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Exclusive: Watch The Police’s new lyric video for Message in a Bottle

New lyric video celebrates RSD 7″ single release

Universal Music celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Police‘s 1979 number one ‘Message In A Bottle’ this Saturday with a special Record Store Day 7″ double-pack. These will be available exclusively from independent record shops. SDE can exclusively bring you the first view of a new lyric video commissioned by the label as part of the celebrations. Watch it below:

The ‘Message in a Bottle’ RSD 19 7″ double-pack will be available on 13 April 2019.

RSD 19 7″ double-pack

7″ #1 (pressed on ‘bottle’ green vinyl)

  1. Message in a Bottle
  2. Landlord

7″ #2 (pressed on blue vinyl)

  1. Message In A Bottle (Classic Rock Mix)
  2. Message In A Bottle (Instrumental)*

*Previously unreleased

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30 Comments

30 thoughts on “Exclusive: Watch The Police’s new lyric video for Message in a Bottle”

  3. Sting is very weird when it comes to rereleases and the vault. Word is he could care less and is bored with the whole process of putting anything like a “White Album-esque” anniversary package.Case in point is the fantastic remixes of Blue Turtle singles that appeared on the otherwise lackluster “25 Yesrs” set. Obviously the whole album should have been remixed and rereleased with all that drippy 80s echo remover. But no…. instead Sting just lazily recycles YET AGAIN the same twelve songs with some drum and synth added and calling it “My Songs”

  4. When the [original] 4CD box set of their 6 albums were release some 15 years ago, it was advertised as every song release by The Police was it in. But just before that came out was a 12″ of 4 tracks [I think 3 not in the box set] and I’m sure then some tracks were dug up [excluding the Live in Atlanta set]. I’m sure there is more stuff out there.

    1. I’m not getting this 19 quid for a single x2…their recent box set with all the albums was 90 quid at one point due to Pauls alerts…all halfs speed remastered..sorry to be dim but is anything on this exclusive?

  6. There was some obvious gaps in the recient rarities release and a very limited digital release. I have a feeling we can expect to see deluxe versions of the newly remastered albums in the not to distant future.

  7. Are the Police actually any good? They sold a lot of records
    but am i the only one that finds it all a bit samey and Stings cod reggae inflection has not aged well. Not a hater but i doubt they will be up “There ” in a list of “if only i had been there when they were playing”

    1. I don’t think I totally love any one Police album, in the way I love The Dream of the Blue Turtles or Nothing Like The Sun. But they were absolutely phenomenal as a singles band.

      1. As time goes by I can think off the top o’ me head of three groups who have been elevated to the top table because of the strength of their singles over many, many years rather than the absolute quality of the albums. Queen, Abba and The Police. Each and (almost) every album has some real clunkers. But as things move away from albums towards the soundbite generation they will only sound stronger as someone discovers Another one Bites the Dust on Spotify but never has to suffer the indignity of Cool Cat. Somebody else finds the Winner Takes it All but never hears Suzy-Hang-Around and as for The Police you can take your pick. I have listened to every album by those three groups dozens of times in the last (almost) 40 years but, like Paul, I can’t say I love any of them. Not like I love The Kick Inside or Secrets of the Beehive. But Greatest Hits I, Gold and Their Greatest Hits are almost faultless.
        It’ll hurt the great albums bands like Pink Floyd and maybe Led Zeppelin in the long run because kids will never hear anything beyond Another Brick in the Wall and Stairway to Heaven if they even hear those…..

      2. As much as I love Sting’s albums (Ten Summoner’s Tales for me is *the* one – although I really rate ‘Dream..’. and ‘Nothing…’) there is something about Regatta, Zenyatta and Ghost that I prefer.
        Yes, his songwriting skills improved after the Police… and yes his singing improved after the Police and arguably he has worked with some better musicians (although Copeland remains one of my favourite drummers). However, there is something about those albums that I still find exhilarating even after all these years.
        For me they will always be so much more than just a singles band.

      3. And they were absolutely phenomenal as a live band from 1979 to 1981, when they strictly played as a trio. The energy was enormous.
        Happy to have picked up the double 7″ in my local record store today, although it was expensive (23,50 euro).

    2. I think the best songs from the first three Police albums have aged very well, IMHO (but each album has some real duds, so they’re anything but consistent). Ghost hasn’t aged well, and Synchronicity is the band’s most overrated (though I will always love Wrapped Around Your Finger). The more they kept to the simple guitar-bass-drums format, musically, the more I liked them. And the reggae influences are what make them more interesting than many other postpunk bands, in spite of Sting’s rather odd vocal accents.

