Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings

Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings
Box set by The Police
Released September 28, 1993
Recorded 1977–1986
Genre New wave
Label A&M
Producer The Police, Nigel Gray, Hugh Padgham
The Police chronology
Greatest Hits
(1992)		 Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings
(1993)		 Live!
(1995)

Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings is a four-CD box set by The Police, containing all five of their studio albums in chronological order, as well as singles, B-sides, and tracks from various compilation albums and the Brimstone & Treacle soundtrack (1982). The box set also comes with a 68-page booklet.

Disc one includes live renditions of "Landlord" and "Next to You", which were recorded at the Bottom Line, New York on 4 April 1979 and originally broadcast on WNEW-FM, New York.

Disc three has a live version of "Driven to Tears" which was recorded live at Les Arenes, Frejus, France, 28 August 1980 and is featured on the Urgh! A Music War soundtrack album (1982).

While the box set does contain every original song released by the band, contrary to its title, these are not the complete recordings up to 1986. "Truth Hits Everybody '83" appeared on a limited edition gatefold single of "Every Breath You Take". Two versions of "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" were released in 1980 as a double A-side 7", one with Sting singing Japanese lyrics, the other with Spanish lyrics (AM-25000). A third version of "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" was also re-recorded in 1986, entitled "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da '86". This version of "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" is not present on the box set, but is available on the DTS-CD and SACD releases of Every Breath You Take: The Classics (1995). Other official releases were a 12" single for "Don't Stand So Close to Me '86", which featured both an additional remix and live version of the song, and an extended version of "Voices Inside My Head". Live recordings of "Can't Stand Losing You" and "Wrapped Around Your Finger" had also been released but not included. Another rarity missing from the box set is the extended video mix of "Invisible Sun", which featured an additional verse not present on the LP version.

"Shambelle", an instrumental written by Andy Summers, that is a B-side both of the singles "Invisible Sun" (UK) and "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" (US), was presented incorrectly, missing the hi-hat introduction played by Stewart Copeland. This error has never been corrected, and the original 45's is the only place to get the full-length versions.[1] It should also be noted that the versions of "Shambelle" on the "Invisible Sun" and "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" singles have different track times, clocking 5:42 on the former and 5:10 on the latter. The version on this box set clocks in just about five minutes.

The U.S. version of the box set also features the version of "Don't Stand So Close To Me '86" that was originally released on the album Every Breath You Take: The Singles (1986). This version is shorter than the extended dance mix of "Don't Stand So Close to Me '86" included on some international versions of the box set and includes a different guitar solo from Andy Summers. There is no edition of the box set that includes both versions of the song.

There was also speculation by a number of music fans that "Can't Stand Losing You" was remastered from a needle drop of the original vinyl and that "Roxanne" had pitch issues due to tape drag and possible damage to the master tape used.[1]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[2]
Rolling Stone[3]

Allmusic gave resounding approval to the set, going so far as to claim that all 78 songs are "timeless classics," making it the ideal purchase for the casual listener. They also praised the booklet included, especially the Police biography, and asserted that the digital remastering is so superior to the sound quality of the original releases that they would recommend the purchase even to those who already have all the recordings on the box set.[2]

Track listing

Disc one

  1. "Fall Out" (Stewart Copeland) * – 2:04
  2. "Nothing Achieving" (Copeland)* – 1:56
    • Tracks 1-2 originally released as a single (UK only) in 1977.
  3. "Dead End Job" (Sting, Copeland, Andy Summers) * – 3:35
  4. "Next to You" (Sting) – 2:50
  5. "So Lonely" (Sting) – 4:49
  6. "Roxanne" (Sting) – 3:12
  7. "Hole in My Life" (Sting) – 4:52
  8. "Peanuts" (Copeland, Sting) – 3:58
  9. "Can't Stand Losing You" (Sting) – 2:58
  10. "Truth Hits Everybody" (Sting) – 2:53
  11. "Born in the 50's" (Sting) – 3:40
  12. "Be My Girl - Sally" (Sting, Summers) – 3:22
  13. "Masoko Tanga" (Sting) – 5:40
  14. "Landlord" (Live) (Sting, Copeland) * – 2:36
  15. "Next to You" (Live) (Sting)* – 3:11
    • Tracks 14-15 originally released on the A&M compilation album Propaganda - No Wave II in 1980 (AMLE 64786).
  16. "Landlord" (Sting, Copeland) * – 3:09
  17. "Message in a Bottle" (Sting) – 4:51
  18. "Reggatta de Blanc" (Copeland, Sting, Summers) – 3:06
  19. "It's Alright for You" (Copeland, Sting) – 3:13
  20. "Bring On the Night" (Sting) – 4:16
  21. "Deathwish" (Copeland, Sting, Summers) – 4:13

