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Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings
 
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Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings [BOX SET]

The Police
4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (106 customer reviews) More about this product

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Product Details

  • Audio CD (September 28, 1993)
  • Original Release Date: September 28, 1993
  • Number of Discs: 4
  • Format: Box set
  • Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
  • Label: A&M
  • ASIN: B000002G23
  • In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (106 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #21,593 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s

Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.


Disc 1:

Samples
Song Title Time Price
listen  1. Fall Out 2:03$0.99 Buy Track
listen  2. Nothing Achieving 1:56$0.99 Buy Track
listen  3. Dead End Job 3:35$0.99 Buy Track
listen  4. Next To You (Album Version) 2:52$0.99 Buy Track
listen  5. So Lonely 4:51$0.99 Buy Track
listen  6. Roxanne 3:14$0.99 Buy Track
listen  7. Hole In My Life 4:54$0.99 Buy Track
listen  8. Peanuts 4:01$0.99 Buy Track
listen  9. Can't Stand Losing You 3:01$0.99 Buy Track
listen10. Truth Hits Everybody (Album Version) 2:54$0.99 Buy Track
listen11. Born In The 50's 3:44$0.99 Buy Track
listen12. Be My Girl - Sally 3:23$0.99 Buy Track
listen13. Masoko Tanga 5:43$0.99 Buy Track
listen14. Landlord (Live "Message In A Box Version") 2:36$0.99 Buy Track
listen15. Next To You (Live "Message In A Box Version") 3:11$0.99 Buy Track
listen16. Landlord 3:09$0.99 Buy Track
listen17. Message In A Bottle (Album Version) 4:50$0.99 Buy Track
listen18. Reggatta De Blanc 3:06$0.99 Buy Track
listen19. It's Alright For You 3:13$0.99 Buy Track
listen20. Bring On The Night 4:15$0.99 Buy Track
listen21. Deathwish 4:11$0.99 Buy Track


Disc 2:

Samples
Song Title Time Price
listen  1. Walking On The Moon 5:02$0.99 Buy Track
listen  2. On Any Other Day 2:57$0.99 Buy Track
listen  3. The Bed's Too Big Without You (Album Version) 4:25$0.99 Buy Track
listen  4. Contact 2:38$0.99 Buy Track
listen  5. Does Everyone Stare 3:46$0.99 Buy Track
listen  6. No Time This Time 3:20$0.99 Buy Track
listen  7. Visions Of The Night 3:05$0.69 Buy Track
listen  8. The Bed's Too Big Without You (Mono Version) 3:29$0.99 Buy Track
listen  9. Truth Hits Everybody (Live In Boston Version) 2:26$0.99 Buy Track
listen10. Friends 3:36$0.99 Buy Track
listen11. Don't Stand So Close To Me 4:03$0.99 Buy Track
listen12. Driven To Tears (Album Version) 3:20$0.99 Buy Track
listen13. When The World Is Running Down, You Make The Best Of What's Still Around 3:36$0.99 Buy Track
listen14. Canary In A Coalmine 2:26$0.99 Buy Track
listen15. Voices Inside My Head 3:52$0.99 Buy Track
listen16. Bombs Away 3:06$0.99 Buy Track
listen17. De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da 4:09$0.99 Buy Track
listen18. Behind My Camel 2:54$0.99 Buy Track
listen19. Man In A Suitcase (Album Version) 2:19$0.99 Buy Track
listen20. Shadows In The Rain 5:02$0.99 Buy Track
listen21. The Other Way Of Stopping 3:23$0.99 Buy Track


Disc 3:

Samples
Song Title Time Price
listen  1. A Sermon 2:32$0.69 Buy Track
listen  2. Driven To Tears (Live "Message In A Box Version") 3:29$0.99 Buy Track
listen  3. Shambelle 5:00$0.99 Buy Track
listen  4. Spirits In The Material World 2:59$0.99 Buy Track
listen  5. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic 4:20$0.99 Buy Track
listen  6. Invisible Sun 3:43$0.99 Buy Track
listen  7. Hungry For You (J'Aurais Toujours Faim De Toi) 2:52$0.99 Buy Track
listen  8. Demolition Man 5:57$0.99 Buy Track
listen  9. Too Much Information 3:42$0.99 Buy Track
listen10. Rehumanize Yourself 3:10$0.99 Buy Track
listen11. One World (Not Three) 4:46$0.99 Buy Track
listen12. Omegaman 2:47$0.99 Buy Track
listen13. Secret Journey 3:33$0.99 Buy Track
listen14. Darkness 3:14$0.99 Buy Track
listen15. Flexible Strategies 3:43$0.69 Buy Track
listen16. Low Life 3:45$0.99 Buy Track
listen17. How Stupid Mr. Bates 2:41$0.69 Buy Track
listen18. A Kind Of Loving 2:03$0.99 Buy Track


