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Live

Live

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Customer Reviews

Still an interesting live model

Rating: 4/5

A perfect addendum to your Police album collection, this not only shows the tightly wound trio effortlessly flowing through two shows, but cleverly contrasts earlier and later concerts to cover most hits as well as present a fascinating live approach.

Police Live

Rating: 5/5

This double live CD is a fair and good snapshot at a couple of their tours. It was nice to hear their live performances cleaned up after listening to countless horrible bootlegs over the years. These discs are not definitive as it would have been nice to hear some of the live material from the 1982 tour and the 1984 concerts at the end of the Synchronicity tour. The live performance that hit Japan TV from February 2008 is a good alternative to the official release of the final New York show.

An outstanding live offering from a legendary band

Rating: 5/5

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R87V3WUK7W9I5 I own more live albums then I will ever bother to count and this set is exactly what I want out of any such set. Rather than being cobbled together from several concerts in a short time frame and then having the instruments and/or vocals overdubbed to sound less "live" (WTF?) as so many bands do, The Police gave us a true live album -blemishes and all- consisting of two very different concerts from two very different eras of the band's career. This highlights the extreme musical growth of the band in a relatively short time and proves that they could harness some serious energy playing live. Anybody unhappy with the sound obviously is not a fan of live music and should stick to studio recordings because this is as good as a genuine live album gets (aside from a slight sound problem during the first verse of "Next to You"). There can be no argument.

The sampling of songs is spot-on on both discs; the first representing the band's early years aspiring to harness the energy of punk rock and reggae, the second showing the band at it's creative peak. Both are wonderful documents of where the band was at musically at the time and both absolutely rock. Sting's voice sounds killer and his typically solid bass-playing is on full display. He works the crowd and occasionally ad-libs during songs, adding some flavor to the proceedings. Andy Summers' guitar playing is the missing link between the firey punk attitude of Mick Jones and The Edge's soundscaping virtuosity; at times allowing his solos to devolve into distorted feedback that would make Greg Ginn (Black Flag) smile and other times letting subtle arpeggios and the ambience of his guitar effects work their magic -sometimes in the same song. It only takes two words to sum up Stewart Copeland: drummer's drummer.

This is easily one of my favorite live albums and if you share my enthusiasm for concert recordings and The Police then this is a no-brainer. All it wants is to be next to you.

A Unique Live Collection Showcasing the Early Days and Latter Days of the Police

Rating: 5/5

It is hard to believe that a band can become a Hall of Fame band with just five studio albums to their name, but the Police are such a band. This is an honor that the Police are most worthy of. The Police were sort of an off-shoot of the Punk Rock movement of the late 1970s. The band would eventually encompass other influences - namely Classic Rock, Reggae, Jazz, Dance, and even Folk. For the most part, it is fair to say there was a Punk Rock and Reggae influence on the band for their first two albums" - "Outlandos D'Amour" and "Regatta de Blanc". Both of these albums were terrific efforts - mostly because The Police used applied their unique style to a formula that worked. The Police would soon transform their sound to a more Classic Rock sound. With each successive album ("Zenyatta Mondatta", "Ghost in the Machine", and "Synchronicity"), the Police would continue to grow as a band and incorporate a variety of genres into their sound. When the Police would disband in 1986, they did not have a live album in their portfolio - despite the fact they had emerged as one of the great live bands of all-time. It would be nearly a decade later when the Police would release their first live collection - 1995's "The Police - Live!". Despite some negative criticism, this collection is worthy of the Police's Hall of Fame career as well as prove to be worth the long wait.

"The Police - Live!" is a very unique live collection. It consists of two concerts - one from 1979 and one from 1983. Each concert is on a separate disc. The concerts show a great reflection of the Police's career. The November, 1979 concert, recorded in Boston at the Orpheum Theater and broadcast on WBCN radio showcases the Police's early Punk Rock and Reggae roots. This concert has much more of a "raw" edge, but you can also tell that the Police were performing in a more intimate setting. By 1983, the Police had progressed their sound and had much more of a Rock edge. The November, 1983 concert was recorded at Atlanta's Omni Arena and this concert definitely has more of an Arena Rock feel. The 1983 concert showcases a good amount of material from the "Synchronicity" album (this was the tour in support of that album), while the 1979 concert is drawn from the band's first two albums.

