Issue # 27.
In this issue : More Roxanne 1997 promo's
A Japanese acetate
UK Times interview December 13 1997
Truth hits everybody slow version
Canadian Best of release
WBCN's Naked Disc
Freak Question
----------------------------Freak news--------------------------------------
This is the moment ofcourse that we can expect more promo's from their
Greatest Hits album, here is the Mexican one:
Roxanne ('97 Puff Daddy remix) - Mexico one track picture CD promo (4.33)
A&M CDP 729
Comes in a paper sleeve, has a reverse sleeve front side of the album.
On top of the front cover it states "The very best of Sting & The Police".
Backside has a full colour photo from the same session as the picture
on the Greatest Hits album. Picture on the CD is the same as front side
of the paper sleeve.
----------------------------Freak News--------------------------------------
I don't know if there will be any more US promo's, but this is the first
one I received.
Roxanne ('97 Puff Daddy remix) - USA 3 track CD promo AMSAD 00552
tracks are : Roxanne ('97 Puff Daddy remix)/edit 3:59
Roxanne ('97 Puff Daddy remix)/album version 4.33
Roxanne ('97 Puff Daddy remix)/instrumental 4.29
Comes in a paper sleeve, front side of the sleeve has text only which
states "Sting & The Police Roxanne 97 Puff Daddy remix".
---------------------------Freak News---------------------------------------
Last time I mentioned the 2 12" promo's which are available in the UK
with the "Walking on the Moon" remixes on them. At that time I did not have
them yet, right now I can tell you how they look like.
1. The AMPMDJ110 comes in a red text cover which states
"Sting & The Police Roxanne '97 Puff Daddy remix Walking on the
moon Roger Sanchez remixes, dj promo only not for sale/33 rpm"
label is red aswell.
2. The DJ109 comes in a grey/black text cover which states
"Sting & the Police Walking on the moon Roger Sanchez remixes
DJ promo only not for resale/33rpm
There is also a 3rd UK promo 12" available :
Roxanne 97 (Puff Daddy Remix) 4:33 / same UK - A&M 588 563-1
white cover no sticker or text on the cover.
(You're a lucky person if you do not collect every available item !!)
------------------------Freak news-----------------------------------------
From: "Toni Carbo"
Talking about acetates...here you have a new info.for your next Freaks
review.Last week I received a great 7" acetate from Japan who include 2
tracks;one by Sting "Russians" and the other one by Steve Perry "OK
Sherry".
The record comes in a white sleve with a large red stamp in Japanese and
white label with Japanese hand made titles of artits and song.On the right
of label is also write 2 diff. reff.on both sides N61.1 for STING side and
N59 .6 by Steve side.
The record was made for a Cable Radio station in Japan...price aprox is
130-40 $.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
The big interview - Every breath he takes... Times interview
Sting and I meet at London's Dorchester Hotel. He is
without his wife, Trudie Styler, who is in Milan, supporting
Donatella Versace at the unveiling of the first collection
since her brother Gianni's death. And so he has come
alone to be fęted by the BMI, the body that monitors
television and radio use throughout America. Did you
know that Every Breath You Take has now been played
an official four million times there? That is 17 years and
two months of airtime. No wonder Sting refers to his
songs as his children.
I am impressed by this. He is gracious. "Normally, I don't
much like these sort of occasions," he tells me, his
distinctly less glamorous substitute as dinner companion.
"But it does make you feel 'Wow! I'm in the Champion's
League now', when you are told that one of your
compositions has been played in America as often as Let
It Be or whatever." I nod my head sagely, but will never in
this lifetime know the same feeling. Or that of receiving the
evening's chief BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.) trophy, a
one-off humanitarian award to Sting and Styler in
recognition of work achieved in Brazil by their Rainforest
Foundation.
He looks uncomfortable as we watch a short explanatory
video - shots of a younger, blonder Sting bonding with
Chief Raoni, or looking worried in verdant, shiny-leafed
locations. He is self-deprecating when called upon to
accept an impressive silver bowl: "I'm highly embarrassed.
I don't deserve it. Just the other day, I was told that
two-thirds of the world's rainforest has been destroyed
during the past ten years - that shows just how effective
I've been." A ripple of laughter. "What Trudie and I have
done, if anything, is speak our minds on the subject. That's
it. And if it's helped at all, I'm glad."
