The Police - Zenyatta Mondatta
#391
by Paul Zickler
October 3 1980
The Police
Zenyatta Mondatta
Genre: New Wave World Music
Allen’s Rating: 4 out of 5
Paul’s Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Allen’s Highlights:
Don’t Stand So Close to Me
Driven to Tears
De Do Do Do De Da Da Da
Canary in a Coalmine
Paul’s Highlights:
Don’t Stand So Close to Me
Driven to Tears
Man in a Suitcase
Bombs Away
Can there really be anyone who doesn’t recognize the alchemy created by these three young men during the brief moment they burned together? I mean, I get it, there are people who don’t like Sting. [Editor’s note: Allen raises his hand] Whatever, that’s fine.
And yes, Ghost in the Machine is a way more complete realization of the potential of the band. I would also argue that the best songs on Regatta de Blanc (“Bring on the Night,” “Walking on the Moon,” “Message in a Bottle”) are slightly stronger than the hits on Zenyatta (“Don’t Stand So Close,” “De Doo Doo Doo,” “Driven to Tears”). Compared to their entire catalog, this is probably a B or B+.
But the thing is, it’s the Police. We only had them for a little while, and during that time, they were astoundingly good at doing what they did. Call it what you want: white reggae, echo-chamber dub, raga rock, radio-friendly new wave. They did it like nobody else.
This album came out after they’d hit number one in the UK, toured the world to huge crowds, and appeared on all the pop magazine covers. It could easily have been a paint-by-numbers affair. It’s not. The lyrics, while occasionally clunky (“De Doo Doo, De Da Da Da”), are at least making an attempt at relevance, sometimes quite genuinely (“Driven to Tears”). The melodies are hooky as hell -- I’d forgotten how infectious the chorus of “Man in a Suitcase” is. Stuart Copeland’s drums are front and center in the mix, sometimes threatening to bury Sting’s vocals, and Andy Summers’ minimalist guitar chimes ping pong across the stereo channels. There’s a slight glossy feel to the overall sound, but when you listen more carefully, you realize there’s some really interesting, almost experimental, stuff going on. Songs like “Voices Inside My Head” and “Shadows in the Rain,” which might have been throwaways on the first two albums, get a chance to breathe here. Your tolerance for people shouting “Cha!” over and over has probably been diminished in the 40 years since (thanks a lot Lumineers), but at the time it seemed cool. Even a song like “Bombs Away,” which sounds kind of goofy at first, turns out to be a pretty decent satire of military idiocy. It doesn’t hurt that Summers throws in an Eastern-inflected solo just in time to prevent Sting’s improvised yelps from taking over.
The closing instrumental, “The Other Way of Stopping,” generates some futuristic vibes over a relentless post punk drum track and ties the whole thing together nicely. It’s the sound of The Police being The Police, which is a sound I love. Not perfect, not their best, but still damn good.
(Side note: it’s going to make me sound like a cranky old man, but the 2003 remastered versions on Spotify and iTunes don’t compare to the original vinyl. I was able to tweak my EQ settings enough to enjoy it, but I miss the understated, almost blurry Police sound on those old records. I know, I’m weird.)
No comments:
Post a Comment