I've heard a lot of people complain about the sound. It is important to remember that a live album will never have the audio standards of a studio album. This CD set was recorded in ADD format - meaning an Analog tape recorder was used during initial recording and a Digital tape recorder used during mixing/editing and for mastering. Overall, I think the album was well mixed and well engineered. Compared to many live albums, I consider this album to be one of the better sound qualities.

Here are eleven things to look for on this collection:

1-The 1979 Boston Concert contains all of the tracks from the Police's debut album with the exception of the instrumental track, "Masoko Tanga". This includes rare performances of "Peanuts", "Born in the 50s", and "Be My Girl/Sally".

2-Despite the fact that "Reggata De Blanc" was the newer album, there is less material played at the Boston concert. "Message in a Bottle", "Walking On the Moon", "Bring on the Night", and "The Bed's Too Big Without You" are the only songs that are represented. The instrumental "Reggata De Blanc" is played as part of "Can't Stand Losing You" - a tradition the Police have done throughout their careers.

3-The Boston concert plays two early singles not found on albums - "Fall Out" and "Landlord".

4-Sting has said he had been battling laryngitis at the time of the Boston concert, but for the most part you can't tell it. The only exception seems to happen during "Peanuts" - where it definitely sounded like he was having some issues with his voice.

5-The 1983 Atlanta Concert contains eight songs from "Synchronicity", including a rare performance of the Andy Summers tune - "O My God". Unfortunately the albums "Zenyatta Mondatta" and "Ghost in the Machine" end up being the big losers in this collection as only three songs total are found on the two CD set.

6-I love the segue from "Synchronicity I" into "Synchronicity II" at the Atlanta concert. The segue seemed almost natural. Both performances showed the Police at the top of their game.

7-The best song on the two disc set is found on the Omni performance with "King of Pain". I've always considered this a great song - and this live version is even better.

8-The Police "wrap-up" the Omni concert with two songs from their first album - the traditional extended jam of "Can't Stand Losing You" (featuring "Regatta De Blanc") followed by "So Lonely".

9-The Omni performance has the Police using outside singers. I had mixed feelings about this because I always liked the fact the Police would make "every sound" on their recordings. Yet, the outside vocalists add a new dimension to the band.

10-One thing that is great about the Police is how they improvise during their live performances as well as create new arrangements of their songs. Both concerts showcase how well the Police has been able to do these things.

11-For the most part, both concerts appear to preserve the order of the songs and give the feeling of being at the 1979 and 1983 performances respectively. It's hard to tell whether these are "complete" shows. Usually with live CDs, some songs are not included when recorded from the show.

Overall this is an outstanding collection. The two concerts really contrast the early days and the latter days of the band - with both performances being outstanding. It is a live album that is truly worthy of a Hall of Fame band.

The police a very bad live band?

Rating: 1/5

If you listen to this product you'll definetly consider the police a very weak live band. Actually, they are very good musicians, this is their only official live album, as far as I know and in this compilation the first disc, recorded live in 1979 is VERY painful to listen to, the band hurries through the songs, copeland constantly overplays on every song, example: the beds too big without you: it gives the impression that copeland is rearranging the song live to make it more interesting but neither Sting nor Andy seem to be able to catch on, and sting finally comes into the first verse after three attempts, Roxanne seems to fluctuate and flutter all over the place, cant stand losing you loses steam as it goes on. Overall the first record sounds like an unrehearsed police cover band. The second disc is pretty standard though absolutely not exciting, even their big hit every breath you take sounds very weak compared to the studio version. I have never seen the police live, but have heard people commenting on how great they were. I guess if this was them at their worst their best was overrated.

PS: after watching the Stu Copeland movie "everybody stares" about the police, I can finally say that they were really pathetic live. very very bad, thus this album is not a fluke, the police were really this bad.