I'm doing quite well playing my tapes alphabetically. Last week Pink Floyd, this week The Police.
I saw Sting at Live8. I didn't like The Police at first. In First Year at secondary school., there was thing. Siobhan was into Gary Numan, I was into the Boomtown Rats and Catherine was in to the Police - she had pictures of Sting on her bedroom wall.
Then Catherine left.
Then I got into the Police.
I was so naive as a teenager. I considered that they had a 'comeback' in 1983.
I bought this album circa 1990. Hit after hit.
Pretty much good song after good song. Best ones - Message in A Bottle; Walking on the Moon; Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic...one of those songs that has me bopping round the room expressing gratitude I don't have one of those webcam things people put on their blogs; Don't Stand So Close To Me. Specifically the '86 version. It has a different sound to it, a more surroundish-type-sound*. And more unfinished (or unresolved) cadences. I think we've all experienced the 'crush-on-teacher' syndrome. It mattered at the time.
I seem to be involved in along conversation about Every Breath You Take. My interlocutor, of whose identity I am no longer sure, was quite dogged in stating that because it was a song about stalking it was creepy and unpleasant. It had not struck me that way previously, and for a while I did consider this element, but on listening to it just now, I'm not convinced. It sounds more like a man who is bitter and full of hatred at the break-up of the relationship. Not Big Not Clever but Perfectly Understandable. Yes, he's obsessed, and he'll be watching her, wanting to prove that she's untrustworthy. It's too simple to label it an anthem to stalking.
And from the Department of Misheard Lyrics "Sue Lawley"
Least favourite - De Do Do Do De Da Da Da.
It struck me listening to this album that it must be a bit disappointing being a member of a rock band like The Police. Admittedly Sting is rich beyond one's wildest imagination and I don't suppose the other two suffer the penury of Church mice. But there you are, not exactly in Youth's First Flush, writing songs full of philosophical thoughts and literary references, hoping that you will be taken seriously by the college crowd; instead you become the pin-up od pre-teens who - thankfully - don't have a clue about the meaning of 'that famous book by Nabokov'. Life sucks sometimes.
Still, I contend that Boy Bands back then, back in the Golden Age™, they had something about them. It might actually have been because pre-teens were a bit more sophisticated, could handle pretentious philosophical ramblings in a sophisticated way. We'll Never See Their Likes Again.
Bloody hell, looks like they're back together and touring, hitting Twickenham next week. Twickers? Plenty of tickets up on ebay. Tempting but not that tempting, not sure I would be trendy enough to go to such a gig. Oh wait, it's 2007, they're in their fifties and sixties, their fans are in their forties. I think I'm trendy enough for that, but I don't think I'm that motivated, although, it's tempting, the concerts are at the weekend, so it's not like I'd be out late on a work night. Amd Twickers is well served by public transport - change at Clapham Junction. Nice, safe, suburban and middle-class. (I wonder how white middle-class middle-aged and elitist will that audience be - frighteningly so, I would imagine).
* technical term
