Zenyatta Mondatta - The Police (1980)
Discog-ology: The rails all form a track / Which is a link within a chain
Maybe it’s just me, but this is the first Police record I love all the way through.
Recorded in a rush between gigantic money-grabbing world tours, it does sound rushed, but it also beat the problem they’d have with other albums of overthinking and second guessing themselves. Maybe that’s why it hops along so nicely.
The lyrics are, as always, top notch. Musically, they still owe a lot to the ska movement of the 70s in British pop, but they’re definitely using it as a building block and not a roadmap. The songs are adventurous but still ridiculously catchy.
The record is front-loaded. It does wind down a bit on the second side, with the two meandering intstrumentals and some more conventional and less distinctive ska. But then you get to Shadows In The Rain and you remember that the good tracks are so good.
Discog-ology
Next: Ghost In The Machine
Previous: Reggatta De Blanc
Tracks I Liked
When The World Is Running Down - an underappreciated classic, imo
De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da - listen and try not to smile or bob your head. I dare you.
Bombs Away - A Stewart Copeland song about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Fun fact: Copeland’s father was a CIA man who ran intelligence operations in the Middle East in the 50s.
