Juliana Hatfield Sings (and plays!) The Police

November 21, 2019 3:39 PM

Juliana Hatfield follows her earlier cover album of Olivia Newton-John songs (Mefi thread) with a tribute to 80's giants The Police. [Bandcamp , Youtube.]. A couple of reviews.

Hatfield writes:

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, playinga 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." -Juliana Hatfield

TRACKLIST:
01 “Can’t Stand Losing You”
02 “Canary In A Coalmine”
03 “Next To You”
04 “Hungry For You (J’aurais Toujours Faim De Toi)”
05 “Roxanne”
06 “Every Breath You Take”
07 “Hole In My Life”
08 “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da”
09 “Murder By Numbers”
10 “Landlord”
11 “Rehumanize Yourself”
12 “It’s Alright For You”

posted by thelonius (14 comments total)

Wow, interesting to compare the new Every Breath You Take cover with the one she did in 2000 (mind the Kingdom Hearts fanvid).
posted by yellowbinder at 4:11 PM on November 21, 2019

She’s done a ton of great work the past 5 years. Whatever My Love was brilliant, and there’s been a lot of other great non-covers work. Also, this pairs well with the Bird and the Bee doing Van Halen.
posted by saintjoe at 4:37 PM on November 21, 2019

Love this; I think I've played it five times in the last two days (at full volume).
posted by octothorpe at 5:27 PM on November 21, 2019

Well, I've just found my next purchase.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 6:31 PM on November 21, 2019 [1 favorite]

I loves me some covers songs! LIke, really really loves them covers. And I loves me song Hatfield!

So now I have to go somewhere that I never thought I would ever go. I don't care for these covers. I think that these songs are so iconic that it would take something really special to make most of these songs something different and good rather than an imitation of the original.

I feel shame now for admitting this.
posted by ashbury at 6:35 PM on November 21, 2019

From the Pastemag review, "Listening to Juliana Hatfield Sings The Police, Bostonian punk-adjacent rocker Juliana Hatfield’s second release of 2019, is like listening to yourself singing The Police while riding in the car with you friends". This is a good thing? Ya I'm not a fan of this
posted by Hash at 6:43 PM on November 21, 2019

I don't care for these covers. I think that these songs are so iconic that it would take something really special to make most of these songs something different and good rather than an imitation of the original.

They are growing on me. I am glad to see some deep cuts (like "It's Alright For You") alongside the Greatest Hits material.
posted by thelonius at 6:48 PM on November 21, 2019

Man, that version of Roxanne is powerful. That guitar, so crunchy! Thanks for posting!
posted by Gorgik at 7:08 PM on November 21, 2019 [1 favorite]

I loved her music in the 90’s. These sound good at first listen, I am looking forward to a deeper dive.
posted by Dip Flash at 9:51 PM on November 21, 2019

This is great. I was a fan of Hatfield the first time around and then she popped back up onto my radar when she did that record with Paul Westerberg in 2016 (The I Don't Cares - Wild Stab). She's having fun and making good music.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:27 AM on November 22, 2019 [1 favorite]

The music kills it for me. Canary in a Coalmine sounds like an '90s keyboard karaoke program and Every Breath You Take removes all the good musical parts for a boring beat.

She also enunciates better than Sting so it's never "Mary in a Coma".
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:31 AM on November 22, 2019

I felt neither highs or lows.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:20 PM on November 22, 2019

the mendacity of large swaths of the ruling class

That seems an idiosyncratic reading of "Murder By Numbers."
posted by Chrysostom at 6:29 PM on November 22, 2019 [1 favorite]

I just started listening to this. Holy hell, I've needed this version of "Can't Stand Losing You" my whole life and never knew. The way she pronounces "Can't" on this is incredible, it goes straight to my heart.
posted by escabeche at 2:23 PM on November 23, 2019 [1 favorite]