When I was a kid (13 or so?) I remember seeing the If You Love Somebody video on MTV and enjoying it and the unique way in which they shot it (check it here). Were they actually in that room or not? And William Orbit's mix is awesome. I heard Russians on the radio (I remember driving from the suburbs into Chicago and it played) and it was great, it was sad and beautiful and perfectly captured the essence of the 80s political stage. To this day, I still think that Fortress Around Your Heart is one of the best songs he's ever written. It is a cathartic pop hook that helped me sort through several relationships. And Seventh Wave is a clever balance between objective happiness and nihilism.
One track I had never heard before until I compiled this collection is Code Word Elvis. It is stupid and silly, but it's supposed to be. In fact, it's hilarious.
I'm not going to say that Sting wrote his best work when he went solo, but damn near close. If it weren't for Synchronicity, it would be a definite yes.
This is a great album.... Code Word Elvis is actually from some sessions that took place I believe around 1977 as the Police were in a formative stage and needed the money and recorded as session player hired guns for Eberhard Schoener, who went on to release two albums with them: "Video Magic" and "Flashback"
ReplyDeleteWell, I think it still works here, as well, regardless. Sometimes my research isn't as thorough as it should be..... my bad.
DeleteUgh. "Stink". And believe me, I was a gigantic Police fan, and was really looking forward to this at the time. And then it came out. And then (and from then on) it was....refer to opening of paragraph.
ReplyDeleteSupposedly, the original plan was for Orbit to produce the album. Now that would have been a different story, even then. Plus, maybe it would have eventually meant that we'd have a freakin' Wish Thing CD in the universe by now.
I wondered if that was the case with William Orbit, as the William Orbit Mix of If You Love Somebody is indeed a completely different recording of the song. I guess that session must have not pleased Mr. Sting. BTW Weird Al did an homage to Code Word Elvis with his song "Velvet Elvis" on his album "Even Worse".
ReplyDeleteThanks for this one, nice!
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