From The Archive: Juliana Hatfield 'Sings The Police'

The singer-songwriterputs her unique spin on classic hits from The Police

Good Morning!

For your Friday, we’re taking a quick look at Juliana Hatfield Sings The Police by Juliana Hatfield

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For most of us, there are artists you pick up for a while and put back down. For every musical through-line in your life (take a bow, New Order), there are many, many more that burned bright but burned fast.

In my world, Julianna Hatfield is one of those. I loved her band, The Blake Babies, and their cover of Grass Roots’ Temptation Eyes. Still do, actually.

As she rose to indie stardom as a solo artist, I dutifully bought her first 3 records- they’re great-but she didn’t hold my attention for too long after their release. Some artists easily transcend that narrow and long-closed window. Others don’t quite make it through.

There are a lot of acts from the early 90s that won’t make any 30 year look back articles. For me, she’d be in that pile. I can rattle off maybe 3–4 titles between all three of the above albums. That’s not to say she’s not talented- she is. But time moved on, and I guess I did too.¹

So, while looking for “Only Everything” earlier this week, I was more than a little surprised to see that she has released a total of 18 records — including an album of Olivia Newton-John covers, and one of The Police.

This 2019 release was revelatory. I can’t say I’m genuinely surprised by a whole lot these days, but this absolutely caught my attention. Covering 12 songs total, Hatfield mixes in some hits with some lesser-known tracks by the band (“Hole In My Life,” anyone?).

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Favorite Tracks:

• Every Breath You Take: I was convinced I would hate this. Absolutely sure of it. I was dead wrong. I wound up listening to it 2–3 times before moving to the next song. I don’t know how she managed to make a song about stalking a sunny pop song, but here we are.

• Murder By Numbers: Disorienting, distorted, and messy. Kinda like the early ’90s. Kinda like today. In other words, perfect.

• De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da: This is peak Hatfield for me. If there was ever a cover she should make, it’s this. Far and away my favorite track on the record.

Least favorite:

• Next To You: In true Hatfield style, it’s lilting and jangly. That’s normally a good thing, but here it misses the urgency of the original. This is a song that needs a good dose of agita to work, and it’s absent.

• Roxanne: Nothing’s perfect, I guess. This is redone as a slower song and became an absolute dirge. I kept waiting for a speedup that never came.

• Rehumanize Yourself: Not bad, not good. Just there.

Verdict:

The record was generally met with positive reviews.

Chris Ingalls of Pop Matters rated it highly, noting,

As she has demonstrated with this album as well as the Olivia Newton-John project, she’s a musician who is dedicated to paying tribute to the music of her youth and finding new and interesting ways to present it”

That’s a fair point, and he better articulates what I was thinking. This could’ve very easily wound up being a sort of vanity project, or filler. And while a few tracks come close, I think it stands up well on it’s own.

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Listen:

Click on the record to listen on your platform of choice.

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What do you think? Did I get it right here, or did I miss the mark? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for being here,

Kevin—

1. Worth noting here that I completely missed her work as one half of The I Don’t Cares with Paul Westerberg until quite a few years after the fact.