Some random Police rarities

Really hadn't listened to too much Police in the last decade (or more), used to really like some of their stuff (although not NEARLY as much as some of their hardcore fan base, some of the most frothing-at-the-mouth that I can recall encountering)......but, thinking back to the first time I ever heard "Outlandos d'Amour", I recall how unique they sounded, and for my money they never really did release a bad album......and as a singles band they were the shit, rivaled only by maybe the Cars as the top singles act of the early 1980's.

To rehash the obvious for anyone who was in a coma in the late 70's-early 80's, the Police were vocalist/bassist Sting, guitarist Andy Summers, and drummer Stewart Copeland, and they struck gold with their very first single "Roxanne", from the previously mentioned LP, "Outlandos d'Amour"....."Outlandos" is a wonderful album, sounds fantastic all these years later, a fine blend of reggae-punk-jazz that formed a sound that was uniquely theirs.....the subsequent albums, "Regatta de Blanc", "Zenyatta Mondatta", "Ghost in the Machine", and "Synchronicity" are really all pretty great, in my opinion, and all contain some amazing singles......I am not about to put all of those albums up, because if you are a fan of the band obviously you already have them....I think, though, that just for the hell of it, I'll put up "Every Breathe You Take: The Singles" along with the rarities I have, just because it works SO WELL (as a singles collection)......really great band, capable of both great albums AND great singles.

So, "Every Breathe You Take" is just a bit skimpy (only 14 tracks, two of which is are updated versions of "Message in a Bottle" and "Don't Stand So Close To Me", but it does hit MOST of the essentials, "Roxanne", "Message in a Bottle", "Wrapped Around Your Finger", "King of Pain" (my favorite).....hell,  don't know, maybe they technically weren't "singles", I think this could easilly have been a 2 disc set had they included "Next To You", "So Lonely",  "Murder By Numbers", "Synchronicity II"......anyway, it is what it is, and I'll include it here as the "updated" numbers, I suppose, qualify as "rarities"

Well, what do we have here?  I never saw the band live, have seen some concert footage of them and they seemed like the real deal on stage as well.....I have two live sets for you, Rockpalast 10/15/80 and Melbourne Australia 2/22/81.....both are high quality recordings, and quite energetic show, and the damndest thing is: the set lists are basically INDENTICAL.....huge fans of the band, help me out....is this just a coincidence or did these guys NEVER change their set list? I mean, I assume both shows were from the same tour, but ZERO change in the set list? Don't think I've ever seen that before......no big deal, just kind of odd. I had to check them to make sure they weren't the same show with one mislabled (they aren't)

We have the very interesting and entertaining "Lost BBC Tapes", evidently from around the same time, 1981 or so, as the set list is somewhat similar to the Melbourne set, still not bad at all. "Rare Unreleased Demos" is exactly what it proclaims, and for fans of the band this is a jewel, and I don't think it's all that common floating around the web.

So, I had more or less forgotten about the Police, for whatever the reason I was listening to "Synchronicity" the other day and as often happens, I was struck by how damn good these guys were. They were at one point INCREDIBLY popular, which, wrongly on my part, is genrally viewed by myself as a negative......but in this case, they were so popular just because they were so damn good.....sometimes, not often but sometimes, the masses get it right.

EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE THE SINGLES-01 Roxanne/02 Can't Stand Losing You/03 Message In a Bottle/04 Walking on the Moon/05 Don't Stand So Close to Me/06 De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da/07 Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic/08 Invisible Sun/09 Spirits In the Material World/10 Every Breath You Take/11 King of Pain/12 Wrapped Around Your Finger/13 Don't Stand So Close To Me '86/14 Message In a Bottle (New Classic Rock Mix)

MELBOURNE 2/22/81-01 Don't Stand So Close to Me/02 Walking on the Moon/03 Deathwish/04 Fallout/05 Man in a Suitcase/06 Bring On the Night/07 De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da/08 Truth Hits Everybody/09 Shadows in the Rain/10 When the World Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around/11 The Bed's Too Big Without You/12 Driven to Tears/13 Message In a Bottle/14 Roxanne/15 Can't Stand Losing You/16 Next to
You/17So Lonely

ROCKPALAST 10/18/80-01 Don't Stand So Close to Me/02 Walking on the Moon/03 Deathwish/04 Fallout/05 Man in a Suitcase/06 Bring On the Night/07 De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da/08 Truth Hits Everybody/09 Shadows in the Rain/10 When the World Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around/11 The Bed's Too Big Without You/12 Driven to Tears/13 Message In a Bottle/14 Roxanne/15 Can't Stand Losing You/16 Next to
You/17So Lonely

LOST BBC TAPES-01 Next To You/02 Roxanne/03 Truth Hits Everybody/04 So Lonely/05 Message In a Bottle/06 The Bed's Too Big Without You/07 Can't Stad Losing You/08 So Lonely/09 Fallout/10 The Bed's Too Big Without You/11 Message In a Bottle/12 Roxanne/13 Walking on the Moon/14 Death Wish/15 Bring On the Night/16 No Time This Time

RARE UNRELEASED DEMOS-01 Spirits In the Material World (Sting's Original Home Demo)/02 Invisible Sun (1st Version)/03 One World (demo)/04 Hungry For You (demo)/05 Secret Journey (demo)/06 Invisible Sun (2nd Version)/07 Don't Beleive Me Baby/08 Don't Think We Coul Ever Be Friends/09 Don't Look at Me/10 It's Never Too Late/11 Daytime Job/12 Secret Journey (1st version)