Post by Erik Rupp on Sept 26, 2009 16:45:58 GMT -5
The Police - Certifiable (2008)
CD & DVD
The reunion that was inevitable and yet seemed to be so unlikely at the same time.
The Police never officially broke up. They just stopped working together. Sting moved on to a very successful solo career and made statements that indicated that he had no interest in returning to a band that was filled with conflict. Musically he seemed to have moved on from that Punk, Jazz, New Wave, and Reggae influenced Rock band.
But the fans kept asking, and drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers repeatedly said that they'd be willing to do it if Sting would agree to it.
And a decade passed. And then two, and it looked like maybe it really wouldn't happen. Summers reached 60 years old in 2002, and it seemed that the opportunity for the Police to get back together had come and gone.
But in 2007 word came out - The Police were going to do a reunion tour to mark their 30th anniversary. It was actually going to (finally) happen.
Certifiable is the CD and DVD documentation of that tour. A tour that, like many tours past, showed the band at their best and at their worst. Often brilliant, occasionally sloppy, the band roared through the tour playing to large crowds on a nightly basis.
But the band that the fans saw was a slightly different band than the one that last toured over 20 years earlier. The band was (usually) a little more professional, a little more polished, and the arrangements on many of the songs were changed to suit Sting's adventurous musical nature. Not one to be content to simply play the hits as recorded, Sting led the band in many new arrangements, some of them that would render the song almost unrecognizable at first, some of them that were in many ways strong improvements on the originals.
Fans who wanted to hear more faithful versions of the songs, however, were disappointed, and understandably so. Over half the songs on Certifiable have new arrangements. Moods were changed, tempos altered, and styles modified.
"Message in a Bottle," leads off the album & concert DVD, and the band is clearly in fine form. Energetic, tight, and musically powerful this is the kind of thing the fans came to see and hear. The arrangement has a few new wrinkles here and there, but is mostly faithful to the original studio version. "Synchronicity II," seems to be given the same treatment until the bridge kicks in and the new sounds start to kick in, as they do for part of the chorus - and so it goes for the rest of the concert.
Some of the changes are, indeed, very cool and very ambitious musically, some of them just sap songs of their power and energy ("Don't Stand So Close To Me," which has an arrangement somewhere in between the original and the re-recorded version from 1986, is a good example). For many Police fans, this isn't a bad thing, but a good one as the band challenges the audience to broaden their scope of what some of these songs can or should sound like. Most of the arrangements do work well, but some of them come across a little too lightweight, slow, or jazzy in comparison to their more energetic original studio counterparts.
On the positive side, this set captures the band on a great night as the band was firing on all cylinders musically. Their perfornaces are all exceptional and worthy of praise. Even Rock fans who may not be big Police fans would be hard pressed to criticize their performances. They are just that darned good here.
The sound quality of these recordings is simply flawless. Punchy, clean, crisp - everything you would want in a great live recording, this one has it. The bass tone is big, but not muddy. The drums have that typical Stewart Copeland snap, and Andy Summers' guitar tones are all exceptional. In fact, in some cases Summers' guitar tones here are better than on the original studio recordings.
As far as the video quality goes, this is, again, a flawless document of the band's reunion tour. The picture is, like the sound, crisp and clean, showing great colors without bleeding. The shadow detail is particularly good. It would be hard to come up with a better example of a concert video on a technical level than this one. It just looks and sounds fantastic.
If you're willing to accept some major changes in many of the songs then Certifiable will not only be an entertaining package for you, but a rewarding one as well. If you prefer the band to stick with what they came up with in the first place then this may not be a set you'll be particularly happy with.
Performances - 4/5
Audio Quality - 5/5
Video Quality - 5/5
CD & DVD
The reunion that was inevitable and yet seemed to be so unlikely at the same time.
The Police never officially broke up. They just stopped working together. Sting moved on to a very successful solo career and made statements that indicated that he had no interest in returning to a band that was filled with conflict. Musically he seemed to have moved on from that Punk, Jazz, New Wave, and Reggae influenced Rock band.
But the fans kept asking, and drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers repeatedly said that they'd be willing to do it if Sting would agree to it.
And a decade passed. And then two, and it looked like maybe it really wouldn't happen. Summers reached 60 years old in 2002, and it seemed that the opportunity for the Police to get back together had come and gone.
But in 2007 word came out - The Police were going to do a reunion tour to mark their 30th anniversary. It was actually going to (finally) happen.
Certifiable is the CD and DVD documentation of that tour. A tour that, like many tours past, showed the band at their best and at their worst. Often brilliant, occasionally sloppy, the band roared through the tour playing to large crowds on a nightly basis.
But the band that the fans saw was a slightly different band than the one that last toured over 20 years earlier. The band was (usually) a little more professional, a little more polished, and the arrangements on many of the songs were changed to suit Sting's adventurous musical nature. Not one to be content to simply play the hits as recorded, Sting led the band in many new arrangements, some of them that would render the song almost unrecognizable at first, some of them that were in many ways strong improvements on the originals.
Fans who wanted to hear more faithful versions of the songs, however, were disappointed, and understandably so. Over half the songs on Certifiable have new arrangements. Moods were changed, tempos altered, and styles modified.
"Message in a Bottle," leads off the album & concert DVD, and the band is clearly in fine form. Energetic, tight, and musically powerful this is the kind of thing the fans came to see and hear. The arrangement has a few new wrinkles here and there, but is mostly faithful to the original studio version. "Synchronicity II," seems to be given the same treatment until the bridge kicks in and the new sounds start to kick in, as they do for part of the chorus - and so it goes for the rest of the concert.
Some of the changes are, indeed, very cool and very ambitious musically, some of them just sap songs of their power and energy ("Don't Stand So Close To Me," which has an arrangement somewhere in between the original and the re-recorded version from 1986, is a good example). For many Police fans, this isn't a bad thing, but a good one as the band challenges the audience to broaden their scope of what some of these songs can or should sound like. Most of the arrangements do work well, but some of them come across a little too lightweight, slow, or jazzy in comparison to their more energetic original studio counterparts.
On the positive side, this set captures the band on a great night as the band was firing on all cylinders musically. Their perfornaces are all exceptional and worthy of praise. Even Rock fans who may not be big Police fans would be hard pressed to criticize their performances. They are just that darned good here.
The sound quality of these recordings is simply flawless. Punchy, clean, crisp - everything you would want in a great live recording, this one has it. The bass tone is big, but not muddy. The drums have that typical Stewart Copeland snap, and Andy Summers' guitar tones are all exceptional. In fact, in some cases Summers' guitar tones here are better than on the original studio recordings.
As far as the video quality goes, this is, again, a flawless document of the band's reunion tour. The picture is, like the sound, crisp and clean, showing great colors without bleeding. The shadow detail is particularly good. It would be hard to come up with a better example of a concert video on a technical level than this one. It just looks and sounds fantastic.
If you're willing to accept some major changes in many of the songs then Certifiable will not only be an entertaining package for you, but a rewarding one as well. If you prefer the band to stick with what they came up with in the first place then this may not be a set you'll be particularly happy with.
Performances - 4/5
Audio Quality - 5/5
Video Quality - 5/5