The Police
Post-punk, by definition, is usually meant to indicate music influenced by punk rock. But in the strictest sense, “post-punk” is everything that came after punk. If you’re looking for one of the bridges between punk’s fury and new wave’s more radio-friendly fare, you must look to Elvis Costello, Dave Edmunds, and groups like the B-52’s and Devo. But first and foremost, you must consider the Police.
Sting, bassist and vocalist for the Police, is on record as having hated punk. It wasn’t “musical enough” for the charismatic singer, from Newcastle, England, who was born Gordon Sumner. Yet the Police’s five records – particularly the first two, which were both release in 1979 – show the characteristic energy of punk, to be sure. That energy is especially evident in the manic but precise drumming of the group’s lone American member, Copeland. Combined with an insurgent reggae beat, veteran guitarist Summers’ brilliant riffs, and Sting’s penchant for insightful melancholia, the Police sounded like no other band of the post punk era.
The first album, “Outlandous D’Amour,” is the most upbeat Police record. The mid-tempo ballad “Roxanne” was the big hit. Yet, “Outlandous” is full of great songs of every ilk, from rave-ups like “Next to You” and “Truth Hits Everybody,” to the deeply personal “So Lonely,” and the reggae-saturated “Hole In My Life.” The album was promising indeed, as it introduced both a burgeoning band unafraid of combining musical styles, and a frontman who defined the term “mercurial.”
“Reggatta De Blanc” was the second album. It finds the group retreating from the debut’s uptempos, and into reggaed-out bliss and Sting’s vivid lyrical imagery. Using desolate landscapes as a metaphor for loneliness – a desert island, a barren moon surface, an empty king-sized bed – Sting is no longer just singing “I’m so lonely,” he’s proving it. Highlights of the record are many, and include the bouncy, looping riff of “Walking on the Moon,” and the tidy desperation of “Message In a Bottle,” as well as the laid-back rasta groove of “Bring On the Night” (which is probably the only song here that isn’t soaked in self-pity). It’s a testament to “Reggatta’s” greatness that even the throwaway tracks are solid, including the tongue-in-cheek, Copeland-sung “On Any Other Day,” and the paranoid love anthem, “Does Everyone Stare.” Their best album? Perhaps.
Easing the break-neck release pace somewhat, “Zenyatta Mondatta” came out in 1981. Any pretensions of exploring politics with a light hand disappear rapidly on “Zenyatta,” which mars an otherwise decent set of songs. Signs of trouble are popping up: the filler is not nearly as strong; there are two throwaway instrumentals; the songs are too short, and the song titles too long. Otherwise, there is stuff to like about the third Police record, especially the Nabakov-influenced cautionary tale “Don’t Stand So Close To Me,” and the semantic tomfoolery of “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da.” “Driven to Tears” is driving and purposeful, even if the altruistic lyrics are cringe-worthy. There are just two many marginal tunes here (“Canary In a Coalmine,” “Bombs Away”) to rate “Zenyatta Mondatta” with the Police’s best work.
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