Customer Reviews

The Police: Every Breath You Take (DTS Encoded)

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am not a huge fan of The Police, nevertheless always wanted to have a good compilation in my collection. So I was glad to find this one, especially because it is a Super-Audio CD. First of all, it is actually a hybrid disk and can be played on a regular CD player. Second, it is not what you would expect of the SACD. Some songs do not sound much better than on a CD-layer. You still can hear some improvement on high frequencies and more dynamic range, but definitely original material that EMI used was not an audiophile's dream.

Giving it 3 stars just because of the SACD sound quality.

Back in the 1980s, I sort of took The Police for granted. They had some good songs, and I never changed the station when one of those songs started playing, but I never had any desire to actually purchase any of their music. After all, there was more good music than a guy could possibly afford back in that most glorious of decades. Later on, when Sting went solo (and soft), a lot of his music really didn't appeal to me. I hadn't really thought about any of The Police's classic songs since then, not until I came across this album at a decidedly reasonable price (sort of a blue light special, you might say - even though it makes for a pretty bad joke). What is not pretty bad, though, are the classic songs in this collection.

In an industry where virtually ever singer/group sounds like someone else, The Police have always been distinct. The staccato beats driving the music, often with a uniquely reggae-influenced electronic sound, and Sting's uniquely plaintive voice make any of the group's songs instantly recognizable. At times, there's a downright ethereal quality to their music, especially in slower numbers such as Walking on the Moon and Invisible Sun, but they are at their best when delivering the more rhythmic, up-tempo, pop-oriented songs that made them so successful. I mean - you've got at least five downright iconic hits included in this collection: Roxanne, Don't Stand So Close to Me, Every Little Thing She Does is Magic, Every Breath You Take, and Wrapped Around Your Finger (those are my five, anyway; no doubt, some would add Message in a Bottle, King of Pain, Spirits in the Material World, and others to that list). These songs made an indelible mark on the 1980s, culturally as well as musically.

Is this the best collection of songs from The Police? Heck if I know. What I do know is that no collection of their hits could ever be considered a bad collection, and this one definitely includes all of the hits I remember listening to back in the 1980s. I can't say I care too much for the strangely-named De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da or the 1986 remix of Don't Stand so Close to Me (nor can I tell any difference between the original and mixed versions of Message in a Bottle), but everything else in this collection is timeless music that will always be a small part of me.

The Police may not be a band that will ever reunite, so this is a CD that you should enjoy!!! It's very awesome, and it's got every Top 40 hit by the Police, except for "Sychronicity II". Other songs that were left off the CD were "Canary in a Coalmine" and "Hungry For You". I do like the remix to "Message in a Bottle". And the best thing I like about most greatest-hits albums is that this one is in chronological order. All the way to their worst hit, "DSSCTM '86". Get it.

There are a couple of great tracks missing, like So Lonely and Synchronicity II, but apart from that Every Breath You Take is quite a good compilaton.

The Police arrived in the midst of punk, hiding their more advanced musical skills under a sound that was like punk, but with more difficult chords and varied drumming. This all got them a record contract. On later albums, they expanded their sound, adding phase to their guitar, syths started to appear, singer Sting started talking politics. This all got them world famous!

You get a taste of their faux-punk beginnings with "Roxanne" and "Can't Stand Losing You". You get the new wave anthems "Message in a Bottle", "Walking on the Moon", "Don't Stand So Close to Me" (a song about a student-teacher affair). You get the big American hits "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da ", "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" and "Spirits In The Material World". You get the droning politics of "Invisible Sun", you get the Synchronicty tracks "King of Pain" and "Wrapped Around Your Finger", whose sound point more toward to Sting's solo career. You get the only song to come out of their 1986 reunion "Dont Stand So Close To Me 1986", and of course you get the title track, the well known and well loved "Every Breath You Take".

You get a lot here! Not everything, but a lot.

If you're the casual listener, this album is a good one to go for. The Police were more of a singles band, and the best singles are here. Get to know Sting, Andy and Stuart. Get Every Breath You Take: The Classics.

Before they passed the torch to "U2" in the mid-80's, "The Police" were the biggest band in the world, and what's on this collection is a good reason why. I cannot argue with what is here, "Walking On The Moon", "Don't Stand So Close To Me", "Spirits In The Material World", and "King Of Pain" are all excellent songs. But I, like many people, really miss "Synchronicity I & II", "So Lonely", "Tea In The Sahara", and even "Canary In A Colemine". Plus, I don't think anyone wants to hear the last two songs twice on the same cd. I don't. Still though, this is a great bunch of songs. Other options would be their 2-disc "Live" album, the import "Greatest Hits", or all 5 albums.

This is all the best commercial hits that The Police wrote with the exception of 'Synchronicity.' I am not sure why that song was left of the mix, but it was and that is why I gave this album 4 stars. Otherwise this is a great album, a must for any die hard Police fan, or anyone simply wanting to get acquainted with The Police.

This album will arrest you (pun intended), the songs are great, have a great mix, and sound like no one else in the New Wave style. The Police were innovators in what was called the 80's New Wave style of music. What is more, The Police sound like no one else, which at the time they hit the scene was hard to accomplish, few bands during their time were able to accomplish such a feat.

