The Police, as Arresting as they sound? My review of “message in a box” as a teen and as an adult

The Police, as Arresting as they sound? My review of “message in a box” as a teen and as an adult

box sets: the music industries response to the "super sizing" of america

            We can sit and argue all day and all night as to whether or not Box Sets are even that important in the world of music these days.  Now that there’s Spotify and Youtube and you can pretty much access any song ever made in a second including the live takes, the demos and the outakes of any band the allure of a Box Set that contains a bunch of material by a band you love may not even be that big a deal.

hey, look at that, a you tube video of a rare live track.... oh future, when will you stop?

It was however a really big deal for me when I received my first copy of “Message in a Box, the complete recordings of the Police” in 9^th grade.  Here is what I think my review of this box set would’ve been when I was 14.

Oh wow!  I’ve just got the “Message in a Box” box set by the Police!  It contains 4 discs that compile EVERYTHING the Police ever released.  That’s 78 songs over the course of 9 years!  The box set also has a book filled with stuff. There’s a short but pretty thorough Police biography with individual profiles on each member, there’s all sorts of photos, and very detailed discography section that has pictures of each release (including singles!) and a section where each member talks about all the obscure tracks and B-sides!  Oh Man, you can’t beat that.  It’s laid out in order from their first song they recorded to the last song they recorded.  I bet I’ll like the first disc a lot because that’s when they were more punk and I’ll also like the last disc because that’s when they came out with “every breath you take”.  I can’t wait to sit in my room and listen to the set over and over and over again. 

-          Joshua Jesty, 14 year old jerk

So there you have it.  An acne covered teenagers assessment of a massive box set that 

contains all the commercially released work of his favorite band written in a manner that i

both horrible and shows the world where texting grammar was heading before cell phones 

even became the next big thing.

cell phones?  we're still trying to figure out what to do about that red light

Now I don’t mean to attack myself to much, nor do I mean to attack the Police all that

much either.  When I first got this box set I played it non stop.  I played all the discs until I 

either got sick of the songs or until they got scratched or lost or “borrowed” which is just a 

nice way of saying “lost by a friend”.


Time has a funny way of doing things though.  Your perspective changes, and you get a little

deeper into things you realize that there's some "omissions".

we didn't change a bit though, no sir ree bob.

      Years later, I received a new copy of "message in a box: the complete recordings of the Police" and

while it was fun initially to review and briefly relive the soundtrack of my teens I developed a critical 

eye.

     You see by the time the 2nd take of the box set showed up I had new knowledge of the Police.  I've 

read biographies, been to live interviews, watched tons of footage, and shelled out the 100 bucks it 

took to get a nose bleed seat to see the cleveland show of their reunion tour.

What I feel the police have done, not only with their career, but with their box set that sums up their 

career, it play it safe.

     You see dear readers, The box set gives you everything they recorded, and while it's not without its 

blemishes it's what it doesn't give you that frustrates me.

     Many other box sets, though possibly for the sake of filling the disc, will employ a tactic where 

they put out songs that never saw the light of day, alternate performances, or sometimes they'll devote 

an entire disc to unreleased live performances of the songs you love and know.

     "Message in a Box" does none of this.  It is simply there to reinforce what already existed and 

bundle it up in one clean cut package with liner notes that are going to lean in the favor of the band and 

not dwell on the negative side of there dealings.  I mean, if they got on so well and money wasn't that 

big an issue, why did it take them 20 years to finally get together to do this?

if you look at this video and then look at the picture just above do you think for a second that Sting might've grown a beard in the middle of this show?

     What I'm getting at is that overall the Police box set, while a fine chronological documentation of a 

great band, still lacks a certain kind of engaging quality in that it gives us super fans nothing to write 

home about.  Nothing all that obscure, unreleased, held back from our view until now.  The 

chronological order also shows a fan who can now experience the bands whole catalog in one brief 

sitting as opposed to having to watch their whole career unfold a sense of a band that was falling apart 

shortly after their 2nd record but did their best to keep it together.

     It's a great collection, but in the era of spotify and the current online culture of "experience any kind 

of music you want" it doesn't open up the vaults enough.  

     When the police broke up in 1986, they might have made the best business decision of most any 

band. They left while they were on top and many of us wanted more.  They managed to keep us 

wishing for that same sentiment with "Message in a Box".  Well played boys.  If you get back together 

again, please don't wear leather pants.

"would you prefer this over the leather pants then?"

-joshua jesty