— Ian Birch
Given that Sting would go on to compose "Every Breath You Take", "Russians" and "Shape of My Heart" and considering he rarely looks especially pleased with himself, you might assume that Gordon Sumner was always something of a grumpy old git. And, let's face it, that's probably what he always has been. Yet, there was a time when he knew how to play the pop game. While The Police were hardly the youngest act around, they took to promoting videos of themselves right from the beginning. They may have been the new wave act with the most baby boomer appeal but they weren't above appearing on the cover of Smash Hits.
But this wasn't to last. "Invisible Sun" commences their much more serious period. "I think it's your job to refine yourself out of existence," Sting told Mark Ellen in this fortnight's issue of ver Hits. Where the trio would normally prance about merrily in front of an airplane or lumber about awkwardly in the snow, in this instance they are barely visable. Black and white images of Belfast at its bleakest with just silhouettes, barely recognizable close-ups and snippets of their instruments being the only trace of The Police themselves. "[The video] is a rather crude way of saying 'forget about us, forget about three blonds, and just try and listen to the images that the song's about".
I as previously wrote, there is some debate as to which conflict inspired "Invisible Sun". The video obviously suggests Ulster which was something that British audiences could identify with. (The single didn't receive much attention outside of the British Isles; in most countries it was passed over in favour of "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic", which even Sting conceded was the more "obvious" hit) Drummer Stewart Copeland had been raised in Beirut and he considered it to be about the Lebanese capital. For my part, I live in the southwest corner of Korea and the first thing I think of is the nearby city of Gwangju and what its citizens went through in the spring of 1980.
When the Korean military entered the city it was ostensibly to quash demonstrations by university students. Had hundreds of twentysomethings been the victims this would have been outrageous enough but there were children as young as five and people in the eighties who were among the dead. Government propaganda labelled protesters as North Korean sympathizers so is it any wonder troops felt that those they were going after were, in Sting's words, "not 'people' anymore, so we can kill them". This invisible sun should have brought hope to the citizens of Gwangju while renewing the humanity of those who entered the city and mowed people down with bullets. This is far too much to ask of a song but it is the fleeting sense of hope that is what matters.
The current day issue that "Invisible Sun" addresses is the Russian invasion of Ukraine but there is also the genocide of the Uyghurs in China and Iranian women protesting their country's repressive regime. Even the issue of trans rights applies as conservatives try to paint them as groomers. When music buffs talk about songs and albums being "timeless" I'm not sure "Invisible Sun" being relevant to stories in the news forty years on is what they have in mind. But this is probably the only truly accurate way that a record is able to age well. It is timeless because the message is needed regardless of time.
"Dammit, Sting, sing about something that matters for once!" This was something I wrote the last time I blogged about this song. He put his melodic talents to good use on a hit-and-miss selection of earlier Police singles ("Message in a Bottle" is great,"Don't Stand So Close to Me" is all right and "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" is balls) but his lyrical skills were mostly wasted. "Invisible Sun" ended up being a breakthrough for him — and something he took with him into his hugely successful solo career. While other groups lose something by going serious, it was when they began touching upon issues that The Police began to come into their own. Women may have always swooned over Sting's brooding good looks but he didn't really become the Sting of rainforest conservation, Tantra and "We're Sending Our Love Down the Well" until he stopped writing with his mind on the "man in the factory floor" and began the search for "something else".
In truth, however, Sting never really bettered "Invisible Sun". The song is simply too good that even someone of his abilities couldn't quite deliver a similar triumph. It has never seemed especially 'psychedelic' to these ears but maybe that's because it's so phenomenal that it avoids comparisons of all kinds. I used to think that I never knew that The Police had it in them but now I'm just grateful that they got it out for us to be touched by it as we live in a world in which its lyrics never fail to ring true.
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Toyah: "Thunder in the Mountains"
Few have been redeemed in recent years as much as Toyah Willcox. It would be nice to say that her music has been given a long overdue reappraisal but that is not the case. It was those charming home movies that she and hubby Robert Fripp posted on Twitter during the last two years of Covid that did it. And good for them. Her music isn't really to my taste but "Thunder in the Mountains" is about as strong a record as she ever cut, her voice only somewhat histrionic, the music propulsive as it guides her along. If any Toyah single deserved to be a big hit, "Thunder in the Mountains" was it. I'll never be much of a fan of either Toyah or The Police but their attempts this fortnight are as close as I'll ever get.
(Click here to read the original review)
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