This Police discography FAQ is maintened by Jose Martin Ramallo Lopez. Any question, comment and suggestion should be sent to ramallo@fisica.unlp.edu.ar. I would like to thank these people who (perhaps without knowing it) have contributed to this FAQ: Erwin Kempen, Carlo Bolchini, Antoni Carbo, Joerg Zimmermann and Craig Betts. Thanks also to Barry McKay for correcting my english.
1. How many albums have The Police released?
2. What are the differences between the three compilations?
3. And are there other records where I can find Police's songs?
4. How many 7" singles have The Police released?
5. How many 12" maxi-singles have The Police released?
6. Are there any Police CD singles?
7. How many Police picture discs have been released by A&M?
8. How many Police singles collections are there?
9. What coloured vinyl singles exist?
10. Which picture sleeve is the most difficult to find?
11. Which is the rarest Police 7" single?
12. And which is the rarest Police record?
13. In how many countries have records by the Police been released?
14. How many different releases of "Fall Out" exist?
15. Have any Police LPs been pressed in coloured vinyl?
16. Are there any 12" coloured vinyl singles?
17. Are there any Police bootlegs on vinyl or CD?
18. Is Message in a Box, The Complete Recording, complete?
19. Are disc 2 of "Police Live!' and the video "The Synchronicity Concert" taken from the same concert?
20. Are there any Police Mispressings out there?
21. Are there any Police discographies on the net?
22. And what about other collector's items. Is there any Police memorabilia worth collecting?
How
many albums have The Police released?
They have edited 5 albums:
This last one one war reedited in 2000 with DTS sourround
sound. The most interesting thing is that the version of Dedododo, dedadada that
appears in this edition is completly different to the album version. It was said
that this was the version they recorded in 1986 but apparently this is not true.
This was Sting's 1980 Demo with Stewarts Demo Drum track of the song, both of these elements were mixed together, so all your hearing is a DTS Remix of
Sting's Demo Track.
The complete Police catalogue (Otlandos, Reggatta, Zenyatta, Ghost, Synchronicity, Every Breath and Live!) has been remastered in 2003 and released in Super Audio CD format (SACD). The details are:
North America:
4 March: SACD format in jewel case boxes / CD Audio format in Digipaks
Exception: Every Breath You Take - The Classics in hybrid SACD/CD Audio
Europe and Japan:
17 March: hybrid SACD/CD format in a limited edition Digipak
Later: SACD Super Jewel Case
June: CD Audio remasters in jewel case
UK:
24 March: hybrid SACD/CD format in a limited edition Digipak
Later: SACD Super Jewel Case
June: CD Audio remasters in jewel case
What
are the differences between the three compilations?
The tracks list of "Every Breath you take - The singles" is: Roxanne/Can't stand losing you/Message in a bottle/Walking on the moon/Don't stand so close to me '86/Dedododo, dedadada/Every little thing she does is magic/Invisible sun/Spirits in the material world/Every breath you take/King of pain/Wrapped around your finger. "Greatest hits" has the some songs plus So lonely, The bed's too big without you, Synchronicity II and Tea in the Sahara and the Don't stand so lose to me version is the original one. "Every breath you take - The classics" has the same tracks list as "The singles" plus a remix version of Message in a bottle and has also the original version of Don't stand so close to me. As it was said before, the DTS version has the remixed version of Dedododo, dedadada.
And
are there other records where I can find Police's songs?
Yes, lots of them. Here is a list of some of them with the songs they inlude:
How
many 7" singles have The Police released?
This is a very difficult question to answer precisely. Let's see: The Police edited 22 singles in the UK:
How
many 12" maxi-singles have The Police released?
The are nine UK 12" maxi singles: A&M AMS 7348 Roxanne/Peanuts (April/78, telephone picture sleeve) A&M AMS 7348 Roxanne/Peanuts (April/79, reissue, group pic sleeve) A&M AMS 7494 Walking On The Moon/Visions of The Night A&M AMX127 Wrapped around/Someone to Talk to/Message in a bottle (Live)/I Burn for You (July/83) A&M AMX 153 Synchronicity II/Once upon a daydream (Oct/83) A&M AMX 176 King of Pain/Tea in the Sahara (Live) (Jan/84) A&M AMY 354 Don't Stand '86(Dance Mix)/Don't Stand '86/Don't Stand (Original)/Don't Stand (Live) (1986) A&M 392161-1 Roxanne/Synchronicity II (1987) A&M 581 037-1 Voices Inside my Head(E Smoove Pump Mix)/Can't Stand Losing you(Live in Boston)/Voices (Classic Mix)/Voices (S Tribe Mix) (April/95)
A very intersting item is the promo radio sampler to promote the "six-pack" (Bed's too without you/ So lonely/ Can't stand losing you/ Roxanne/ Message in a bottle/ Walking on the moon) A&M SAMP 5.
