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Greatest Hits

The Police - Greatest Hits Audio CD

A fair review of the The Police "Greatest Hits" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Police reviews here, or go back to the The Police tabs.

Band: The Police
Title: Greatest Hits
Rating:

Release Date: 2005-01-18
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Roxanne 2: Can't Stand Losing You 3: So Lonely 4: Message in a Bottle 5: Walking on the Moon 6: Bed's Too Big Without You 7: Don't Stand So Close to Me 8: De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da 9: Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - Sting 10: Invisible Sun 11: Spirits in the Material World 12: Synchronicity II 13: Every Breath You Take 14: King of Pain 15: Wrapped Around Your Finger 16: Tea in the Sahara

An excellent catch all release
As such they have their reputation as a musical unit largely intact regardless of what may be said about some of the members individually. The money grabbing reunion tour aside, The Police did what few bands do - split up before their almost inevitable commercial and artistic wane.

This disc is perfect for the casual fan such as myself. I get the hits, a few songs that probably could of been and a couple of extra bits. A concise sixteen tracks of music that is useful to have lying around for when you want to hear the pop tunes of The Police and their decidedly early 80's feeling melodies, complete with flirtations with reggae time signatures in places with Stings' beguiling vocal monotone laid over the top.

Acolytes will want all the studio albums but for me this was exactly what I needed to give me the salient points of this bands career.

Ah yes, the Police...
So a well-made compilation (such as this one) is a perfect buy for potential Police fans, and it may be all you need from the group. The thing about the Police is that they had great hit singles, but could never translate that into a truly great album - while Outlandos D'Amore; Regatta De Blanc and Ghost in the Machine are respectable efforts, they're far from masterpieces - same (only more so) with the uneven Zenyatta Mondatta and the unimpressive Synchronity. A couple album tracks are missing (Masoko Tango; Next to You; Regatta de Blanc; Bring on the Night; Canary in a Coalmine; When the World's Running You Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around; Rehumanize Yourself; One World), and I'll admit I'm not a fan of Invisible Sun or Tea in the Sahara. But who can deny that Roxanne; Can't Stand Losing You; Message in a Bottle; The Bed's too Big Without You; Walking on the Moon; Don't Stand so Close to Me (in the original mix, no less!); De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da; Spirits in the Material World; Every Little Thing She Does is Magic (My favorite Police tune); Every Breath You Take; Synchronity II; King of Pain and Wrapped Around Your Finger are just classics and radio staples? Not me, that's for sure!.

Police - 'Greatest Hits' (Polygram)
Nothing new here, just most of the tunes that any true Police fan holds sacred within their hallowed CD collection. Nice! Sixteen track compilation of the Police's best work, of course their hits. Tracks like "Roxanne", "Message In A Bottle", "Bed's Too Big Without You", "Invisible Sun" and the spiritual "Wrapped Around Your Finger" makes me often think these guys really should reunite at some point. How many of you feel the same way?.

A great collection, far superior to the US collections
The first, EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE: THE SINGLES, was released in 1986. There have been three collections of the "best" of The Police. More recently, we were given the U. S. release EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE: THE CLASSICS, which contains the biggest Police titles as well as "Don't Stand So Close to Me '86" and a remixed version of "Message in a Bottle". What most people don't know about is this lovely little set, titled simply GREATEST HITS.

It contains all your basic Police tracks - "Roxanne", "Message in a Bottle", "Don't Stand So Close to Me", "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic", "Every Breath You Take", etc. But it also adds some - the essential "So Lonely" from OUTLANDOS D'AMOUR, "The Bed's Too Big Without You" from REGGATTA DE BLANC, and "Synchronicity II" and the essential "Tea in the Sahara" from SYNCHRONICITY. Though The Police only released five albums (not including 1995's LIVE!), they were such a magnificent band that they had many outstanding songs - so many that it would be impossible to collect them all on a single-disc set. If you could, however, make a set of The Police's greatest songs with only a disc to spare, GREATEST HITS does it. Every song here is brilliant, even if the set doesn't contain every great song The Police ever recorded.

When compared to the other two compilations - THE SINGLES and THE CLASSICS - GREATEST HITS is far superior. If you're looking for a good introduction to The Police or to get a taste of what their music was like, I would highly recommend GREATEST HITS.

TRACK HIGHLIGHTS: "Roxanne", "Can't Stand Losing You", "So Lonely", "Message in a Bottle", "Walking on the Moon", "The Bed's Too Big Without You", "Don't Stand So Close to Me", "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da", "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic", "Invisible Sun", "Spirits in the Material World", "Synchronicity II", "Every Breath You Take", "King of Pain", "Wrapped Around Your Finger", "Tea in the Sahara".

The Police
I really love eight of the songs that are in this compilation. The Police Greatest Hits cd is one worth purchasing buy one for the house and one for the car. When I first heard "Every Breath You Take" I was instantly impressed the bass playing at the introduction of this song is really nice and still today even thouigh they are not together Sting is the glue that held The Police together he wrote many of the song they sang as well as played several instruments. "Don't Stand So Close to Me"reminds me of what a person might say when they get mad at their little brother or sister or if someone is just in their space. I think we can identify with title if nothing else. Another song that stays in your head all day if you listen to it is "De Do Do Do De Da Da Da"it is just a fun sounding song it makes you wonder where Stings gets the titles from. But all and all this is a really great cd. Stings
raspy but smoothe mixed voice pulls off every song perfectly.
Sting's longevity is very obvious he still has albums and collaboration to this very day. The police in itself was a great group and Sting is a great branch off from The Police. You gotta get this cd.

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You can see a complete list of all The Police discography, or go back to the The Police tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.