Re: One Train Later

So, despite the Police gracing the cover of TP #73, not much chatter here about the Police reunion. (I don't have much to say about it myself, but will most likely cough up an exorbitant amount of dough for reunion show tix.) Nevertheless, I did find Andy Summers' book to be a great read--well written and without the Hugh-Walpole-meets-Bridges-of-Madison-County purple prose that Sting's book was loaded with. I always found it interesting that Summers was a bit older and straddled generations, having played with a latter-day Animals lineup and the Soft Machine. He writes well about the guitar. . .very sophisticated passages in there.

this reminded me to go look for the Grammy performance on Youtube (there are several posted). The vocals are way too loud and echoey, but Stewart at least looked like he was having a good time.

Actually, it was discussed (although admittedly not in the depth it probably deserves) in the thread "New news on the Replacements".

I was disappointed. A couple weeks back I listened to "Fall Out", "So Lonely", Bed's Too Big" and I was hoping for a rave-up version of something that shouted out "Copeland and Summers are back and in charge!" Instead, we get the milquetoast mix of Roxanne and then it dawns on me, "Oh Yeah, I forgot, I FUCKING HATE STING!". (Somehow I musta overlooked the fact that a Police reunion would include him, hrmhmh). Just like it was billed, it's Sting (and the police). Could improve, I suppose.

On another note, I'm in a good attitude about the new Yoko Ono. It's cool and hip (and all that) that she still wants to create and share it with the public. Course, it was Apples, Flaming Lips, etc. who remixed, and she has admitted that she only, with this project, just found out there was such a thing as indie and hadn't even heard of any of these bands. (How do you go through life never hearing of the Flaming Lips*?). Anyhoo, when someone tells you they are a big Beatles fan do you give them so much as a shrug? If some dude says he's not only an Ono collector but a big fan what do you think? (maybe you say "quick, take my Pavement, Wedding Present and Vaselines!", heh heh).

*Although I am still baffled my sister's recent discovery of the Ramones. Speaking of which, I was explaining Jimi Hendrix to my nephew. All he knows of the 60s is Stones and a few soundtrack cuts that are common. So I'm explainig a few musicologically salient Jimi features and he lights up with "Whoa, Jimi, he's just the shadow way, he's just the shadow way". Guess he thought Mick was giving some kind of dark homage.

Paganizer wrote:

> I was disappointed. A couple weeks back I listened to "Fall
> Out", "So Lonely", Bed's Too Big" and I was hoping for a
> rave-up version of something that shouted out "Copeland and
> Summers are back and in charge!" Instead, we get the
> milquetoast mix of Roxanne and then it dawns on me, "Oh Yeah, I
> forgot, I FUCKING HATE STING!". (Somehow I musta overlooked the
> fact that a Police reunion would include him, hrmhmh). Just
> like it was billed, it's Sting (and the police). Could
> improve, I suppose.

That was pretty much my reaction. That performance of Roxanne -- especially the artsy, pseudo-spoken-word rendition of the middle verse -- effectively killed any possible interest I might have had for a Police reunion.

Great blurb on defamer.com:

'Dune's Feyd-Rautha, the band leader from the Dennis Miller Show, and an unnamed drummer have announced their intentions to embark upon a worldwide tour as a musical act. This "super group," as it were, will travel under the name of The Police. Should be interesting.'

Summers' book is surprisingly good and interesting--without being a nasty, gossipy tell all. I was particularly struck by how circumspect he was in dealing with Sting's increasingly difficult egomania as they recorded "Ghost in the Machine" and then "Synchronicity." I doubt most people would have been as kind. A gentleman that one.

Part of me would love to see the reunion tour for Stewart's and Summers' performances, but Sting is so goddamn full of himself that I wanna puke.

Does his book happen to mention whether Sting always played his own basslines on the records? Like Paganizer, I was inspired by the thread a couple of weeks ago to go back and listen to some of the early albums. And I'd swear that it could not be Sting playing bass on "Masoko Tanga" on the first album. If I recall correctly, he hadn't been playing all that long when the band formed and he never again had a bassline that nifty. What gives?

Sting was a pretty good bassist out of the gates with the Police, with lots of experience doing Newcastle jazz gigs. I think Summers actually talks about intersecting with Sting at a gig in the early '70s, where Sting's jazz band (Last Exit) was playing the same venue as Mike Oldfield (?), with whom Summers was playing that night. I'm muddy on the details.

