An Arresting Development: Juliana Hatfield Sings The Police

For the record, I am not now, nor have I ever been, a fan of the Police. I don’t mean the brave men and women in blue, mind you, but the new-wave rock band that consisted of Sting on lead vocals and bass, Andy Summers on guitar, and Stewart Copeland on drums. At some point in late 1979 or early ’80, I did buy the 45 of “Message in a Bottle” – but that was it. Sure, like most radio listeners of the early ’80s, I enjoyed a handful of their other hits – such as “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” and “Every Breath You Take” – but never enough to purchase anything else by them. Music fandom is an odd duck, of course, and – though I didn’t connect with their music – I also didn’t detest it or them. (Which I can’t say for other bands of the era.) They just didn’t speak to or for me.

In fact, my favorite Police song isn’t a Police song, per se, but a cover by Juliana Hatfield. In 2000, she included her spin on “Every Breath You Take” via a bonus CD single (backed by the “Mad Mex Mix” of “When You Loved Me”) as part of the deluxe two-fer package of Beautiful Creature and Juliana’s Pony: Total System Failure. (It was later included on her 2002 Gold Stars best-of.)

I share all that for no other reason than this: Juliana’s next album is slated for release on November 15th. Titled Juliana Hatfield Sings The Police, it will feature her renditions of 12 Police songs. It’s the second entry in a planned series of Sings albums (the first being the ONJ set, obviously). Future entries will hopefully – but likely not – be devoted to the Kinks, Paul Weller and Neil Young. (That’s my wish list.) In a statement posted on the American Laundromat site, where one can pre-order the album on CD, vinyl or cassette, or splurge on the “Synchronicity” bundle, she explains:

“With “Juliana Hatfield Sings The Police” I am continuing the project that I started last year with my “Juliana Hatfield Sings Olivia Newton-John” album. I hope to continue to go deep into covering artists that were important to me in my formative years. The songs I’ve chosen seem to resonate in the present moment. “Rehumanize Yourself”, “Landlord”, and “Murder By Numbers” explore ugly kinds of nationalism, abuses of power, and the mendacity of large swaths of the ruling class. And then there are the timeless, relatable psychodramas: “Every Breath You Take”, “Can’t Stand Losing You”, “Canary In A Coalmine”. In the Police, each player’s style was so distinctive, accomplished and unique that I didn’t even attempt to match any of it; for anyone to try and play drums like Stewart Copeland would be a thankless, pointless task that is bound to fail. Instead, I simplified and deconstructed, playing a lot of the drums myself, in my rudimentary, caveman style. Chris Anzalone (Roomful Of Blues) played the rest of the drums. Ed Valauskas (the Gravel Pit) and I each played about half of the bass parts, while I did all the guitars and keyboards. I listened to a lot of the Police when I was preparing and making this album, and their recordings are as refreshing and exciting as ever. I hope that my interpretations of these songs can inspire people to keep loving the Police like I did, and still do.” 

As a non-Police fan, I can’t and won’t play Monday morning quarterback with the chosen songs. That said, I am surprised by the lack of “Don’t Stand So Close to Me,” which seems like it could be a page out of Juliana’s thematic playbook.

Here’s the first teaser track, “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da”: