Message in a Box Reviews

Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings offers many sonic delights – the Police’s five studio albums are all solid, some of the greatest music to emerge from the New Wave – and many rarities – fifteen tracks unavailable elsewhere – but remains slightly less. For sheer bang-for-buck the twelve-song Every Breath You Take: The Classics remains the single-disc compilation to seek out, and the two-disc The Police offers up the best of the singles and album-only tracks. People looking for just the five Police albums could do worse than this set, and those fifteen extra songs are a nice enticement, but they’re wildly hit-and-miss.

“Fallout,” the Police’s first ever single, is a great slice of punk-era pop. The hard-hitting and driving musical force was barely hinted on their debut, Outlandos d’Amour. Songs like “Next to You” and “Born in the ‘50s” come close but don’t quite drive as quick and fast. It is a sheer delight. “Dead End Job” and “Nothing Achieving” keep the anarchic punk spirit alive. The cannibalistic tale of “Friends” is humorous, but quickly grows tired. “Shambelle” is pretty but weightless and overly long instrumental. “Flexible Strangers” is a better instrumental – not only is it punctuated by an angular guitar riff, but incorporates a hint of the world music and jazz flourishes that would come to prominence on Ghost in the Machine. These rarities are a thrill to hear as an avid Police fan, but they are slightly strange. Many of them aren’t punctuated by the mutant reggae that they brought to the spotlight. Instead, they are full-on New Wave rock, straight forward barn burners or jazzy, moody rockers.

I haven’t said much about their five proper albums (individual reviews are coming soon!), and that is because I wanted to focus exclusive on the material only available on this collection. Which is perfect for the rabid fan looking for an update from their older CDs, it’s a one-stop shop, but problematic for someone looking for just the best of the Police. I slightly wish I had just bought this boxset instead of hunting down all of the albums individually. Ah well, that’s what happens when you think that a boxset is out-of-print and you run into several copies at Best Buy. DOWNLOAD: “Fallout,” “Visions of the Night,” “I Burn for You,” “Dead End Job”

The Police were much more than a singles band,many of my favourite tracks here are obscure album cuts or forgotten B sides the latter not previously available on CD. Look out for the version of _Message In a Box_ which includes a book covering the band's career with lots of excellent colour photographs.