      My “Intro to the Police” mix for young people these days:

      1. Message in a Bottle
      2. Bring On the Night
      3. Walking on the Moon
      4. The Bed’s Too Big Without You
      5. Don’t Stand So Close to Me
      6. Driven to Tears
      7. When the World Is Running Down…
      8. Voices Inside My Head
      9. Can’t Stand Losing You
      10. Truth Hits Everybody
      11. Roxanne
      12. So Lonely

  8. The Police catalogue was remastered properly in 2003 and the SACD versions (and even the standard CD versions) of the 5 albums shred these ‘digital vinyl’ versions. Not sure what else they can do to scrape the barrel anymore. Probably a few different coloured ‘vinyls’ for the eternally gullible or some pointless remixes to cheapen the catalogue a bit more. How much more desperate can the labels get. The Message In A Box set rounded up anything left over that was worth hearing. I suppose the vinyl bores will want that on their precious crackly plastic now.

    2. What an unnecessarily negative and spiteful post.
      Just because you don’t get vinyl doesn’t mean loads of others here think the same.
      Regards
      An eternally gullible vinyl bore and proud.

    3. Reading between the lines and doing a bit of careful decoding I get the slight impression that a certain JM is not a vinyl fan!

      Personally I say live and let live – but hey, what do I know…

      P.S. Does this mean that I should also throw away my 8-track cartridges…

    4. In the case of last year’s box set, vinyl rules and leaves the “Message in the box” CDs n the dust, as far as sound is concerned.
      Not saying this happens every time, but it certainly happened this time. And that’s a fact. Just saying…

  9. I heard the classic rock mix of MIAB on the CD collection every breath you take . I couldn’t really notice very much difference.

  10. Brilliant video. I noticed there is more activity on the Police’ Instagram of late……maybe that’s an indication that there is more to come? Let’s hope they go on tour once more!

    1. Agreed. I very much enjoyed the Police Around the World film. I watched an old VHS copy several times in the late ’80s. The travel-related scenes from faraway places were as much fun as the concert performances.

      I saw one chat transcript with Stewart Copeland about 10 years ago, when he mentioned that re-releasing the movie would be difficult due to licensing problems with whoever owns the rights to it. Shame, hopefully they can get these problems fixed sometime soon.

      1. …. watched it many times back in the day. ..there’s a bit when they played my home town of canberra …they looked so non plussed, they (nor sting) ever came back!

  12. Paul,
    Thanks for the heads up on this 2×7″ and video.
    There’s been rumor and speculation on blogs that The Police are gearing up for a proper reissue campaign for their 5LP back catalogue. I believe either Andy or Stewart mentioned something last year about a a rarities disc being prepped for ‘Outlandos d’Amour’. (despite Message being featured on ‘Regatta de Blanc’)
    Have you or any of your SDE readers heard anything along those lines?
    Thanks!
    MAPAZ USA

    1. There’s already been just that: a reissue of the 5 LPs plus a 6th disc of rarities, it’s called “Every Move You Make: The Studio Recordings”, released in 2018, the remastering is spectacular, and yes Copeland was mildly involved in promoting it, but making it obvious he couldn’t care less… Nothing else is to be expected in the near future from Police…

      1. Copeland recently stated in an interview with Chris Evans that there is more stuff to come out when talking about the recent box set. The sixth disc in that set wasn’t a collection of rarities, simply B sides etc that had already been released elsewhere back in the day

        1. Well, yes “rarities” in the very same way you say, i. e. “b sides etc” which were available “back in the day” but not since except the Message in the box CD set.
          Copeland did mention the unreleased material but there’s no sign the label is going to release anything in the near future. Certainly not in 2019.

          1. Copeland said “pretty much everything on there has been heard one way or the other, so it’s not new. For new, unheard tracks there’ll be more coming down the pipe.”

          2. Always loved the Police and regret not stirring myself to see them live at the time (same regret with Led Zeppelin). I’m no expert so can someone tell me was anything else recorded when they got together (and fell apart again) and recorded Don’t Stand So Close To Me ‘86? Also, what’s the odds on a Walking On The Moon vinyl reissue as a companion piece to the RSD version of Message In A Bottle, what with the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing due this July? Seems logical!

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