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Between a rock and a hard place - a game (The Police edition)


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Peart took them from cock rock to relevance. Sorry, no.

 

 

Bruford would have done a better job of that, musically speaking,

 

Replacing Neil would get also rid of those precious Ayn Randian lyrics.

 

Actually, I wish they had kept John Rutsey all those years...RIP

 

iIGKlicb8n0

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You don’t get rid of any of them if you want the same level of success or the same sound. I guess replacing the drummer would be the least destructive

 

Sorry, but you have to pick someone to get rid of - those are the rules! :D

 

So you're saying get rid of Stewart?

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I guess replacing the drummer would be the least destructive

 

A common misconception among non-drummers.

 

Beatles without Ringo?

Led Zeppelin without Bonham?

The Who without Keith Moon?

New York Dolls without Jerry Nolan?

Blondie without Clem Burke?

And as mentioned...The Police without Copeland?

 

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A common misconception among non-drummers.

 

Beatles without Ringo?

Led Zeppelin without Bonham?

The Who without Keith Moon?

New York Dolls without Jerry Nolan?

Blondie without Clem Burke?

And as mentioned...The Police without Copeland?

 

Every case is different

 

in the case of the Police I can’t imagine the band withou any of them. It would be a completely different band without any of them. But with Sting, Andy and another drummer, you at least get the same songs, vocals, and most of the arrangements.

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I'm not a big fan of musicians who overplay or who step on the other players, but I honestly don't think Stewart was really guilty of that with his playing in the Police. It was a trio for crying out loud, and Summers was pretty minimalistic with his playing, and usually played clean, so he was taking up even less of the "space" than he would have if he used more distorted guitar tones.

 

Do most people accuse Ginger Baker of overplaying with Cream? He was at least as busy, if not more so than Stewart was with the Police. Ditto that for Keith Moon and the Who and John Bonham with Led Zeppelin. When you've only got three instruments + vocals, there's a lot more space, and someone's gotta fill it in order to keep things interesting...

 

 

 

You'll get no argument from me, I think Copeland was perfect for the Police.

 

But when the songwriter won't be in the same room to record it with you, and he comes in later and deletes your cymbals, you're in trouble.

 

"As Stewart and Sting really didn't want to be in the same room together, Sting would go skiing in the morning and Stewart would come in and say, 'Look, I want to add a hi-hat part,'" Padgham recalls. "I'd think, 'OK, well, he's the drummer,' so I'd record the hi-hat and then Sting would come in after lunch when Stewart was out skiing and he'd go, 'What's that f**king hi-hat part doing there? Get rid of it!' And he'd actually make me erase it. Then Stewart would come back in and say, 'What the f**k happened to my hi-hat part?' 'Well, Sting didn't like it...' This kind of thing kept happening, and I have to say that by the end of the sessions Stewart and I weren't on each other's Christmas card lists. After all, I'd sort of sided with Sting, really, because it was his song."

Hugh Padgham

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You'll get no argument from me, I think Copeland was perfect for the Police.

 

But when the songwriter won't be in the same room to record it with you, and he comes in later and deletes your cymbals, you're in trouble.

 

"As Stewart and Sting really didn't want to be in the same room together, Sting would go skiing in the morning and Stewart would come in and say, 'Look, I want to add a hi-hat part,'" Padgham recalls. "I'd think, 'OK, well, he's the drummer,' so I'd record the hi-hat and then Sting would come in after lunch when Stewart was out skiing and he'd go, 'What's that f**king hi-hat part doing there? Get rid of it!' And he'd actually make me erase it. Then Stewart would come back in and say, 'What the f**k happened to my hi-hat part?' 'Well, Sting didn't like it...' This kind of thing kept happening, and I have to say that by the end of the sessions Stewart and I weren't on each other's Christmas card lists. After all, I'd sort of sided with Sting, really, because it was his song."

Hugh Padgham

 

That's not how I would have run the sessions... I don't delete anything - if he wanted it deleted, I would have made Sting do it himself... or would have insisted the two of them work it out and agree on something and then both of them get back to me and let me know what they wanted me to do...

 

Since they were going to come to blows anyway, Hugh always could have just made them duke it out to decide the issue - at least that way he would have stayed out of it, and maybe could have even made a few bucks on side bets over who was going to win... :eek2::D

 

 

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Every case is different

 

in the case of the Police I can’t imagine the band withou any of them. It would be a completely different band without any of them. But with Sting, Andy and another drummer, you at least get the same songs, vocals, and most of the arrangements.

 

And probably less than half of the "feel" - IMO of course.

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Sure. But these are your rules.

 

Who would you cut?

 

I'm in the same boat as you in that I believe it really wouldn't be The Police with anyone taking any of the three slots in place of the original three members... but if I was forced to pick one (and those are the rules - and again, they're not "my" rules - I didn't come up with the game, someone at Fender did... but enough stalling Phil :mad2: who the heck would you kick out???) I think I'd have to go with...

 

Andy Summers. :(

 

IMHO, while they'd all be difficult to replace, he'd probably be the least difficult of the three.

 

 

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I'm in the same boat as you in that I believe it really wouldn't be The Police with anyone taking any of the three slots in place of the original three members... but if I was forced to pick one (and those are the rules - and again, they're not "my" rules - I didn't come up with the game, someone at Fender did... but enough stalling Phil :mad2: who the heck would you kick out???) I think I'd have to go with...

 

Andy Summers. :(

 

IMHO, while they'd all be difficult to replace, he'd probably be the least difficult of the three.

 

 

But then you lose all the riffs that are as important to do many of the songs as the lyrics and melodies. “Every Breath You Take”. “Message in a Bottle”. “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”

 

picture those being power-chorded instead :lol:

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But then you lose all the riffs that are as important to do many of the songs as the lyrics and melodies. “Every Breath You Take”. “Message in a Bottle”. “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”

 

picture those being power-chorded instead :lol:

 

Replace him with The Edge and you have one creative, textural guitarist taking the place of another... :idea:;)

 

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But then you lose all the riffs that are as important to do many of the songs as the lyrics and melodies. “Every Breath You Take”. “Message in a Bottle”. “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”

 

picture those being power-chorded instead :lol:

 

OTOH, you could replace him with Adrian Belew and really tick Sting off, which might be good fun too. ;):lol:

 

 

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Replace him with The Edge and you have one creative, textural guitarist taking the place of another... :idea:;)

 

That would work with a new "Police", but we're talking The Police. In concert, when it came time for "The Greatest Hits", I don't think he could pull it off satisfactorily. Kinda resembles the questions about the new"Fleetwood Mac".

I'd agree with Copeland, Visually impossible, Sonically easy.

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