The Police : Nothing Achieving

The Police used to rock. I mean, a really, really long time ago, back when Sting was wearing black and yellow football shirts, back before Andy Summers joined the band, back in 1977*. But they really did rock. Their first single "Fall Out" is a nifty little hard rock effort, though I'd say it owes more to the snarling garage rock aesthetic of the late 60's.

The flip side of the single is the tune I want to discuss today. It's a curious chunk of punk rock history with the prerequisite angry-at-your-parents lyrics and a nice little melody.  Gordon's distinctive falsetto soars and dives over the chugging guitar riffs and weaves in and out of the band's stops and starts. And while it was in no way indicative of their work to come, it's a great little number that really deserves more exposure.

You can find "Nothing Achieving" on the Police's big box set, Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings. Or, I suppose you could try and dig up the single from somewhere. That'd be kind of cool.

*: They still rocked later, just not as often. "Synchronicity II", for example, is a sizzler.

[You can listen to The Police's "Nothing Achieving" by navigating to the post "Song071" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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