Some of them were released in some other european countries and in Japan. In the US there are at least ten 12" promo maxi-singles.
Are
there any Police CD singles?
Yes, there are some, unfortunately for the collectors the majority are promo copies and hard to find. In the Uk only one CD single has been officially released: Can't Stand Losing You (Live in Boston) (A&M 581 037-2). In the US two "Digital Memories Series" has been released: A&M 314581424 2 Don?t stand so close to me/King of pain and) A&M 314581428 2 : Every Breath you take/Every little thing she does is magic, both in 1996. There are also 2 CD singles from France: Can't stand losing you(Live)/Roxanne(Live) (A&M 581 036-2) released in 1995 and So lonely/No time this time released in 1992(A&M 580 093-2).
How
many Police picture discs have been released by A&M?
There are eight Police picture discs releases by A&M:
How
many Police singles collections are there?
There are three Police singles collections:
What coloured vinyl singles exist?
Yes, there are lots of coloured vinyl Police singles. the reisued of Roxanne in the UK (A&M AMS 7348) was issued in dark blue and light blue vinyl. There are some test pressings copies in red vynil (very rares). Can't stand losing you has been isued in 6 vinyl colors: dark blue, light blue, green, yellow, white and red. Message in a bottle can be found in green vinyl (I believe there are some copies in dark green and some in light green vinyl). There is also a promotional single for the japanesse Police Box in gold vinyl. Check also the singles collections.
Which
picture sleeve is the most difficult to find?
For sure the most difficult picture sleeve to find is the one from this Japanesse single: Don't stand so close to me (3.37)/Friends (3.35) Japan promo ALAM 103. Has a special inlay, the Police written in big red letters and small photo of Andy, Stewart and Sting. The sleeve is unique, different from the Japanese normal release and only a few were made (probably 100). If you are lucky enough to find this single you wouldn't want to know its price. You can be ask as much as U$S 150.00.
Which
is the rarest Police 7" single?
There are some singles from the United Kingdom that may be the rarest of all. the first one is the Roxanne/Peanuts single (AMS 7348) on red vinyl. I do not know how many of them are there but they were probably made by an A&M employee. The other two are two different versions of the same single: De dododo, de dadada/A Sermon (AMS 7578). The first one comes in multicoloured vinyl (red/green/yellow/blue) and only three copies of this single are known. It was made by an A&M employee. The other one is probably the rarest because only one copy is known so far and is the same single in yellow vinyl. It is probably a test-run for the multicoloured one). Finally there is a single misspressing of Walking on the moon on white vinyl with Squeeze Christmas Day AMS 7495 (Thanks Craig Betts).
And
which is the rarest Police record?
Is difficult to say which one is the rarest. One of them is a very limited edition of Ghost in the machine that lights up when it's played. It is said that only five copies of this record were made and they went to the three Police members, Ian and Miles Copeland. A few years back Miles Copeland sold a lot of his Police stuff, one of the items was this picture disc. It's very difficult to calculate a price for this item but according to Erwin Kempen its value is U$S 1,500.00 !.
But the rarest may be an uncut picture disc test pressing of 1995s Cant stand losing you/Roxanne shaped picture disc..
This is quite possibly the Rarest Official Police record around. It's a White Vinyl Uncut Picture Disc Test Pressing of 1995's Can't Stand Losing You Shaped Picture Disc. As far as I know it is the only one in existence. There were 10-12 of the Uncut Badge made but I understand this was the only Uncut Picture Disc Test Pressing made and was sent to the A&M Production Department as a matter of course to ensure the sound quality was satisfactory. (Thanks to Craig Betts)
In
how many countries have records by the Police been released?
It's very difficult to know this for sure but as far as I know there are Police records from 38 different countries. The rarest are Indonesia, Philipines, Thailand, Singapore, West Indies, Bolivia and Guatemala. There should be more.
How many different releases of "Fall Out" exist?
