Fanmail
Here Comes... Fanmail (Tooth & Nail)
by Marc Hirsh
Fanmail
Here Comes... Fanmail (Tooth & Nail)
by Marc Hirsh
never published
The first thing anybody listening to Here Comes... Fanmail is going to want to know is, Is "Every Breath You Take" any good? And the answer is, no, it's not. In fact, it points out an interesting fact about The Police's signature hit: it was a great record, but it's not a particularly good song. It's certainly not one that translates well to peppy buzz-pop, especially not when the band barrelling through it steamrolls the most melodically original section ("since you've gone, I've been lost without a trace," etc.) and changes the chord progression to remove the urgency. And if "Every Breath You Take" isn't about urgency, then what the hell is it about?
Most of the other tracks on this EP (which credits the pickup musicians touring behind it in a much bigger typeface than the guys who actually made the thing) are just hooks in search of a song. Once frontman Scott Siletta hits the groovy-enough verse of "True Brand New" (with its circular-logic lyric, "I'm in love with you, girl, simply because it's you, girl"), you figure he's going to do something with it, but he just hits the repeat button and cranks it off again. Here Comes... Fanmail presents the pop song as stasis, a complete contradiction in terms.