The album itself, as I said before, contains their commercial hits, so if you are wanting the grinding, harder, more aggressive new wave/punkish Police then I highly recommend 'Message in a Box.' Otherwise, here, you will get the essential Police with hits like 'Roxanne,' 'Message is a Bottle,' 'Don't Stand so Close to Me,' (as well as an alternative mix to this song), Spirits in the Material World,' 'Every Little Thing She Does is Magic' (my all time favorite Police song), 'Every Breath You Take,' (which was the number one song of 1983), and many others.

In usual Police fashion, variety is the key word here. Every song has its own independent life, demonstrating just how versatile The Police actually were. This is a must have album, and I highly recommend it.

I owned this one when I was younger, but failed to comprehend a thing Sting was saying... but I re-bought it for one song which has special meaning. After listening to the whole album again I can say that every song on it deserves to be here. These truly are the Police's classics. Tight lyrics and superb musicianship, especially on bass. Just sweet.

I picked up "Every Breath You Take: The Classics" because I love the eighties new wave pop groups, The Police being my absolute favorite. The Police were just so different combining raggae type tunes such as Roxanne and Can't Stand Losing You with cool new wave pop songs such as Message In A Bottle, Don't Stand So Close To Me, Spirits In The Material World, etc. If you don't want to buy all the individual Police cd's then this is should satisfy most people. Cool tunes for cool people.

This is the best introduction to the Police. They're the perfect choice for a greatest hits collection, because many of their studio albums are packed with filler. What's cool about them is their lyrics are often dark and creepy, but their music still sounds fun and happy. They also paved the way for some of today's popular alternative rock.

The focus is about even on most albums. The mildly hard-rocking, Reggae influenced prostitution story song 'Roxanne' and the calmer, but similarly styled funny 'Can't Stand Losing You' come off their debut. The fast pop/rocker 'Message in A Bottle' and the spacy ballad 'Walking On the Moon' are from 'Zenyatta Mondatta'.

From there, the band enters the 80s. 'Don't Stand so close To Me' is another humorous/serious pop song with a slight Reggae beat. The happy 'De Do Do Do De Da Da Da' (that's confusing to type) is a more New Wave tinged, silly rock song. 1981's "Ghost in the Machine" continues in the style of the afforementioned song, with the politically themed, yet still fun, uptempo 'Spirits in the Material World'. The sunny 'Every Little Thing She Does is Magic' is a great pop/rocker with humorous lyrics about Sting not being able to tell this girl how he really feels about her. The rest of that album is darker, as shown in the slow, eerie political ballad 'Invisible Sun'.

After this, the band became superstars with 1983's "Synchronicity." The one song everybody has heard in their life at some time is the mid tempo, mellow, yet slightly edgy 'Every Breath you Take'. This lyrically misunderstood song has also aged very well, I hear it on many different radio formats too. My favorite song of theirs is 'King of Pain' which is very underrated IMHO. It starts out all slow and calm, but builds up into a mostly uptempo rocker. There's also some creepy lyrics in this song. I'm not sure what it's about. The last song is the the mid tempo ballad 'Wrapped Around your Finger', which could kind of be called a love song.

NOTES: The only fault with this collection, is that it does leave out a few hits, most notably 'Synchronicity 2' and 'When the World is Running Down'. The GOOD thing is that it includes the regular version of 'Don't Stand so Close' whereas the original version of this album (with the black background cover) didn't. It only had the '86 version, which is here too. It's also been remastered.

Around 1984 The Police took a sabbatical to work on individual products. They got back together in 1986, initially with the hopes of recording an album of remakes from their own catalog. But the band soon realized that they couldn't stand each other, and decided to call it quits. They put out "Every Breath You Take: The SINGLES", 11 hit songs plus the only completed song from the reunion sessions, a remake of "Don't Stand So Close To Me". Being a die-hard fan, I had to buy it for that one song I didn't own.

So 10 years later, this compilation is re-released as "Every Breath You Take: The CLASSICS". Two tracks have been added: the original "Don't Stand So Close To Me" and a "Message In A Bottle" remix. In and of itself, the CD is great. Some of the most well-known Police songs! The remastering is excellent. As with any band's greatest hits album, it's a good disc for the casual fan who doesn't plan on buying the individual albums. But even though I'm a long-time, die-hard fan of this band, I very begrudgingly give this compilation 4 stars for one simple reason: clocking in at just under an hour, there's room for something better.

As others have noted, the "Greatest Hits" import is a better compilation. It too was a compilation made in the mid 80s, but re-released with more tracks in recent times. It includes everything here except for "Don't Stand So Close To Me '86" and the remix of "Message In a Bottle" (I don't know why a casual fan would want double versions of the same songs anyway). It also has 4 additional different songs: So Lonely, Synchronicity II, King Of Pain, and Tea In The Sahara. Is the difference in import price worth getting those 4 extras? I say yes!! "Every Breath..." is a fine compilation of a fine band, but if you're only planning on buying one single Police CD, go for "Greatest Hits".