Dodging the torrent of handshakes, flashbulbs and
applause, he slips back into the adjoining seat. "Wish my
better half had been here to help," he mutters sotto voce.
Then, clowning for the benefit of the rest of the table, he
pantomimes putting the bowl first on his head, then sitting
on it. "What do you think? A nice hat - or a potty?
Whatever, I'll be down Portobello Road to flog it in the
morning."
The evening's official business over, Sting takes his glass
of red wine and looks for the quietest corner of the
Dorchester's park-sized lobby. He is, he says, in a very
happy phase of his life right now: "Which makes what I do
for a living very difficult. Happy, contented songs are the
hardest to write; those in a major key, the kind that have
positivity and heart - especially when you just won't settle
for rhyming couplets, as I won't. That said, I find writing
any kind of songs hard. It's what I do - what I love to do
- yet I spend a lot of my time avoiding doing it. It's why I
go out on tour for 18 months or two years at a stretch.
Playing live is a way of not writing songs, of not having to
face the blank page."
Despite the physical rigours of travelling and performing,
there is a mindlessness to life on the road which can be
highly appealing, he claims. "Writing songs, you are
desperately trying to engage your brain. Out on tour, you
can get by with barely no brain at all. Someone just points
you in the right direction and you do it." Which begs the
question why he is not gearing up to play live now as part
of a reformed Police. Currently in the charts is a combined
greatest hits package, The Best Of Sting and The Police.
Surely any other trio would be hauling themselves round
the world, seeking to maximise its sales potential?
Sting shakes his head at the thought. "No," he says. "In
fact, it wasn't even my idea to bring a record like this out.
But the label and management and actually the others in
the band (his former partners Stewart Copeland and
Andy Summers) felt that it would be appropriate to mark
our 20th anniversary. Well, I can't have any objection to
that . . . but touring? The others would probably like to,
but then they haven't been out and played for a while. I've
been on the road for 12 years pretty much, ever since I
left The Police. Plus, the record itself is just about as much
nostalgia as I can bear."
Which leaves him, for the most part, holed up in his
magnificent Wiltshire home, Lake House, attempting to
write songs. "But often avoiding doing so like the plague,"
he confesses. "I'm trying to write right now, and it's killing
me." A case of the dreaded Block then, such as he
experienced before eventually coming up with the material
for 1991's dark and introspective The Soul Cages? "Well,
in that case there was a reason for the avoidance," he
points out. "I had only one thing on my mind, and only one
thing to write about - the death of my parents. But I was
desperately trying not to do so. Until I dealt with what
their loss represented for me though, I couldn't write
anything.
"As soon as I bit the bullet and actually started down that
path, the album all but wrote itself. There was this great
release and relief. I'd felt previously that I wasn't mourning
properly. I was beating myself up about it - actually
damaging myself greatly. The mourning process only really
began for me when I stopped short and allowed myself to
be honest."
There is more mourning to be done, however. Yes, Sting
may be very happy at this point in his life, but his year has
been characterised by death. For a start, the song for
which he was honoured this evening, Every Breath You
Take, found itself reinvented by Puff Daddy and Faith
Evans as I'll Be Missing You, a tribute to the slain gangsta
rapper The Notorious B.I.G. - Evans's husband - and has
been a worldwide hit, for a second time. Then in July, he
and Styler's friend Gianni Versace was murdered outside
his Miami home by serial killer Andrew Cunanan. And it
was at the resulting funeral that the couple spent time with
Diana, Princess of Wales, whom they had previously met
on several occasions. Within weeks, of course, they found
themselves among the mourners at Westminster Abbey.
The singer exhales slowly at the mention of this short, sad
list. Best, perhaps, to deal with them one by one, he
suggests.
Sting says he had no prior knowledge that Puff Daddy
had chosen his song as the vehicle for his tribute. "When I
heard his and Faith Evans's stories, I was very pleased
and honoured that someone should want to use it as a
tribute to their friend or husband. And, of course, it went
on to become a No 1 hit, and I was very pleased about
that too. It meant that one of my children, one of my
songs, was given another life. In that sense, it's been a
great year for me."
He and Puff Daddy met for the first time at September's
MTV awards in New York, and performed the revised
track as a duet. "He struck me as a pretty sharp kid,"
Sting comments. "It was hard to believe he's only in his
early twenties - is, in fact, the same age as my eldest son
Joe (one of his two children from a first marriage to
actress Frances Tomelty). He's very much in control of
every aspect of his career. Actually, his intention was that
I should dance on stage but I said no, we white people
don't do that. And he was cool about it. I think that what
he's done with Roxanne is very impressive. Again, it's like
a total reinvention."
Moving on to consider the loss of Versace, Sting shivers
visibly. "That image of the steps to his house and the
blood . . . the steps that I've walked up and down many
times with my children. Believe me, that image will never
leave me. I haven't come close to working it out yet. I'm
one of those people who tend to say, OK, somebody's
died - but now we've got to get on with life. I know,
though, that you have to process it all sooner or later."
Most of us expect to go through life without ever having to
deal with the loss of a friend in this way. That not
everyone is allowed the luxury of such blind faith is made
clear when Sting remarks undramatically: "He's only the
second person in my life who's been murdered, and the
fact of murder really does make a difference to how you
feel. They're snatched away. Gone. There is no time to
prepare. You don't expect the death. And you are left
holding this horrible reality. It really is very tough."
Who was the first? He explains that it was Charlie Minor,
an American promoter for his record label, A&M. "He
was a true friend, and was shot in cold blood by an old
girlfriend. She just came in and unloaded the revolver and
. . ." He stops and laughs softly, perhaps at the absurdity
of it all, and takes a deep gulp from his wine.
A change of subject would doubtless be welcome, but he
agrees to continue. I put an observation to him. No
camera close-ups of him weeping at either Versace's
funeral or Diana's memorial service; no coming up with
songs to mark either occasion. Not all his musical peers
have behaved with such restraint or dignity. How does he
decide what is appropriate behaviour in such instances? A
long pause, then: "I suppose I think that there's a right way
to act in all situations and I would hope that I achieve it."
And what did he think of Elton John's performance at the
Abbey? "He was asked to sing by the Spencer family and,
you know, I think he did fantastically well under amazing
duress."
Could Sting himself have sung, if asked? "I haven't got the
right song. But I'd probably have squirmed a lot and then
agreed. You would have to, if you were asked to. And
again, you'd just try and do it in a way that was
appropriate."
He then free falls his way through his memories of the
service for Diana, Princess of Wales. "My feelings about it
are contradictory - I found it the most harrowing and the
most beautiful of occasions. When that coffin came
through the door, it was so difficult not to cry. I had seen
her not three weeks before, in the full bloom of life.
"We were sitting with Tom Hanks, and Tom Cruise and
Nicole Kidman, and they said at the end, 'You know,
sometimes your country is the most amazing place.' I had
to agree with them, even though part of me was thinking
that this is all a soap opera and we are being manipulated
by all the old tricks - the music and the ritual. That didn't
make it any the less real, though. And listening to Earl
Spencer's speech, I felt very much like we were part of
some historic occasion - 200 years earlier and we'd all
have been thrown in the Tower. Of course, I wish it had
never taken place, but I wouldn't have missed being
there."
He admits that the two deaths have provoked him to
reflect more deeply on his own situation. "When Gianni
died, I questioned the whole idea of fame. I had always
been comfortable about it - took it in my stride, kind of
enjoyed it. Suddenly, I felt different. A man can be killed
on his own doorstep for no reason other than that he is
famous. In that case, I don't want fame - absolutely don't
want it. But it is futile to think like that, because I do have
it, and have to deal with it. The irony of Gianni's situation
is that he invited fame. And look at the reward he got . . .
"So, I feel myself going into a period of hibernation, trying
to process all this stuff. Plus, like everyone else, I'm
getting older - which is interesting, particularly when you
work within a discipline that has always been viewed as
the preserve of youth. I have just turned 46. No matter
how lucky I might hope to be, that's liable to be over the
halfway line."
He has, of course, a greater chance of relative immortality
than most of us; not only has he fathered six members of a
next generation (he and Styler have four children), but he
has amassed a body of work that is already proving to
have a life of its own. "And of the two, I particularly like
the idea of continuity through my children, which is why I
am so concerned about making sure the world they inherit
is one worth living in. But, you know, my main concern is
preparing for death. I don't want to sound mawkish or
macabre, but it's important to do so - in the sense that I
would like to die a fearless death, to accept it as
something natural and fulfilling and timely."
