Every Breath You Take: The Singles
Every Breath You Take: The Singles is the debut compilation album by The Police, released in 1986. In 1990, the album was repackaged in New Zealand, Australia and Spain as Their Greatest Hits with a different cover.
Every Breath You Take: The Singles | ||||
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Greatest hits album by | ||||
Released | 25 October 1986 | |||
Recorded | 1978–1986 | |||
Genre | New wave, post-punk, reggae rock | |||
Length | 50:26 (The Singles) 59:20 (The Classics) | |||
Label | A&M | |||
Producer | The Police, Hugh Padgham, Nigel Gray and Laurie Latham | |||
The Police chronology | ||||
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Alternative cover | ||||
Every Breath You Take: The Classics (1995) | ||||
Singles from Every Breath You Take: The Singles | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
AllMusic | [2] |
Robert Christgau | A−[3] |
Rolling Stone | [4] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [5] |
Tom Hull | A[6] |
A video collection entitled Every Breath You Take: The Videos was released alongside the album. It was released on VHS and Betamax cassette, as well as on Laserdisc in the UK, Europe and in Japan. The collection featured fourteen promotional videos, for twelve of the thirteen tracks on the album as well as "Synchronicity II" and the original version of "Don't Stand So Close to Me".
Background
In the aftermath of their Synchronicity Tour in 1984, The Police announced that they were taking a pause of reflection before recording a new album. The same year Andy Summers released a second album of instrumental music with Robert Fripp, Bewitched. Stewart Copeland worked on the soundtrack of the Francis Ford Coppola's film Rumble Fish, with the single "Don't Box Me In" peaking at No. 91 in the UK Singles Chart. In 1985 Sting released his first solo album, The Dream of the Blue Turtles, with great critical and commercial success. The album was followed by an extensive promotional tour, that resulted in a double live album, Bring on the Night. In 1985 Copeland started working on The Rhythmatist, an ambitious project that led him to spend a significant amount of time recording and filming in Congo. About one year later Summers scored the soundtrack for the film Down and Out in Beverly Hills.
By the time the trio reconvened to play three concerts for the Amnesty International A Conspiracy of Hope Tour in June 1986, the atmosphere was tense. According to Sting, "It was a very symbolic moment. We'd broken up, then sort of reformed to do the Amnesty Tour. U2 were there as well and as we closed our set with "Invisible Sun", Bono came out and sang it with us. And then we symbolically handed our instruments over to U2, because they were about to become what we were — the biggest band in the world".[7]
In July the band booked time in the studio to record a new album. In the liner notes to the Police's box set Message in a Box, Summers recalled: "The attempt to record a new album was doomed from the outset. The night before we went into the studio Stewart broke his collarbone falling off a horse and that meant we lost our last chance of recovering some rapport just by jamming together. Anyway, it was clear Sting had no real intention of writing any new songs for the Police. It was an empty exercise." With Copeland unable to play the drums, the short-lived reunion resulted in an attempt to re-record some of their previous hits. Copeland opted to use his Fairlight CMI to program the drum tracks but Sting pushed to use the drums on his Synclavier instead. As the group's engineer found the Synclavier's programming interface difficult, it ended up taking him two days to complete the task. Copeland ultimately finished the drum programming and claimed that the Fairlight's "Page R" (the device's sequencing page) saved his life and put him on the map as a composer. In a Qantas inflight radio program named "Reeling in the Years", Copeland was quoted as saying that the argument over Synclavier versus Fairlight drums was "the straw that broke the camel's back," and that this led to the group's unravelling.
"Don't Stand So Close to Me '86" was released in October 1986 as the final single from The Police. "De Do Do Do De Da Da Da" was also recorded but the band was unsatisfied with the result, and as such it was shelved, only to be subsequently included on the DTS-CD release of the Every Breath You Take: The Classics album in 1995.
As to signify the poor atmosphere pervading the session, the three band members did not appear together in the photograph on the album cover, nor in the video shot by Godley & Creme to promote "Don't Stand So Close to Me '86". Following the release of the album, the Police effectively disbanded.
Reception
Every Breath You Take: The Singles reached No. 1 in the UK album charts and No. 7 in the US charts. "Don't Stand So Close to Me '86" made it into the UK Top 25.
Track listing
All tracks are written by Sting.
No. | Title | Original album | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Roxanne" | Outlandos d'Amour | 3:11 |
2. | "Can't Stand Losing You" | Outlandos d'Amour | 2:47 |
3. | "Message in a Bottle" | Reggatta de Blanc | 4:50 |
4. | "Walking on the Moon" | Reggatta de Blanc | 5:01 |
5. | "Don't Stand So Close to Me '86" | re-recording of song from Zenyatta Mondatta | 4:52 |
6. | "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" | Zenyatta Mondatta | 4:06 |
No. | Title | Original album | Length |
---|---|---|---|
7. | "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" | Ghost in the Machine | 4:19 |
8. | "Invisible Sun" | Ghost in the Machine | 3:44 |
9. | "Spirits in the Material World" | Ghost in the Machine | 2:58 |
10. | "Every Breath You Take" | Synchronicity | 3:56 |
11. | "King of Pain" | Synchronicity | 4:57 |
12. | "Wrapped Around Your Finger" | Synchronicity | 5:14 |
Cassette/CD version in U.K./Europe only
All tracks are written by Sting.
