chris Babcock -
Chris Ryan -
Diggiedog -
Holly Mollo -
Mathew Hoffman -
sockii