Police

Regatta de Blanc

One of their best, seriously, very seriously indeed

Review Score:

(8/10)
'Ahhh, Grasshopper. The record cover is indeed a strange and misnamed thing: for verily it reveals more than it covers.' That's what my old Shaolin master used to say back at the monastery, and boy was he right. You only have to glance at the unsmiling faces of Messrs. Sumner, Summers and Copeland (shot in equally serious black-and-white) to realise that the contents of 'Regatta de Blanc' are going to be neither bright nor breezy.

The radio-friendly opener 'Message in a Bottle' throws you off for a while, but thankfully it's mainly pessimism from there on in. The core of this album is brilliant, dark songs like 'Bring on the Night', 'Does Everyone Stare', 'Deathwish', 'Contact' and 'The Bed's Too Big Without You'. The playing is sparse and Sting's voice as subdued as the music. Sandwiched around these are the classic 'Walking on the Moon, the goofy 'On Any Other Day' (which I quite like, but no-one else this side of Betelgeuse cares for) and the unremarkable 'It's Alright For You' and 'No Time This Time'. The title track is musically interesting and has the merit of not having too many lyrics to memorise (sing along, now: 'ee-yoh, ee-yeh, ee-yeh-yoh').

Mind you, even my old Shaolin monk couldn't tell me what the hell the album's title means (not to mention 'Zenyatta Mondatta' or 'Outlandos D'Amour'). I can just see it now on Letterman: 'TOP TEN REJECTED NAMES FOR THE POLICE'S FIRST THREE ALBUMS. No. 10: Achtung Der Chihuahua... No. 9: Eau d'Tourette... Anyway, this is an album that I feel deserves a wider audience (and maybe even an Amazon.com review?)

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