The Police were one of the top selling group in the 1980s. Plenty of Platinum records! As Sting tells it, the group took a “pause” after their Synchronicity Tour (1983–1984). During that time, Sting released his solo album and the other band members engaged in separate projects.
The Police reunited briefly for the Amnesty International A Conspiracy of Hope Tour in June 1986. The atmosphere was tense. According to Sting, “It was a very symbolic moment. We’d broken up, then sort of reformed to do the Amnesty Tour. U2 were there as well and as we closed our set with “Invisible Sun“, Bono came out and sang it with us. And then we symbolically handed our instruments over to U2, because they were about to become what we were — the biggest band in the world”.
Every Breath You Take: The Singles is essentially a Greatest Hits album. Are you a fan of The Police? Any favorites here? GRADE: B+
TRACK LIST:
All tracks are written by Sting.
| No. | Title | Original album | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | “Roxanne“ | Outlandos d’Amour | 3:11 |
| 2. | “Can’t Stand Losing You“ | Outlandos d’Amour | 2:47 |
| 3. | “Message in a Bottle“ | Reggatta de Blanc | 4:50 |
| 4. | “Walking on the Moon“ | Reggatta de Blanc | 5:01 |
| 5. | “Don’t Stand So Close to Me ’86“ | re-recording of song from Zenyatta Mondatta | 4:52 |
| 6. | “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da“ | Zenyatta Mondatta | 4:06 |
| No. | Title | Original album | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7. | “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic“ | Ghost in the Machine | 4:19 |
| 8. | “Invisible Sun“ | Ghost in the Machine | 3:44 |
| 9. | “Spirits in the Material World“ | Ghost in the Machine | 2:58 |
| 10. | “Every Breath You Take“ | Synchronicity | 3:56 |
| 11. | “King of Pain“ | Synchronicity | 4:57 |
| 12. | “Wrapped Around Your Finger“ | Synchronicity | 5:14 |
I liked the Police but didn’t love them. They did some decent records but never seemed to have a lot of depth to them. U2 was a much better band. I saw the Police twice. First at a small punk club (Bookies) in Detroit on a nasty winter day. They hadn’t released a album yet. Just Roxanne as a single. There were only about 25 people there. Later I saw them at Cobo Hall with The Go Go’s opening. I can’t listen to Roxanne without thinking of Eddie Murphy in 48 Hours. Every Breath You Take is probably my favorite song of theirs.
Steve, I’m impressed you saw The Police at the beginning of their run! Being one of the lucky 25 people in Bookies that night is a Special Moment!
Can’t say I really disliked them but I was never a big fan. Despite Sting’s effort to lump them with U2 they were never close to being in that league. And “biggest band in the world”? Never. And they were competing with the likes of REM, U2, and lots of bands of the 60s and 70s that were still going strong. Most of their songs are at least OK, but I’ll second Steve’s choice of “Every Breath You Take”.
Michael, that Sting comment tells you a lot about what he and The Police thought they were back then.
Well, U2 aren’t exactly Deep, either. GHOST IN THE MACHINE remains my favorite of the Police’s albums, as it’s the closest to being a concept album, and about trying to escape one’s depression and seek some inner peace. Not mention it might be their most jazz-flavored album. (I believe it was #1 or 2 for its year on the DOWNBEAT [jazz magazine] poll for best rock album.) The notion that there was a torch to pass from the Police to U2 is more a measure of their egos, which have been rather a consistent flaw of Gordon Sumner’s public presentation (as well as Paul Hewson’s). “Every Breath You Take” has always been intentionally a creepy stalker song, while “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic” is a good evocation of the startling feelings engendered by new love.
I certainly wouldn’t’ve minded seeing the Go-Go’s/Police tour. “Spirits in the Material World” and “Secret Journey” from GHOSTS are certainly among their best, as well, and I’ve always liked “Bombs Away”…
The hour helps the typos proliferate!
Todd, I’m with you on GHOST IN THE MACHINE. The Police produced a lot of hit songs, but that album is special.
I was never a Police (or U2) fan but they, and this album, were undeniably HUGE at the time. “Every Breath You Take” was inescapable if you left the house. It seemed to be playing frim every car radio and store/restaurant/bar stereo for a good year or so. It was probably one of the first examples of what was dubiously termed “college rock” at the time migrating to mass market success (which led to the big record labels then tripping over themselves to co-opt what had previously been a relatively niche market). I remember, after Sting mentioned in an interview that the song was about his ex-wife, Randy Newman cited the song as an example of why he never wrote songs about real people, saying something to the effect of “Can you imagine how she must feel, hearing that song everywhere she goes?”
Byron, I remember that Randy Newman quote! So true! And MTV was playing The Police videos on heavy rotation back then, too.
Well, they were among those who could be tucked into “New Wave” rock, since they weren’t punk but did play in a more spare style than most arena rock bands. And were kind of punk-adjacent, much as Blondie was, or Elvis Costello and the Attractions. “College rock” was more the next step, more early/mid ’80s and usually indy-label bands rather than on major labels or the likes of Chrysalis Records, or IRS, which made distribution deals with the majors and behaved similarly.