Disc 4:

Samples
Song Title Time Price
listen  1. Synchronicity 1 3:22$0.99 Buy Track
listen  2. Walking In Your Footsteps 3:36$0.99 Buy Track
listen  3. O My God 4:02$0.99 Buy Track
listen  4. Mother 3:05$0.99 Buy Track
listen  5. Miss Gradenko 2:00$0.99 Buy Track
listen  6. Synchronicity 2 5:03$0.99 Buy Track
listen  7. Every Breath You Take 4:14$0.99 Buy Track
listen  8. King Of Pain 4:59$0.99 Buy Track
listen  9. Wrapped Around Your Finger 5:13$0.99 Buy Track
listen10. Tea In The Sahara (Album Version) 4:13$0.99 Buy Track
listen11. Murder By Numbers 4:36$0.99 Buy Track
listen12. Man In A Suitcase (Live "Message In A Box Version") 2:17$0.99 Buy Track
listen13. Someone To Talk To 3:08$0.69 Buy Track
listen14. Message In A Bottle (Live "Message In A Box Version") 4:51$0.99 Buy Track
listen15. I Burn For You 4:49$0.99 Buy Track
listen16. Once Upon A Daydream 3:31$0.99 Buy Track
listen17. Tea In The Sahara (Live (1983/Atlanta)) 5:06$0.99 Buy Track
listen18. Don't Stand So Close To Me '86 4:51$0.99 Buy Track


Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
"This is it: Everything the Police released," boasts the notes in the 66-page booklet included with this box set. Obsessive fans have already written to rock magazines indignantly pointing out the omission of this or that obscurity. But everyone else will find that these four discs include all the Police they'd ever want to own. The first two discs include all of Outlandos d'Amour, Reggatta de Blanc, and Zenyatta Mondatta in their original order, interspersed with live rarities and singles B-sides. Discs 3 and 4 are more satisfying, including the band's well-crafted studio high points, Ghost in the Machine and Synchronicity, plus more outtakes and live tunes. The set ends with "Don't Stand So Close to Me '86," a dismal remake of the early favorite. By this point, the musician's egos were running rampant and they were barely speaking. If anyone wonders why the group called it quits so abruptly, this tune makes it clear that the split was smart and timely. --Jim DeRogatis

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Customer Reviews

106 Reviews
5 star:
 (92)
4 star:
 (12)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (106 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
54 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Every little thing they did was magic, November 17, 1999
By tcbnyc "tcbnyc" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
The Police were the closest thing the late 70s/early 80s had to the Beatles: smart songs with pop hooks and commercial appeal and plenty of juicy licks by great instrumentalists. And they were photogenic. A little something for everyone. And by and large, all of their music is worth hearing. Unlike Led Zeppelin, whose great box set is a little all over the place, the Police were smart enough to keep it more or less in chronological order. It works especially well for them since their albums have distinct feels to them. And there are a bunch of tasty treats to boot, such as the spooky "I Burn for You." People who think of Sting as a pompous blowhard should listen to tracks like "Demolition Man" or "Canary in a Coalmine" and realize that there was a time when his priority was rocking out, not yoga or 7/8 time signatures. At the same time, the band had an extraordinary sense of space and never felt the need to fill every possible bar with their prodigious instrumental abilities. See "Walking on the Moon" or "Voices inside my Head" for examples. And Stewart Copeland is one of rock's all-time premier drummers. His crisp, fluent attack brings the music to an exaltant level, a level which is rarely reached in Sting's often pretentiously self-aware solo work.
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars All of the Police studio disks, plus bonus outtakes/live, January 6, 2003
By Jack Fitzgerald "JFD" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
  
The Police Box Set is one of the few definitive collections that includes nearly everything put out by a recording artist. The listener gets to enjoy the transition from would-be punks evolving to seminal New Wave bleached blonds, and then to arena rockers. I still enjoy their distinctive "white reggae" sound as well as fine instrumental performance.

The disks include Outlandos d'Amour, with great cuts "Roxanne," "Can't Stand Losing You," "So Lonely" and other early nuggets. Regatta de Blance includes "Message in a Bottle," "Walking on the Moon," and sleeper gems such as "Bring on the Night," "The Bed's too Big Without You," and "Does Everyone Stare." These three guys could really rock. Stewart Copeland is one of the finest drummers of his generation. Andy Summers has always been an underrated guitarist. Before going adult contemporary, Sting could really churn some grooves on the bass.

Halfway through disk 2 we get Zenyatta Mondatta, with "Don't Stand So Close to Me," "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da," "Driven to Tears," and some great instrumental jams.

Disk 3 features the excellent Spirits in the Material World, with the title song, "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic," "Demolition Man," and a personal favorite by Stewart Copeland called "Darkness."