No. | Title | Original album | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Roxanne" | Outlandos d'Amour | 3:11 |
2. | "Can't Stand Losing You" | Outlandos d'Amour | 2:47 |
3. | "So Lonely" | Outlandos d'Amour | 4:48 |
4. | "Message in a Bottle" | Reggatta de Blanc | 4:50 |
5. | "Walking on the Moon" | Reggatta de Blanc | 5:01 |
6. | "Don't Stand So Close to Me '86" | re-recording of song from Zenyatta Mondatta | 4:52 |
7. | "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" | Zenyatta Mondatta | 4:06 |
8. | "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" | Ghost in the Machine | 4:19 |
9. | "Invisible Sun" | Ghost in the Machine | 3:44 |
10. | "Spirits in the Material World" | Ghost in the Machine | 2:58 |
11. | "Every Breath You Take" | Synchronicity | 3:56 |
12. | "King of Pain" | Synchronicity | 4:57 |
13. | "Wrapped Around Your Finger" | Synchronicity | 5:14 |
Personnel
- Sting – lead and backing vocals, bass, keyboards, saxophone on "Spirits in the Material World"
- Andy Summers – electric guitar, keyboards
- Stewart Copeland – drums, miscellaneous percussion, keyboards, drum programming on "Don't Stand So Close to Me '86"
- Jean Roussel - piano on "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"
Every Breath You Take: The Classics
In 1995, A&M released Every Breath You Take: The Classics (renamed The Police Greatest Hits (digitally remastered) in 1996) to replace the original album. It features a slightly different track listing: the original version of "Don't Stand So Close to Me" replaces the 1986 recording at track 5; the '86 version appears at track 13. A « New Classic Rock Mix » of "Message in a Bottle" is included as track 14. The Digital Theater System (2000) and hybrid Super Audio CD (2003) versions of the album include a previously unreleased version of "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da".
In the DTS version, "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" features a different intro. Also, The Singles featured a shortened version of "Can't Stand Losing You" which featured an early fade out which ends the song before the final chorus concludes; The Classics replaces this with the full-length version.
Track listing
All tracks are written by Sting.
No. | Title | Original album | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Roxanne" | Outlandos d'Amour | 3:11 |
2. | "Can't Stand Losing You" | Outlandos d'Amour | 2:58 |
3. | "Message in a Bottle" | Reggatta de Blanc | 4:50 |
4. | "Walking on the Moon" | Reggatta de Blanc | 5:01 |
5. | "Don't Stand So Close to Me" | Zenyatta Mondatta | 4:04 |
6. | "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" | Zenyatta Mondatta | 4:06 |
7. | "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" | Ghost in the Machine | 4:19 |
8. | "Invisible Sun" | Ghost in the Machine | 3:44 |
9. | "Spirits in the Material World" | Ghost in the Machine | 2:58 |
10. | "Every Breath You Take" | Synchronicity | 4:13 |
11. | "King of Pain" | Synchronicity | 4:57 |
12. | "Wrapped Around Your Finger" | Synchronicity | 5:14 |
13. | "Don't Stand So Close to Me '86" | rerecording of song from Zenyatta Mondatta | 4:51 |
14. | "Message in a Bottle" (New Classic Rock mix) | remix of song from Reggatta de Blanc | 4:51 |
No. | Title | Original album | Length |
---|---|---|---|
6. | "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da '86" | rerecording of song from Zenyatta Mondatta | 4:25 |
Charts
Chart (1986/87) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia (Kent Music Report)[8] | 4 |
Certifications and sales
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia | — | 150,000[9] |
Brazil | — | 200,000[10] |
Canada (Music Canada)[11] | Platinum | 100,000^ |
France (SNEP)[12] | 2× Platinum | 600,000* |
New Zealand (RMNZ)[13] | Platinum | 15,000^ |
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[14] | Gold | 50,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI)[15] | 4× Platinum | 1,200,000^ |
United States (RIAA)[16] video |
Gold | 50,000^ |
United States (RIAA)[17] | 5× Platinum | 5,000,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Notes
- Allmusic review
- Allmusic review
- "Robert Christgau: CG: The Police". www.robertchristgau.com.
- "The Police – Rolling Stone".
- Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
- Hull, Tom (n.d.). "Rock (1970s)". tomhull.com. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
- "Article "I think if we came back..."". www.scarlet.nl. Archived from the original on 2018-08-30. Retrieved 2018-01-25.
- Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 236. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
- Baker, Glenn (30 January 1988). "The Majors" (PDF). Billboard. p. A-3. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
- Souza, Tarik de (6 January 1988). "Um bom ano para o disco". Jornal do Brasil. p. 36. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
- "Canadian album certifications – The Police – Every Breath You Take". Music Canada. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
- "Les Certifications depuis 1973: Albums". Infodisc.fr. Retrieved 13 December 2019. (select "The Police" from drop-down list)
- "New Zealand Certification". Recorded Music NZ.
- "European Gold & Platinum Awards 1987" (PDF). Music & Media. 26 December 1987. p. 44. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
- "British album certifications – The Police – Every Breath you Take". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
- "American video certifications – The Police – Every Breath you Take". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 13 December 2019. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Video Longform, then click SEARCH.
- "American album certifications – The Police – Every Breath you Take". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 13 December 2019. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH.