Thou Shalt Not Catastrophise Bad Sisters or I Will Call The Police

Before I went overseas, I downloaded lots of podcasts as well as music for listening during those long flights, shorter train rides or just those solo strolls around foreign cities. I didn’t try to theme the content to the experience to a great degree. A bit of The Rest is History” podcast for old London town, also A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs episode on The Rolling Stones circa Let It Bleed but other times I listened to the ABC’s Minefield podcast discussing the Australian cap on international students while walking early one morning through a still sleeping mountain village largely populated by the elderly in Piedmont Italy.

Now that I am back and in the swing of everyday life, I have been exploring some new and old cultural artifacts. First up let’s talk about Sharon Horgan, a prodigiously talented English actress who has written and costarred in two very funny comedies over the last ten years. In chronological order Catastrophe (Stan) which launched on British TV in 2015 and was cocreated, written and stars Sharon Horgan and American actor Rob Delaney as well, Rob and Sharon. He is an advertising executive from Boston who starts dating and later marries Irish teacher, Sharon after he gets her pregnant on a wild business trip to London. Raunchy, real and full of spot-on messages about relationships, marriage and parenthood the writing and cast are first rate. There are four seasons, so 24 episodes of laughs await you. The ending of the show is wonderfully ambiguous and the four seasons are so very worth your time. This is obviously not a recent series so if you picked up on it years ago why the hell didn’t you tell me. Best laughs in an English sitcom since Derry Girls.

Bad Sisters (Apple TV) is more recent, dating from 2022 with a series two launching next month. Based on a novel called Clan by Malin Sarah Gozin, Sharon co-writes and stars as one of the five Garvey sisters are bound together by the premature deaths of their parents and the promises, they have made to always protect one another. One of them has an abusive prick of a husband who dies unexpectedly so happy days except the insurance company aren’t convinced its natural causes. With five sisters there are plenty of sub plots in this black comedy/drama about family. Imagine an Irish Desperate Housewives but funny instead of silly and five hundred times better writing and acting.

The Police

The Police were easily one of the biggest bands of the early - mid 80s by following the famous rule of not sounding like everyone else, persisting with their vision and being lucky or clever enough for that sound and vision to click worldwide with the listening public. When you’re a three-piece band like The Police every member must be more than just good on their instrument and Police members Andy Summers and Stuart Copeland had huge chops and unique styles on guitar and drums respectively. Sting, I would argue was the weak link musically in the early days but he could write a song, be a front man and grew into the role as the trio clicked. Everyone knows their great hit singles Roxanne, Every Breath You Take, Message In A Bottle etc. but to me the real worth of a band is how the album tracks stand up so on a whim I went back and had a listen to their first three albums, a great display of how well a band is creating and delivering their sound.

Now back in the 80s I was ok with the band, happy to sing along and dance with the catchy hits but they were never my first choice of music. In fact I think I taped one of the albums off a mate’s record to play in the car but I never actually bought any of them. Coming out of the immediate post punk period English bands went in a hundred different directions and like The Police there were quite a few with a Jamaican reggae, ska or dub influence. Compare The Police to Madness, The Specials, British Beat and Public Image Ltd all of whom were active around that time. The Police may have sacrificed authenticity for polish and pop hooks but they really did hit on just the right mix.

The first album Outlandos d’ Amour 1978 shows the band finding their feet. There is some filler, a variety of styles, some XTC quirkiness and the music is mostly pop punk. But already there are two classics in the can with Roxanne and Can’t Stand Losing You.

Regatta De Blanc released a year later shows a massive leap. Less filler, so mostly great album tracks including the album title track, Bring On The Night and The Beds Too Big Without You, and a huge leap in musicality, confidence and vision from all concerned. The Police sound, influenced by reggae, driven by Copeland and Summers’s unique takes on their instruments and Sting’s voice and songwriting generated big, big hits with Message In A Bottle and Walking On The Moon.

Zenyatta Mondatta released in 1980 nailed it. Big hit songs, great harmonies, Stings continual development as a songwriter and plenty of winners including De Doo Doo Doo De Da Da Da, Don’t Stand So Close To Me, When The World Is Runnin Down, Man In a Suitcase, Driven to Tears. But you know what? I prefer Regatta. Maybe it is just a bit rawer, maybe there is still a little try it and see against the increased surety of Zenyetta. Zenyatta’s worst album tracks aren’t tossed off filler but they just don’t quite grab me as much as the worst of Regatta.

Of course the albums Ghost in The Machine and Synchronicity followed and The Police became superstars but by then they were for better or worse, a different band. If you have never listened or it has been a while, give the early Police albums a listen.

Thou Shalt Not Steal

Wow. Its Australian, I mean really Australian, quirky and never stops from the first minutes of the first episode to the final scene. Set in 1980s outback Australia near Coober Pedy, Thou Shalt Not Steal stars Miranda Otto, a fantastic Noah Taylor and some awesome young actors in Sherry-Lee Watson and Will McDonald. Sherry-Lee plays the lead role of Robyn, an indigenous 14-year-old escapee from juvie who answers her grandfather’s call to solve a family mystery and take something to a father who Robyn thought was dead. The something is just a MacGuffin as Robyn and awkward, sweet accomplice Gidge go on a wild and highly criminal journey to find her dad. She soon upsets ex stripper Miranda Otto’s Maxine and conman preacher Noah Wilde’s Robert in some serious ways and the chase and the quest for both retribution and acceptance are on. It’s in your face, witty, beautifully shot, has great indigenous and Australian country music and top performances. Importantly Thou Shalt Not Steal’s handling of the issues that surround the treatment of our indigenous people is both provocative but light, insightful and at times very funny. If you love Mystery Road but want laughs…Do yourself a favour and watch it now on Stan.

Photo - Medieval rockin’ Trio Publicity Shot by can’t remember the artist but In the British National Gallery

Further Listening to put The Police in context –

Ghost Town – The Specials

Mirror in the Bathroom – British Beat

The Guns of Brixton – The Clash

Public Image – PIL

Typical Girls – The Slits

One In Ten – UB40