Their landmark debut album, Outlandos D’Amour, ensured The Police made a decisive business breakthrough and averted the fallout from punk. Nonetheless, it was their transcendent second album, Regatta De Blanc, that turned them into one of many post-punk period’s defining bands.
Initially launched on 2 October 1979, Regatta De Blanc once more sported a mysterious, pseudo-French title, which loosely translated as “white reggae”: a label journalists tried to pin on The Police after their preliminary hits “Roxanne” and “Can’t Stand Losing You” skilfully melded the stridency of punk and the joyful bounce of reggae.
Nonetheless, whereas Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland efficiently nurtured their singular sound on Outlandos D’Amour, with Regatta De Blanc they served up one thing really spectacular from their spicy melting pot of rock, pop, and reggae.
“That was where it all clicked,” Sting advised Musician journal in 1983. “We had reggae influences in our vocabulary and they became synthesized into our infrastructure. As a musician, you learn your craft and emulate and copy people, and suddenly there’s a moment in your development where you grow up and finally become yourself. I think Regatta De Blanc was that moment for us.”
Following the success of Outlandos D’Amour, A&M wished to associate The Police with an even bigger studio and a reputation producer, however the band resisted. As an alternative, they returned to the small Surrey Sound advanced the place they’d recorded their debut with producer/engineer Nigel Grey. Sting had been on a prolific songwriting spree previous to the Outlandos D’Amour periods, however for Regatta De Blanc, The Police entered the studio with only some full songs. Creatively, nevertheless, they have been on a roll and all three band members got here up with music, lyrics, and music strategies.
Stewart Copeland weighed in with the piano-based “Does Everyone Stare” and the irony-soaked “On Any Other Day” – in impact a litany of home disasters (“My wife has burned the scrambled eggs/The dog just bit my leg”) – whereas the entire band confirmed off their virtuosity on the manic rocker “Deathwish” and the nimble titular monitor: an atmospheric, shape-shifting ensemble exercise which yielded a Grammy Award for Finest Rock Instrumental Efficiency in 1980.
Most pertinently, although, Regatta De Blanc underlined Sting’s rapidly-evolving prowess as a songwriter of significance. The singer-bassist demonstrated that he might mix infectious pop and militant reggae to near-perfection on reside favorites “Bring On The Night” and “The Bed’s Too Big Without You,” however it was on the album’s twin peaks, “Message In A Bottle” and “Walking On The Moon,” that he actually hit pay dust.
Widely known as a high-water mark of their profession, “Message In A Bottle” rewarded The Police with their first UK No.1 and stays a private favourite of the band’s, with Andy Summers later remarking, “It’s still the best song Sting ever came up with and the best Police track.” The three musicians all put their stamp on the music, with Sting’s Robinson Crusoe-esque story of loneliness and isolation aided and abetted by one among Summers’ most distinctive, cyclical riffs and a few of Copeland’s most dynamic drumming.
Launched after Regatta De Blanc had already topped the UK Charts, “Walking On The Moon” made it three in a row for The Police when it rose to No. 1 in November 1979. Although initially envisaged as a rocker, the music was later given a radically sparse, reggae-pop makeover starring Sting’s distinguished bassline and Copeland’s dextrous drumming, making certain the sonics (fittingly promoted by a video filmed at Florida’s Kennedy House Middle) captured the monitor’s gravity-defying material to a T.
With Regatta De Blanc eclipsing heavyweights corresponding to The Conflict’s London Calling and The Jam’s Setting Sons within the UK charts, The Police entered 1980 as one among rock’s fastest-rising teams. Their superstars-in-waiting standing was confirmed once they launched into their first world tour and carried out to capability crowds in far-flung territories corresponding to Mexico, India, Egypt, and Taiwan. By the point they launched their multi-platinum third album, Zenyatta Mondatta, in October 1980, they’d turn out to be one of many greatest bands on the planet.
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