Customer Reviews

Very Best of Sting & The Police

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I would have even given this CD three stars. This CD had so much potential to be the ultimate compilation in Music History, that it's frustrating. I do admit it's not so easy to chose the 'very best' songs when there are so many to chose from, but there are some definate selections which should not have been on this CD, for example Roxanne 97', Let Your Soul Be your Pilot, When We Dance etc. Some songs that should have been there are So Lonely, Wrapped Around Your Finger. I would have sincerely put 'Mother' on this CD before others. Since this CD is Sting and the Police (and not just the Police) Fortress Around Your Heart and The Hounds of Winter (I can't believe this song isn't here while Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot is) should have been there. This CD seems more like a commercial attempt than an attempt to satisfy Sting/Police fans. Technically it shouldn't be called the 'very' best of. However being honest, this is the CD that re-introduced me to the Police/Sting, making the Police my favorite group, but after obtaining their older albums, I immediately realized that this compilation could have been much much better. This CD is still a must have for Sting/Police collections.

My one star does not represent the music on this disc (that would be 5), but rather the compilation itself. If I were you, I would go out and buy the best of the Police (Every Breath You Take - The Singles) and the best of Sting (Fields of Gold) CDs.

As a huge fan who owns all of the Police and Sting albums, it's hard to advise people to only purchase "greatest hits" collections, but you'd be better off w/ the 2 CDs than this one.

P.S. The Message in a Box complete recordings of the Police is amazing.

This CD is a good compilation of the very best songs of Sting and the Police. Its truly a rich tribute to the Police and Sting. A few more numbers from the Police could have been included in this CD to make it even more better. After all Sting originated from the Police, and the Police were truly number ONE ! All in all, its an awesome CD with some awesome numbers.

Both with the Police and on his own, Sting has had so many good songs that it would be very hard to put them all on one album (especially as Sting continues to release new songs and new versions of older songs). Still, this is a good selection of songs from his early and later career. It hits the spot when you want to hear a range of his stuff without mixing something yourself. The Roxanne remix (by TAFKA Puff Daddy), however, is ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE and I have no idea why they bothered with this.

Get this album if you can find it at a good price. True fans will need a box set, but this is a good place to start for everyone else.

Hope this helps and good luck finding what you're looking for!

I didn't buy this CD after listening to my friend's. The Puff Daddy version of "Roxanne" is just disgusting, and it's too much trouble to program a CD player to always skip that track. Also, given the enormous amount of wonderful, wonderful things the Police and Sting have put out, it would be impossible to put all of "the best" ones on one album, especially given that each of us has a different opinion of what "the best" songs are.

This is a very very bad best of CD.. If U want Police then get the Best of Police CD, if U want Sting then get his Fields of Gold best of album. This CD is a weak compilation of his with only a few hits, don't waste your money on this one.

The music on this disc ranges from 3 stars to 5 stars, which would give it an average of 4.5 But I'm subtracting 1 star for false advertising and 1.5 stars for the abyssmal remix of Roxanne. There are a lot of problems with this CD.

For starters, some of the best songs, like "King of Pain", aren't even on it. And this isn't MY personal opinion. "King of Pain" was a chart-topping grammy-nominated tune. In fact, it sold more copies and got more airplay than most of the other singles on this disc. Wouldn't that make it a "best of" hit?

And why are there NO tracks from "The Soul Cages"? "All This Time" sold a whole lot more records than "Desert Rose" or "Russians".

So clearly, this is not "The Very Best Of"

Why else might you buy it?

Well, if you're a fan, you'd want to be completist and get it for the Roxanne remix. Don't bother, it is TERRIBLE. It is really really really bad. Really. I now want to invent a time machine to go back to a point before I ever heard it.

If you're NOT a fan, you might want an intro to the band and it's music. Well then please indulge me in a little quick education so you'll understand why this is NOT the disc for you.

Sting and The Police are two seperate entities. The Police was a Rock Band infused with punk and reggae stylings. Sting is a singer/songwriter.

While Sting may have written most of The Police's songs (and all of their hits), the idea for the band came from Stewart Copeland and the sound of the band owes much more to the atmosphereric arrangements and keyboard work of Andy Summers. The Police are certainly one of the greatest bands of the 80s and had a great influence on the 90s.

The Police sold out Shea Stadium. Sting sold out Jones Beach.

That is NOT to say that Sting's stuff is poor. Far from it. Sting's first three solo albums "The Soul Cages" (1990) and "Nothing Like The Sun" (1988) and the be-bop influenced "Dream of the Blue Turtles" (1986) have a level of sophistication in songwriting, production, and lyrics that are a cut above The Police's stuff in many ways. But they are very different.

Then there's Sting's recent stuff.

There is this great Onion parody editorial "written" by Sting entitled "You Know, I Used To Be Cool Once." In it "Sting" reminisces on the period in his life where he wrote abrasive challenging tunes. A time before he became the Compaq spokesperson and began writing songs for Disney movies.

Sometime shortly after 1991 things started going downhill. Whatever you want to call it, "Mercury Falling", "Brand New Day" and "Ten Summoner's Tales" are sub-par.

So if you're not a fan, and you're looking for an introduction, I'd like to recommend getting The Police's Greatest Hits collection "Every Breath You Take". Then, if you're looking for something else, pick up "All This Time, Sting's Greatest Hits" or one of his first three solo albums (which all top the greatest hits).

But don't sell yourself short by buying this disc. There's no reason for this disc even to exist!

I read alot of disappointed reviews here. I'm from Europe and our version of this disc is much better. Our version has 18 songs! The same as your but only with the inclusion of "Seven Days", "Fragile" and "Do Do Do Do, Da Da Da Da".

I still think they should've left out "Roxanne '97" PD has some hits, but also alot of misses. Especially lately, because he begins to rap more himself and that's one thing he can't.

Fave songs: "Englishman in New York", "Seven Days", "Fields of Gold", "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" (used to play the drums with this all the time) and "When We Dance"

The Kids in the Hall once said that Greatest Hits albums were for old ladies and little girls (paraphrased). But if you take two acts who already each have their own Greatest Hits album and stick them together to make a single Greatest hits album, then who is that for? Vegetables? The mentally disabled? The hearing-impaired? Seriously - if you're thinking of buying this, I'm willing to bet that there's probably one song that you reeeally reeeeally want to own. Do yourself a favor... look around and locate either "Every Breath You Take - The Singles" or "Fields of Gold - the Best of Sting", and whichever one contains your magic song, buy that instead. If you're a music fan, you will probably wind up wanting to own more once you've done that, and if not, you'll be just as happy as if you'd bought this bit of rubbish.

i have been a long time fan of sting and the police but never got round to getting any of the albums, just the singles, yet when i saw this i knew it was a must buy!! it has nearly all the great hits and my all my personal favs, if u just like his music but never got the albums buy this, you'll find yourself singing along with songs u didnt even know he wrote and probably love any u hadn' already heard. if long time fan though this probably falls a little short of what ur looking for. only criticisms are 1)get the european version 3 extra songs inc. "7days" one of my favorite sting songs 2) puff daddy's version of "roxanne" shouldnt be on the album, it should be somewhere on mars