Which leaves the two of us slumped in a contemplative
silence, weighed down by thoughts of the grave. The
seconds pass, then: "Oh, I haven't told you about
President Mabuto's funeral, have I? Well, I was there.
Just because the poor guy dies in the same week as Diana
and Mother Theresa, no one's even noticed he's gone. So
it felt like the least I could do to be there. In fact, I sang
Crocodile Rock . . ."
My face is wearing its concerned and sympathetic
expression. My brain is struggling to keep up with this
information. "It's a joke, for God's sake," Sting chides me.
"Please Alan, do me a favour. Don't ever take me too
seriously. Please?"
The album of The Best of Sting and The Police and
the remixed single version of Roxanne are both
released on A&M.
---------------------------Freak News---------------------------------------
From: Dave & Wendy
>Speaking of remixes, has anyone (other than Olivia) heard the slow mix of
>'Truth hits everbody'? this version is absolutely breathtaking!!
>It is not a remix, however, it is a completely different recording of the
>song, which leads to the obvious question, 'when the hell was this
>recorded?'
>I strongly suspect it was recorded during the infamous DSSCTM '86
>sessions, and now that some brought up that (and here i paraphrase:)
>"only DSSCTM and De Do Do Do
>were admitted to being revamped, what other songs are not being revealed
>to the public?"
>i believe this to be one.
>Wendy + Dave? Rogier? what do you guys think?
We agree the version is excellent, but it was at least recorded before or
during 1983, as that was when it was officially released... We guess it was
done at the time of the Synch sessions even though the record label states
"Remix"...
Erwin Kempen: There are always guy's who think they know it better.
I'm one of them....It was even before 1983, infact it was in 1979 that this
song had been performed live already.
Listen to Southampton "The Gaumont" December 16th 1979, you'll be amazed !
----------------------------Freak News--------------------------------------
From: simca@bluewin.ch
I just found the "MADE IN CANADA" - release of "the very best of ..." in
a shop at the airport in zürich last friday (the only store who had open),
and these are the most important things about it :
15 Tracks (without seven days / fragile / de do do do), but the tracks are
in the same order.
Booklet : everything who is GREY on the german issue is BLUE on the canadian
CD : Black instead of BLUE
cat. no. 31454 0834 2
Erwin Kempen: Do people know any other release which different colour cover
or colour disc ?
----------------------------Freak News--------------------------------------
From: ryder@andrews.edu (Richard B. Ryder)
WBCN in Boston has released a CD titled "WBCN's Naked Disc" On the disc
are 14 previously unreleased performances by quite a few popular artists,
including U2, Tori Amos, Beck, Bush, AND THE POLICE!
The featured Police track is a live 'Fall Out' recorded in 1979 by WBCN.
According to the DJ it is not listed on the track listing, it's kind of a
'secret track'.
WBCN is 104.1 FM in Boston. The disc is available at local Tower, HMV,
Strawberries, and Newbury Comic stores. Possibly others, the DJ rattled
off a huge list.
This is NOT the version of 'Fall Out' on the A&M "Live!" CD. The Police
played three times in Boston in 1979, once on April 6, once on April 7,
both at the Paradise club and once on November 27 at the Orpheum. I
belive the November concert is the one on the A&M "Live!" disc,
The track starts out with Sting talking about being in Boston, how the
show is being broadcast by WBCN, How Oedipus (a WBCN dj) played 'Fall Out'
earlier on the day on WBCN, how it was their first single in England, and
how he has laryngitis. I'm not sure which night this was, I'm fairly sure
it was the second night April 7, I know that WBCN broadcasted that s how
and there are numerous boots and tapes of it floating around.
Later,
Rich
----------------------------Freak
Question---------------------------------------
From: "P.Vlasveld"
Here's the question:
In the Sting 'Popdossier' book of Pieter Kramer i noticed in the biography
part written by you that Sting did something for the Australian 1991
programm called Ferngully-the last rainforest. Do you know what Sting did in
this programm?
Thanks,
Markus
Erwin Kempen: What I can remember right now (cause I didn't check the video
tape) is that it was a BBC report about the rainforest. Sting
did the narration inbetween the pictures of the rainforest and
a childrens choir.