Dub Session Episode 57 The Police - Undercover Versions




Dub Session Podcast show

Summary: The 30th anniversary of The Police's 1977 debut received great acclaim, including a U.S. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame award, and a 2007 reunion and world tour. The Police is well known for mixing reggae music, funk, punk rock and rock and roll. They are also versionistas, creating reggae versions of The Bed's Too Big Without You and other reggae classics. Dub Session episode #57 takes you on a version excursion featuring reggae and DnB cover versions of The Police, duets with UK reggae toasters, Police reggae tribute album selections, along with Sting and The Police providing live and extended versions of reggae classics. In the early years and in live videos, Sting would often wear Bob Marley pins, create reggae rock songs with "eeyo yo yo" Marley call and responses. One of the first versions in this episode features The Police live in 1980 with a dubby cover of Bed's Too Big. In the early 1980s, Sting was a fan of contemporary punky reggae group The English Beat, lead by vocalist Ranking Roger. After the Police's break up in 1984, Ranking Roger and The Special Beat toured with Sting, and would toast in show encores of Message in A Bottle, and Bed's Too Big Without You, as featured from EP versions of these toasts. UK contemporaries Steel Pulse, Aswad, and Pato Banton provide versions from the Reggatta Mondatta tribute series, as well as Latin America's Police tribute Outlandos D'Amor. This episode includes selections from Stuart Copeland's African journey "The Rhthymatist." Additional version include Sting in duets with Ziggy Marley, Ranking Roger and Pato Banton from various b-sides, singles, extended remixes and EPs