He never talks much about Sting's bass playing, though. But he is pretty reverent of the chemistry between the three of them--and pretty honest about him convincing the others to bounce Henri Padovani when they were a four-piece. (Padovani is actually making some interesting music these days--check his site; he was playing with Wayne County after the Police.

Summers is pretty straight also about his hard feelings toward Sting's megalomania, particularly when the label tossed out the idea of using "Omegaman" (a Summers composition) as the lead single for Ghost in the Machine. According to Summers, Sting had a pretty nasty reaction to that and power-played the company into thinking otherwise. (It's not like Summers and Copeland were churning out good compositions that Sting was stifling, though. I think "Mother" and "Miss Gradenko" pretty much seal the deal on that. And "Be My Girl/Sally"---sheesh.)

I never knew Summers was such a pothead though. Seems like he's lighting up two spliffs per chapter.

A dizzying amount of drugs are consumed in the chapters that covered the mid to late 60s. The LSD trips sounded quite nightmarish, actually. Glad that shit wasn't popular in my scene when I was young and stupid.

See, here's the thing with that Grammy performance.

If you are reuniting for a cash grab, and alot of people obviously want their nostalgia buttons pushed, why not give them the freakin' song pumped up and exciting, rather than the goofball, pretentious "let's massacre the verse" version they trotted out?

It was like Sting had nothing but contempt for the tune. I'm looking forward to his tropicalia take on "Born in the 50s".

as much as i disdain everything Sting has ever been, said, done, written, thought or created, I do have to say that (apropos of the bass-playing question above), i was struck by his technical proficiency on guitar when my newsday deal obliged me to sit through one of his solo shows a decade back. so i would wager he can in fact play that thing

Yes, but for all of Sting's repugnant qualities, you gotta give it to him: He's got the best nose job in the biz.

Ira, you jogged a funny memory for me.

When I was in college, I worked at the campus radio station. One day I came across a station copy of Sting's second solo record (or third, if you count the live-w/-smooth-jazz import).

Under the title, NOTHING LIKE THE SUN, a like-minded dj had scrawled:

"...But an awful lot like it in terms of presumed brilliance."

"...But an awful lot like it in terms of presumed brilliance."

a genius bit of guerrilla criticism! thanks for sharing

Alas! A friend who I'm loathe to disappoint wants to go to their show in STL, so looks like I'll be shelling out $200 to keep her happy. But who knows? I'm intrigued enough that it might be worthwhile that I'm kind of looking forward to it. If nothing else, I'll be able to compare it to fond memories of the Zenyatta Mondatta tour.

Although I doubt they'll have an opening act as cool as Tom Robinson's Sector 27 or Jools Holland as an emcee, as they did on that tour.

I still enjoy Heartbreaker and Cold Roses didn't suck as much as previous efforts. Though i agree with diskojoe, sometimes a bit of anger; well directed is good.

If i see these people walking down the street, i will not hesitate to push them in front of a car

Fergie (Black Eyed Pea's)
Chad Kroeger (Nickelback)
Eric Clapton
P Diddy
Billy Corgan
Chris Martin

Clapton?

That's like beating up your grandfather.

I was thinking about how widely reviled Sting is, and I'm wondering if there are many more like that. Are there any other rock stars as widely disliked? I know Ryan Adams had a good run there for a while, but he seems to be in good stead now.

(The Ryan Adams hatred escapes me, as I happen to think that he's a really talented artist, who releases about 65% more of his compositions than he should. If he would just edit his stuff a bit and not release as many albums, he'd be at the top of his game.)

BUT MY QUESTION: What artists out there are as widely disparaged as Sting? He's one of the few completely unsympathetic characters. I mean, even Jerry Lee Lewis comes off like a champ next to him.

don't people want to kill don henley?


if i look at or think about mariah carey i vomit btw

jerry lee is my hero; michael bolton, please his pointed head, would get my foot so far up his ass that he'd be tasting chuck taylor.

i hate stink and boner vox too but a little credit for amazon/african pilgrammages?


a little?

i like forests; i like to watch children eat.
it's pretty simple



Post Edited (02-15-07 07:16)

You can give them credit for their pilgrimages while finding them awesomely irritating for their sanctimony and their pedantry, as well as their certainty that they will be listened to because they are rock stars.

Just my own little nit to pick w/ Stink and Boner.

Nothing is more uncool than admitting Ryan Adams is good. BUT, I think he is the best song writerunder 40 and Cold Roses is the best album of this decade. Atleast one of the best. The only thing it has going against it - is that it is not ground breaking. I could see it being looked back upon like Odessey and Oracle, Paris 1919 or one of those albums that slips through time, not gettin it's proper due.

Anybody who hasn't given him a chance, download "Blossom" and listen to it several times. What other youngins are doing that? Maybe that British hermaphrodite.

I liked Cold Roses, but thought it was inconsistent. I really thought Jacksonville City Nights was extraordinary in spots; it really popped with the analog honky tonk feel of of some of the early '60s Buck Owens and the Buckaroos stuff. And it proved, yet again, that Ryan Adams (when he wants to be) is twice the country songwriter that Gram Parsons was.

Toby Keith
Fred Durst
Good Charlotte
Debbie Boone
(fat) Elvis
Yoko Ono (by some anyway)
Bill Clinton (for a week in '92)
Billy Idol (a bit more comparable to sting than the rest)
Bob Weir
Bono Vox (when u use the Vox name, younger U2 fans become agitated)

In the same way that there's a large group of people out there who would like to punch Bono in the face - there's a similar vigilante crew who consider Eddie Vedder their number 1 target.

In fact, if I saw them both, say at the supermarket buying soy milk (which for some reason I assume they both drink), I'd have a real dilemma as to who I would punch first.

Not sure why I feel this way about them really. I'm not a fan of either band but they seem like nice enough people, so I dunno what it is exactly that inspires me to such grocery related violence.

Now Scott Stapp on the other hand, would get punched, kicked and get the soy milk poured on top of his head.

"Bono Vox (when u use the Vox name, younger U2 fans become agitated)"

Bono Vox it is then.

As Lewis Black says, soy milk is really soy juice. Wouldn't you want to punch anybody drinking soy milk? Hey, mats84, am I cruel if I say that I hate everyone you mention? They're all a bunch affected assholes.

You know, even though I too have my list of anti-fave raves, frankly life's too short and I just cheerfully ignore them and just groove to what I like.

Mariah's new album:
"The Baker Emetic"

Lars Ulrich
Rick Springfield
Rod Stewart v.2006
Elvis Costello (for one week in Ohio, 1979)
Ian Anderson

I'm a peaceful sort, but these people do make me want to at least slap them many, many times:

John Mayer
Gavin Rossdale
Lucinda Williams (for buying into her own genius hype)
Stephen Malkmus
Scott Weiland
Imogen Heap (for that hideous get-up at the grammys)
the members of any random emo band, just on principle
Kevin Shields (work, dammit!)

Man, I had totally overlooked some of these--particularly Fred Durst and Eddie Vedder, for his sheer cultural influence in destroying a whole branch of rock music with his legacy of constipation-rock singers--from that Nickelback guy on down--and a bew generation with complete and utter lack of irony...or fun.

This might be controversial in these quarters (probably not), but Patti Smith makes my list. (I thought of her because of the Kevin Shields comment--because he had done some Mapplethorpe tribute performances with her.) I actually liked Legs McNeil's recent piece about CBGB's, which consisted of Richard Hell splashing around in the tub at the other end of the phone and calling her (if memory serves) "insufferable."

>
> This might be controversial in these quarters (probably not),
> but Patti Smith makes my list. (I thought of her because of the
> Kevin Shields comment--because he had done some Mapplethorpe
> tribute performances with her.) I actually liked Legs McNeil's
> recent piece about CBGB's, which consisted of Richard Hell
> splashing around in the tub at the other end of the phone and
> calling her (if memory serves) "insufferable."


ya sure he wasn't talking about his ex-wife?

I like it when people refuse to work. The drive to make your work public can be seen as suspect. Luckily few agree or I'd have a lack of entertainment. Nonetheless, Shields does a lot of projects. It's always amazed me that when somebody acts in one or two movies, the public assume that person is trying to reach a paparazzi-level fame and then sneer when that person leaves the scene. I've enevr for a minute considered actually working in a rock band because it would be sheer hell, imo. It's also a 99% guarantee of poverty, as almost every musician listed in TP can affirm. Slightly relatabale, if you look at the people we teased on this thread, many are successful. Malkmus, though?? hasn't Shields been involved in multiple projects in the past few years?
The Justin's and the like are obvious gimmes I assume.

soy milk=good for your health
cow's milk=bad for your health