The Police LIVE - Roxanne (FYYC's 'The Magic Is In The Middle' 13 min rare Live Mix & Special Video)

Warning: only for enthusiasts!

This mainly concerns the audio: a 13 minute version of Roxanne. The connoisseurs among you know that The Police often improvised during their live performances. They played ´intermediate pieces´ that did not appear on the studio versions of those songs. Initially simply because there was insufficient material to fully fill the agreed time for a gig. But it quickly became a trademark of the band. For me this is the place where the real magic happens… Where you can taste the the beauty of their interplay and where you can hear how the band experimented with throwing several influences into one musical blender. Even so many years later, those live intermediate pieces are still enchanting to me.

Nowadays, there are many live performances of Roxanne available. But certainly not all equally top, especially in terms of sound quality. That is why I have selected a few beautiful intermediate pieces and compiled them into one new (live) song. You can find them all on the web these days, but I used my own recordings, dating from 1979, 2003 and 2007. I chose some pieces that go together rather well, especially in terms of atmosphere, mostly performances for a smaller crowd. They sound so much more intimate then the big stadia versions. With the necessary creativity, this resulted in a live Roxanne version of over 13 minutes.

And then the video. Since a part of the audio used is not captured on film, at least not in a satisfying resolution, what you hear is often not what you see.

With the many images that alternate in time I also tried to emphasize that ‘Roxanne’ was more or less the pivot of the band. The song that stayed with them all along, and grew with the band. And Sting continued to change it, even to this day. Somewhere on the Tube I once read a discussion between fans who were convinced that 'Every breath you take' was the song that defined the Police, and people who thought that 'Roxanne' was their core spine. I definitely belong to the latter category. But that might be a generation thing. If you have experienced the arrival of 'Roxanne' yourself, and know how creatively, carefully and passionately the song has always been played from the very beginning (the fun part of their career), you can hardly help but label 'Roxanne' as the song par excellence that put The Police on the map, in my opinion... But I’m very curious to know what you think of this matter.

In the end quite a puzzle again to produce a matching video. Hope you like it! If you do, please leave a short message. If you don't, don't hesitate to comment too. Would be happy to read any comments. Okay people, you have been warned, enjoy your meal!