Ghost In The Machine: 1981/82

The Police produce showing of coolness, sophistication...

Icy. That's the music of The Police brilliantly cool and sophisticated.

But by the time they got to 'Spirits In The Material World' Saturday night at The Summit this English trio had seized the intensity left hanging by opening act Joe "King" Carrasco and served notice why they're one of the international rock bands of the 1980s.

The Police - guitarist Andy Summers, bassist Sting and drummer Stewart Copeland are not so much a revolutionary band as a pop synthesis of all that's right in modern rock: the reggae undertow, the minimalist approach, the distant stance, the sequentially designed light show.

It was a perfect bill before the best Summit concert audience (14,000) in months. The laid-back, mellow crowd came to hear music. They weren't there to strut, or to see how drunk they could get. It wasn't a star-struck crowd at all. They wanted to hear some rhythm, the discreet, tasteful lines of modern music on a Saturday night.

Part of the anticipation was Joe King's opening set, and the trash-rocker, whose music has been labelled "Nuevo Wavo," absolutely grabbed the bustling crowd and pulled off an encore - Houston El Mover. Carrasco was just getting warmed up by closing time, thanks to a rocking version of 'Don't Bug Me Baby', during which he roamed the crowd with his cordless guitar and chomped on some Chuck Berry-style riffing that shot through the rhythm.

Organist Kris Cummings was back with the band after recuperating from a near-fatal car wreck in Austin in December, and Joe King, whose new album is due in April, looked like a natural, folks. He's got it, even if he has to take it to arena-sized dimensions.

Recovering from such physical music the crowd warmed up to The Police, who started tentatively with 'Message In A Bottle'. Augmented by a crisp three-piece horn section, they seemed to be just noodling around in comparison to the honest, go-for-it intensity of Carrasco.

And then they settled in. The Police keep you off balance. Bassist Sting is the lead singer, an unusual combination of rhythm and lead. When Summers bit hard on the guitar, as in 'The Bed's Too Big Without You', and when the lights came up on the audience during 'Walking on the Moon', they synched into a sleek groove that straddled the limits of professionalism and spontaneity.

The Police aren't an emotional band; they head for the intellect, and their sound has grown with their stature. Best of all, though, Saturday night, was the Houston audience, who came to understand.

(c) The Houston Chronicle by Marty Racine

Music: The Police...

This was something rock concert held, not in Cullen Auditorium or the Music Hall, but in the Summit, the biggest and best rock facility in the city. And the matchup of The Police with opening act. Joe "King" Carrasco and the Crowns, made this an even punchier (some might even say "punkier") show than the recent Cars and Nick Lowe concert held in the same hall.

Anyway, the point is that although New Wave and punk and nearly any other form of "new music" is damned and or ignored by most big radio stations, and even though these forms don't make money commensurate with the amount of ink they get, the fact remains that some bands, the ones at the very top, can sell tickets like heavy metal groups.

And, for some of us, it was a kick to see both of these bands in that huge a facility, particularly Joe King, who was playing the tiny Island little more than a year ago. Before the show, Carrasco had voiced doubts about really "getting to the kids" in that large a setting. He needn't have worried his set was nearly as raucous and rocking as the ones he's done in clubs. As he and the Crowns (including original organist Kris Cummings, who's returned from a car wreck and subsequent surgery) rocked through things like 'One More Time', '96 Tears', 'Party Weekend', 'Don't Bug Me, Baby' and others, scattered groups of the faithful were seen up and dancing in the aisles.

And, before the end of the set, Joe: himself lost the unusual amount of caution he'd shown earlier (gingerly walking the top of the barrier in front of the stage) and simply started romping around and throwing himself about like the madman of old, all the time pumping out those "trash rock" riffs. Very good set.

The Police have adapted to the larger halls with a great deal of professionalism, although some of their antics are nothing to brag about. For one thing, they even used such dinosaur gimmicks as a light ball and a rack of brights to whack the audience in the eyes with (what no smoke bombs, guys?).

Musically, they more than made up for those flaws, though. The band has seldom sounded tighter, and even older tunes seemed fresh and alive. From the opening blast of 'Message In a Bottle' to encore numbers like 'Don't Stand So Close to Me'. the group produced a stunning, thoroughly committed show. The sound was augmented by a three-man horn section that could have come straight out of Jamaican Shantytown, and their riffs enhanced all of the reggae tunes, especially the new 'One World (Not Three)'. That latter song also featured some energetic "skanking" dance steps from Sting.)

Despite the horns, though, the overall sound was still basic Police music - simple, uncluttered, filled with vaguely left-wing philosophizing and even more feel-my-heartbreak tales. Best moments of the night came during 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic', 'Spirts In the Material World', 'Walking On the Moon,' 'Invisible Sun,' and, of course, 'Roxanne'. At those times, the music was as immediate and forceful as it had ever been big hall or no big hall.

(c) The Houston Post by Bob Claypool