Disk 4 covers the Synchronity period, with their biggest hits and the swansong of this great band. It was sad to see the ego battles dissolve the group, but at least these guys went out on top. Well, not counting "Don't Stand So Close To Me '86."

Interspersed are some live cuts and b-side studio outtakes.

My only regret is that the disks do not preserve the original song sequences of the individually released disks, but I can understand from an economic point of view. Still, this is a great set.

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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, a box set that has EVERY song from the band., July 12, 2001
It seems that every few years, I see yet another box set released for Elvis, Led Zeppelin, or Pink Floyd. Even Jimi Hendrix seemed to create 3 albums while alive, but 40 albums after he died (which I find a bit spooky, but I digress). Thankfully, there is no such marketing scheme here with The Police's "Message In A Box". These four discs include everything from The Police, all remastered. Yes, EVERYTHING: the pre-debut songs, all tracks from all 5 studio albums, all the B-sides, songs that only showed up on soundtracks and compilations, and all the way through to their final song, the '86 remake of "Don't Stand So Close To Me". The book includes what you'd expect from a good boxset: excellent photographs, thorough history and biographies, commentary notes from the band on the non-album songs, and a complete discography (not only from the Police, but from each individual band member).

I also like the way the songs on these discs were ordered, for two reasons. First of all, the original album songs are each grouped together. Being a long-time fan, I'm used to hearing the albums as they originally sounded as separate releases, and I can do this without having to skip tracks. Second, the songs are aranged chronologically. It's fascinating to hear how this trio evolved musically over just 6 years, from their original raw punk-edged early work, through the gloomy feel of albums like "Ghost In The Machine", to the refined and mystical sounds of "Syncronicity". So many amazing songs, from a band so talented as individual musicians, yet greater than the sum of their parts. If you have any interest in The Police, just buy this box set, and get it all for one good price.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars misled
I thought that I was recieving the dics with the book. I feel that I was misled by the seller. They should have put in bold letters DOES NOT INCLUDE DICS- BOOK ONLY!
Published 2 days ago by David S. Blevins

3.0 out of 5 stars where's the truth in advertising?
Certainly not every note of every song THE POLICE ever recorded. While it is fantastic to get FALLOUT and all the other obscure tracks digitally, I can't help but feel let down by... Read more
Published 7 days ago by Philip W. Gee

5.0 out of 5 stars EVERY Police compilation is WOEFULLY LACKING, get this!
My Faves:
1. It's Alright For You (contains the best Police guitar "hook"!)
2. Message in a Bottle
3. Visions Of The Night (Hard Rockin' Police! Read more
Published 3 months ago by Rock Fan

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential, of course, but...
I love The Police and this is the definitive collection. A must-have.

But there's one tragic flaw: at least in the version I have (the original boxed set release from... Read more
Published 10 months ago by S. Anderson

5.0 out of 5 stars Every Note That The Police Recorded!
What a great idea this is! Basically this box set gathers the band's five excellent albums together which are "Outlandos d'Amour" (1978), "Reggatta de Blanc" (1979), "Zenyatta... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Chappa

5.0 out of 5 stars A great classic
The complete works of The Police in a four disc collection. A great classic compilation of the recordings done by The Police. Read more
Published 12 months ago by C. Casaubon

5.0 out of 5 stars The Police are the Greatest Band Ever!!!!!
Message in a Box is an amazing box set, with every song The Police have ever played, and it is all neatly placed in chronological order. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Daniel R. Colon

5.0 out of 5 stars Rockin' those middle high memories
I first started listening to The Police when I was in middle high school and never got tired of them. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Adrian A. Devore

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect. Absolutely perfect.
You cannot ask for more. Every song, four discs, chronological, and a very nicely designed case and booklet. I just got this and I absolutely love it.
Published 15 months ago by Ringo Mullen Jr.

5.0 out of 5 stars One Of The Best Box Sets Ever!
Everything the Police did,from 1977("Fallout") to 1986(the remake of "Don't Stand So Close To Me"),is here. Read more
Published 18 months ago by B. J O'Connor

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Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings opens new browser window by The Police opens new browser window is mainly Pop, quite Album-Oriented Rock (AOR), with hints of Post-punk”

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings
75% buy the item featured on this page:
Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings 4.8 out of 5 stars (106)
$53.99
The Police (2CD Anthology)
7% buy
The Police (2CD Anthology) 4.3 out of 5 stars (29)
$13.97
Outlandos D'Amour [Digipak]
6% buy
Outlandos D'Amour [Digipak] 4.3 out of 5 stars (64)
$7.97
Zenyatta Mondatta [Digipak]
6% buy
Zenyatta Mondatta [Digipak] 4.5 out of 5 stars (70)
$7.97



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