mah@ihuxx.UUCP (09/18/83)
Has anyone heard the latest by the Police, Synchronisity. If so, please send a review to the net or to me. Thank you, J. Harpalani (mah)
rlr@pyuxn.UUCP (09/20/83)
Why do people despise Andy Summers's song "Mother" on the Synchronicity album. I, for one, found it to be one of the more interesting pieces on the album. It was in fact my motivation to buy the record. After having heard "Every Nose You Pick" as well as "Synchronicity I & II" and "King of Pain", I thought that the Police had gotten back on the track of creating good, progressive but non-pompous music. A track they had abandoned with the "Zenator Mondale" album (not good) and "Ghosts in the Machine" (better in parts, but too overdone and pompous). But I was not fully impressed enough to buy the record. (I stopped buying Police albums after "Regatta de Blanc".) When I heard. I'm really sick of people who say "Well, the Police are punk, so I'm really surprised that any of them can play at all, but they're not really good musicians" simply because they don't make noise like Eddie van Halen or Steve Howe or dog knows who. First off, they are doing better and more creative things than any other mainstream rock musicians. Secondly, the Police are not/were not/never will be punk. They are veterans of serious groups who dyed their hair and played reggaesque punkesque music. A cardinal sin, for sure, but their end results make up for their posing, which is more than I can say for Missing Persons and that other "punk" group, A Schlock of Feagulls.
honey@princeton.UUCP (09/21/83)
of course, if what you're looking for is "annoying and grating" vocals, then "mother" is the song for you. at best, it's inane. summers' freudian slip is showing. synchro... is really only half an album -- most of side one is garbage, while most of side 2 is reminiscent of other police records -- intelligent lyrics, creative arrangements. i would guess that they were so anxious to release something (anything!) that they threw in the kitchen sink, trusting that the public would suck it up in any event. we'll have to wait for their next record to see ... peter honeyman
brooks@ihuxl.UUCP (Carole Brooks) (09/21/83)
Now, wait a minute! If you think that all Steve Howe does is make noise, then I suggest you listen to the Yes songs "The Clap" and "Mood for a Day". Steve Howe is one of the greatest guitarists of our time. It breaks my heart to see him in Asia where his creativity is dulled and in most songs I can't even hear him. Regardless, he does not belong in a class anywhere near Eddie Van Halen. I also find it rather tastless to criticize another musician or group to make "your group" look better, because it's possible (as in my case) to like both. Carole Brooks ihuxl !brooks
tom@rlgvax.UUCP (Tom Beres) (09/22/83)
I have resisted as long as I can:
there have been several references to Sting/Police's lyrics as
"intelligent", "interesting", etc.
Is this the same Sting & Police who wrote "Message In a Bottle",
"(Don't Stand So) Close to Me", "Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Dei (or whatever
the nonsense syllables are)"? I had always figured that their experimentation
in lyrics was to explore new meanings of the word "trite". The lyrics seemed
indicative of the audience they were trying to reach (read "very young").
Have things really changed? What happened?
This is not intended as a flame, but as a legitimate question to the net.
- Tom Beres
{seismo, allegra, mcnc, brl-bmd, we13}!rlgvax!tomrlr@pyuxn.UUCP (09/26/83)
The word "trite" is best applied to people who make comments about lyrics that they've never listened to. I for one really like the line in "Don't Stand So Close to Me": It's no use. He sees her. He starts to shake and cough. Just like the old man in that book by Nabokov. Or witness the triteness of Message in a Bottle Woke up this morning. Don't believe what I saw. A hundred million bottles washed up on the shore. Seems I never noticed being alone. A hundred million castaways, looking for a home. Now I'll admit that these lyrics aren't of the caliber of the Southern Heavy Metal Good Ole Boys #1 MTV smash "Get Stoned, Drive Fast, and Rape Some Women", or Euthanasia's forty-minute epic about the meaning of life (I forgot, they don't do extended pieces like that anymore). And I'm very grateful that they're not of that caliber. (No, I'm not about to defend the high quality of lyrics in "De Doo Doo Doo De Da Da Da". It's, like, on another astral level, man.) Rich Rosen pyuxn!rlr P.S. "Synchronicity II" has its share of powerful lyrics, too, but I don't have that one on the tip of my tongue. I always thought Sting was saying "I'm a pool hall ace" in Every Breath You Take, but then I only understand the trite lyrics.