Disc two

  1. "Walking on the Moon" (Sting) – 5:02
  2. "On Any Other Day" (Copeland) – 2:57
  3. "The Bed's Too Big Without You" (Sting) – 4:26
  4. "Contact" (Copeland) – 2:38
  5. "Does Everyone Stare" (Copeland) – 3:52
  6. "No Time This Time" (Sting) – 3:17
  7. "Visions of the Night" (Sting) * – 3:05
  8. "The Bed's Too Big Without You" (Mono) (Sting) * – 3:29
  9. "Truth Hits Everybody" (Live) (Sting) * – 2:26
    • Tracks 8-9 originally released on Six Pack (UK only) in 1980.
  10. "Friends" (Summers) * – 3:36
  11. "Don't Stand So Close to Me" (Sting) – 4:04
  12. "Driven to Tears" (Sting) – 3:20
  13. "When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around" (Sting) – 3:38
  14. "Canary in a Coalmine" (Sting) – 2:26
  15. "Voices Inside My Head" (Sting) – 3:53
  16. "Bombs Away" (Copeland) – 3:09
  17. "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" (Sting) – 4:09
  18. "Behind My Camel" (Summers) – 2:54
  19. "Man in a Suitcase" (Sting) – 2:19
  20. "Shadows in the Rain" (Sting) – 5:02
  21. "The Other Way of Stopping" (Copeland) – 3:22

Disc three

  1. "A Sermon" (Copeland) * – 2:33
  2. "Driven to Tears" (Live) (Sting) * – 3:29
  3. "Shambelle" (Summers) * – 5:00
  4. "Spirits in the Material World" (Sting) – 2:59
  5. "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" (Sting) – 4:22
  6. "Invisible Sun" (Sting) – 3:44
  7. "Hungry for You (J'aurais toujours faim de toi)" (Sting) – 2:53
  8. "Demolition Man" (Sting) – 5:57
  9. "Too Much Information" (Sting) – 3:43
  10. "Rehumanize Yourself" (Copeland, Sting) – 3:10
  11. "One World (Not Three)" (Sting) – 4:47
  12. "Omegaman" (Summers) – 2:48
  13. "Secret Journey" (Sting) – 3:34
  14. "Darkness" (Copeland) – 3:14
  15. "Flexible Strategies" (Sting, Summers, Copeland) * – 3:43
  16. "Low Life" * (Sting) – 3:45
  17. "How Stupid Mr. Bates" (Sting, Summers, Copeland) * – 2:41
  18. "A Kind of Loving" (Sting, Summers, Copeland) * – 2:03

Disc four

  1. "Synchronicity I" (Sting) – 3:23
  2. "Walking in Your Footsteps" (Sting) – 3:36
  3. "O My God" (Sting) – 4:02
  4. "Mother" (Summers) – 3:05
  5. "Miss Gradenko" (Copeland) – 1:59
  6. "Synchronicity II" (Sting) – 5:02
  7. "Every Breath You Take" (Sting) – 4:13
  8. "King of Pain" (Sting) – 4:59
  9. "Wrapped Around Your Finger" (Sting) – 5:13
  10. "Tea in the Sahara" (Sting) – 4:19
  11. "Murder by Numbers" (Sting, Summers) – 4:36
  12. "Man in a Suitcase" (Live) (Sting) * – 2:17
    • originally released on the maxi-single "Every Breath You Take" (UK only).
  13. "Someone to Talk To" (Summers) * – 3:08
  14. "Message in a Bottle" (Live) (Sting) * – 4:51
    • Originally released on the maxi-single "Wrapped Around Your Finger" (UK only).
  15. "I Burn for You" (Sting) * – 4:49
    • Originally released on the soundtrack album Brimstone & Treacle in 1982.
    • Also included on the maxi-single "Wrapped Around Your Finger" (UK only) which contributes to its ordering in this collection.
  16. "Once upon a Daydream" (Sting, Summers) * – 3:31
  17. "Tea in the Sahara" (Live) (Sting) * – 5:06
  18. "Don't Stand So Close to Me '86" (Sting) * – 4:51

Personnel

The Police

Additional

References

  1. 1 2 "The Police on CD". Steve Hoffman Music Forums.
  2. 1 2 Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings at AllMusic
  3. ↑ "The Police: Album Guide". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2012-05-28.
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