Sting’s ex-wife is well known actress Frances Tomelty. We’ve seen her recently in episodes of Morse and Kavanagh Q.C. (both with John Thaw starring), Unforgotten and Catastrophe, to name a few. They just so happened to live next door to her best friend, Trudie Styler, for several years in London, supposedly before Sting started carrying on with the latter,
Trudy was an on episode of Midsomer Murders where she played a woman having an affair with her best friend’s husband. Apparently the role was tailor-made for her! Lol
I was a fan—but, unlike a lot of my favorite acts from that era, I never saw them in concert. I like many of the songs here, especially “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” “Message in A Bottle,” “King of Pain,” and “Walking on the Moon.” I also liked some of Sting’s later solo work, especially “Fields of Gold” and “Desert Rose.” I never liked “Every Breath You Take”—I always felt it had a creepy vibe. Sting said people would tell him all the time that “Every Breath You Take” was the sing they played for the first dance at their wedding and he would say, “Have you listened to the lyrics?”
Deb, you’re right about “Every Breath You Take.” Creepy vibe, indeed!
No, never a big fan. I’d take “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic” if I had to choose one. I do not like “Roxanne” at all.
Jeff, I’m a bit surprised that Sting wrote all these songs. Some groups like to mix in variety in their music, but The Police stuck with a consistent sound.
Every Breath seems to be the story of a stalker. I didn’t get that then but now I am “woke/”
It was always kind of hard to miss. Kind of like how “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” was about teen molestation. They did enjoy taking on “edgy” topics. However, “Don’t Stand” at least wasn’t quite approving of the situation…”Every” is a little more from the POV of the stalker.
Todd, I think The Police’s music and Sting’s lyrics featured “off-center” commentary in song form.
The film BRIMSTONE AND TREACLE, an early Sumner/”Sting” acting part, didn’t help matters.
Todd, and don’t forget Sting’s role in DUNE!
Patti, now we have to analyze that other “woke” song: The Everly Brothers’ “Wake Up, Little Suzie”!
Not to mention Baby It’s Cold Outside.
Steve, that “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” controversy raged a few years ago: http://georgekelley.org/neptunes-daughter-and-baby-its-cold-outside/
Hm. I shall have to review the Everlys’ song…don’t recall anything non-voluntary implied there. The recording of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” by She and Him, with Zoey Deschanel as would-be seducer. doesn’t satisfy those who think it rather creepy, but it does seem to annoy some who love the earlier recordings perhaps a bit Too Much.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVz6TCT5Bjs
Todd, check out the link in my comment to Steve for more on “Baby, It’s Gold Outside.”
As I remembered it, “Wake Up, Little Susie” is more in the mode of “Too Early Spring” and SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m going to call up my kids and beg their forgiveness!” Mort Sahl about Earnest Teens Misunderstood films in the late ’50s/earliest ’60s, no?
Oh come on.
Yeah, I pretty much stand by my comment back then, too. And that that particular song is about people “playing” a game, which as Jeff Smith noted back then, wasn’t a game that gets played so much any more (nor has to be, thank goodness), though there are still those who want to pretend that No is always a game, and always have been. And they are thugs and rapists. Hell, the song itself deals with that angle obliquely, with the line about hurting the pride of the would-be seducer…
I always thought – still do – that “Every Breath” was about a guy who was so head over heels in love he couldn’t take his eyes or thoughts off her. Does everyone these days have to find fault and woke bullsh*t in everything?
BAH.
What Rick said!
Oh, I’m not sure latter-day sensitivity, warranted or unwarranted, feigned or legit, needs to be invoked here. Again, it was pretty obvious to me at time of release:
[Verse 1]
Every breath you take
And every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I’ll be watching you
Every single day
And every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
I’ll be watching you
[Chorus]
Oh, can’t you see you belong to me?
How my poor heart aches
With every step you take?
[Verse 2]
Every move you make
And every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I’ll be watching you
[Bridge]
Since you’ve gone, I’ve been lost without a trace
I dream at night, I can only see your face
I look around, but it’s you I can’t replace
I feel so cold, and I long for your embrace
I keep crying baby, baby, please
[Middle-Eight]
Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm
Mmm, mmm, mmm
[Chorus]
Oh, can’t you see you belong to me?
How my poor heart aches
With every step you take
[Verse 3]
Every move you make
And every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I’ll be watching you
Every move you make
Every step you take
I’ll be watching you
[Outro]
I’ll be watching you
(Every breath you take)
(Every move you make)
(Every bond you break)
(Every step you take)
I’ll be watching you
(Every single day)
(Every word you say)
(Every game you play)
(Every night you stay)
I’ll be watching you
(Every move you make)
(Every vow you break)
(Every smile you fake)
(Every claim you stake)
I’ll be watching you
(Every single day)
(Every word you say)
(Every game you play)
(Every night you stay)
I’ll be watching you
(Every breath you take)
(Every move you make)
(Every bond you break)
(Every step you take)
I’ll be watching you
(Every single day)
(Every word you say)
(Every game you play)
(Every night you stay)
I’ll be watching you
(Every move you make)
(Every vow you break)
(Every smile you fake)
(Every claim you stake)
I’ll be watching you
(Every single day)
(Every word you say)
(Every game you play)
(Every night you stay)
I’ll be watching you…
Todd, thanks for the lyrics!
Not at all. It is interesting how often the initial texts tend to show whom, or whose memory, is actually revising.
I’ll see your BRIMSTONE AND TREACLE and DUNE, and raise you THE BRIDE, one of the worse Frankenstein movies ever.
Fred, a lot of bad movies are going to fill the movie theaters in a few weeks!
THE BRIDE is pretty awful in the same sort of rakish way, but BRIMSTONE AND TREACLE does involve Sting playing a demonic figure who more or less “cures” a catatonic woman by raping her.