Fall out was edited by Illegal records in 1977 with a black and white picture sleeve and was reissued in 1979 in four different picture sleeves. In all of them the photo was the same than the original single but was on a checkered background with four different color combinations: green and black, blue and purple, blue and light blue and orange and black. There exist, at least, eleven different releases (with differences in the sleeve, label or center hole).
Have any Police LPs been pressed in coloured vinyl?
Outlandos D'amour was presses on light and dark blue vinyl in the UK, and there is also an Australian pressing on blue vinyl. Zenyatta Mondatta was also pressed on coloured vinyl in Australia (two different types of greens).Synchronicity was pressed in Australia on five different colours vinyl. Three different types of blue (one pressing from New Zealand), yellow and red. The one which is most difficult to find is the light blue Australian pressing. All the Australian/New Zealand pressing were released when the Police was on tour in Aussieland. There is also a very strange pressing of the 2X10" edition of Reggatta de Blanc from the US of which only 100 copies were made. The first disk comes with windmill patterns, all in different colour. It's likely that all 100 copies are different from each other. Second record is normal black vinyl.
Are there any 12" coloured vinyl singles?
Yes, there are a couple of them. The only official release is a single from Colombia with the spanish and english versions of Dedododo, dedadada pressed on two vinyl colours released in 1980 (606-0001). One comes in yellow vinyl (Thanks Virgilio GAGGERO) and the rarest in pale green vinyl (Thanks Craig Betts). The other one is a test-run disk for the Don't stand so close to me/De dododo, de dadada star shaped picture disc. Only 25 copies of this one were made and all were different from another. Unlike the final official release this one is pressed on a 12" piece of vinyl and it's not shaped, but the matrix number of the both are totally identical. It comes like the official version in a plastic wallet, but in a 12" format. The disk itself is multicoloured and has no picture of the band on it.
Are
there any Police bootlegs on vinyl or CD?
Yes, there are a lot, but do not say anything because there are illegal. There are at least 65 vinyl bootlegs and 50 CD boots. The majority are italian editions but there are some from other countries (Germany, Japan, Luxembourg and the US). Be carefull when buying one of these. Somethimes the sound quality is very bad and in most of them the place and date stated on the cover are wrong (in general because there are various different boots from the same concert, and they do so to confuse the collectors when buying). There are also a lot more boots on tape out there.
Is
"Message in a Box, The Complete Recordings", complete?
No, there are at least 8 songs that do not appear on the box set:
Are disc 2 of "Police Live!' and the video
"The Synchronicity Concert" taken
from the same concert?
The Police gave two concerts in Atlanta during their Synchronicity Tour: Nov. 2 & 3, 1983. It is not clear if one is from one night and the other a compillation, but this is the list of songs:
Synchronicity different
Synchronicity II not on Video
Walking on your ... different
Message ... different
Oh mi God diferent
Dedododo... same
Wrapped... same
Tea in the Sahara different
Spirits in the material... same
King of pain different
Don't stand so... not on video
Every breath... different
Roxanne not on video
Can't stand... same
So lonely same
Are there any Police Mispressings out there?
Mispressings are records which has a label saying that they correspond to one LP or single but plays a different one. There are some Police mispressings. They are really very hard to find and have become a treasure for collectors. This list was provided by Craig Betts.
Are there any Police discographies
on the net?
Yes, you can check aceface's discography. Is very complete. Yo can also check Joerg Zimmermann's discography. He's a german Police collector who wrote a book called "The Truth Hits Everybody" about Police, Sting Andy and Stewart discography a couple of years ago. The book includes information on around 1200 official released records. There are, for example, details on around 500-600 7" Singles by The Police & Sting. Some of the information of this FAQ was taken from this book. It doesn't contain pictures but detailed description on all the important stuff. It ends with information on the releases from Ten Summoner's Tales. There isn't any discography (in bookform, on the net or anywhere else) as detailed as this one. He has now put that info online at http://www.truth-hits-everybody.com/ and is working in a new html version.Check also Rogier's Police Page which is not as complete as the other two but has lots of picture sleeves. Some time ago, the pioneer of Polices online discographies came back. Check it at http://www.bolchini.com/mow/police/. To know more about the rarest Police records visit The Police File.
And
what about other collector's items. Is there any Police memorabilia worth
collecting ?
Yes, a lot. Check the Rare Memorabilia section of The Police File to see some very interesting and expensive items.
