Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Next To You
2. So Lonely
3. Truth Hits Everybody
4. Walking On The Moon
5. Hole In My Life
6. Fall Out
7. Bring On The Night
8. Message In A Bottle
9. The Bed's Too Big Without You
10. Peanuts
11. Roxanne
12. Can't Stand Losing You
13. Landlord
14. Born In The 50's
15. Be My Girl - Sally

Disc 2:

1. Synchronicity I
2. Synchronicity II
3. Walking In Your Footsteps
4. Message In A Bottle
5. O My God
6. De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
7. Wrapped Around Your Finger
8. Tea In The Sahara
9. Spirits In The Material World
10. King Of Pain
11. Don't Stand So Close To Me
12. Every Breath You Take
13. Roxanne
14. Can't Stand Losing You
15. So Lonely

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49805 in Music
• Released on: 2003-06-16
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Box set, Live
• Running time: 144 minutes

CD Description
By the time The Police broke up in 1984, they'd already traveled the world and played before millions of people in hundreds of countries. Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland had come a long way from their first American visit, when they drove across the continent piled into a van and played inany dive that would have them.
LIVE chronicles The Police at opposite ends of their career. Disc 1 was originally recorded for Boston's WBCN-FM in November of 1979; REGGATA DE BLANC had come out months before and the band was still raw,a full year away from cracking the American Top 10. The stripped down sound The Police displayed shows a group not far removed from the evolving new wave movement, which dominatedthe charts in their native England at the time. The versions of "Walking On The Moon" and "The Bed's Too Big Without You" point to the heavy reggae undertones--whether in the dub-like dynamics of Summers' guitar playing, or the rhythmic interplay that Sting and Copeland tease each other with--that made the band's sound so unique. Rare versions of the band'sfirst two independent singles, "Fallout" and "Landlord", are part of a set that was as close to punk rock as The Policeever got.
Disc 2 is from The Omni, a hockey rink in Atlanta, recorded four years to the month from when the WBCN show took place. By now The Police were huge, having graduated from clubs and theatres to arenas and stadiums; "Every Breath You Take" and SYNCHRONICITY, their first and only chart-toppers, ruled the airwaves. Any remnants of the first tour's gritty feel was gone in favour of a pristine sound, and a trio of back-up singers doubled the number of musicians on stage. Predictably, newer songs like "Tea In The Sahara" and "King Of Pain" dominated the set list, alongside older standards like "Roxanne". The upside of all this time spent playingtogether was that the unit could incorporate different textures into their music, attracting new fans without alienating die-hards.
LIVE shows The Police as a band able to leapthe chasm separating the studio and the stage, with a brandof genre-hopping music that spawned imitators while defyingcategorisation.

Customer Reviews

Keep Disc 1 - Bin Disc 2
The Police really defined the term 'power' trio. Along with Rush, it amazes me that just 3 people can make so much noise. If you're gonna buy this just relish the 1st disc from '79 - Punk, rock, dub/reggae all driven by Copeland's drumming and Sting relishing his role as a proper raw rock'n'roll frontman. Just check out the jam in 'This beds too big...' un-believable. It amazes me how lame Sting has become considering the amount of ass he kicks on this disc. Anyway agree with the previous reviewer. Second disc is a little too polished for my liking but the muscianship just about makes it listenable. Then again maybe I'm being too harsh judging by the 'live' dross I frequently witness. Finally the remastered production is special. On an Ipod with decent headphones disc1 sounds like you are front row. Trust me..love rock..love the Police ..Live. Truly special.
Peace out.

Police Force
The Police were always excellent live. Here we get to see just how good they were on their American tour in 1979, and how much they'd smoothed their sound by the time they were promoting the Synchronicity album (by which time it was less Police and more Sting)

The first album is full of energy and includes all their best stuff, including the unreleased 'landlord' which is a bit thrashy and the Copeland-penned 'fall out'. Sting had had bronchitis and was relishing having his voice back - the energy of his vocals is excellent. It's amazing that just three guys could make such a full sound.
This is the best Police album by far - get it rather than any other compilation. Sting's lyrics were better when they were most simple - He quotes from TS Eliot in Bring on the Night but doesn't need to show his erudition (by the time of 'Don't Stand so Close to me' he has to point out that he's read Nabokov's Lolita.)
The synchronicty disc is 'late' Police - smoother, Jazzier and showing up just how limited Summers' guitar technique is and how he relies on effects to fill out the auditorium. He was always better at the rawer stuff and you can see how Sting's Jazz tastes were being frustrated. There are also (female) backing singers... Not as good as disc one (except when they let rip on the older stuff).

OVERALL VERDICT: the best compilation album of the Police: good photos and a chance to hear Sting's Geordie accent... it's as much a history of the band as a chance to sample their excellent live show.