Police

Zenyatta Mondatta

The Police at Their Peak

Review Score:

(10/10)
As a child of the Reagan Era, I was and still am an unabashed fan of `80s alternative music (a/k/a "new wave"). Though some new wave now sounds dated, especially bands like a Flock of Seagulls that relied heavily (excessively?) on synthesizers, much of the music that arose out of the new wave/post punk movement sounds just as fresh, innovative, and essential today as when it was first released. This is especially true of the Police-the powerhouse trio consisting of Sting, Stewart Copeland, and Andy Summers-whose "white reggae" musical style still provides a wholly unique and enlivening musical experience.

The Police only released five albums before the band's exhilarating but volatile synergy finally exploded in the mid-`80s, sending each of the members off in their own direction. Each of those albums is a classic, though. The best of the bunch, in my opinion, is Zenyatta Mondata (narrowly edging out Synchronicity). This album encapsulates in stunning fashion all the elements that made the Police such a special band: Sting's compelling vocals and entrancing bass lines; Copeland's energetic polyrhythmic drumming; and Summers' spare, supple guitar work. No band could latch on to an infectious groove and drive it home like the Police. Zenyatta Mondata is proof positive of that.

The album gets off to an astonishing start with "Don't Stand So Close to Me," a song inspired by Nabokov's Lolita that tells the tale of a school teacher's forbidden affair with a nubile young student. From its outset, "Don't Stand So Close to Me" creates an atmosphere of obsession, foreboding, and desperation. It builds tension slowly, reaching almost unbearable levels, before launching into one of the catchiest choruses in rock history. Striking and seductive, "Don't Stand So Close to Me" was a smash hit single and sets the perfect tone for this remarkable album.

The opener's intensity extends to the album's next two songs as well. On "Driven to Tears," Sting makes his first foray into the political realm, decrying the impoverished conditions in the third world but flummoxed as to how to solve the problem. As good as its lyrics are, it's the music that propels the song and provides its sense of urgency. "When the World is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around," a sly take on post-apocalyptic ennui, features one of Sting's most sinuous and hypnotic bass lines and is driven forward by Copeland's insistent drumming and fleshed out by Summers' ethereal guitar. It is perhaps the band's most underrated song and ranks in my top five of Police favorites.

Zenyatta Mondata is not without its moments of pure pop bliss. The unusually titled "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" was a huge hit and is one of the band's most instantly recognizable songs-an upbeat pop-rocker dedicated to those poor lovelorn fools in the world whose tongues always seem to get tied when attempting to express their deepest feelings. Other uptempo, pop-friendly, reggae-tinged work-outs include "Canary in a Coalmine" and "Man in a Suitcase." Copeland-who always adds at least one offbeat gem per album-weighs in with the witty rocker "Bombs Away." And one of the album's coolest songs is "Voices Inside My Head," a lyrically sparse mid-tempo number boasting a repetitive groove that quickly gets under your skin (in a good way).

Of the album's remaining songs, two are instrumentals ("Behind My Camel" and "The Other Way of Stopping") and the other is "Shadows in the Rain," which was later given a jazzy makeover for Sting's "Dream of the Blue Turtles" album. While none of these are particularly memorable, they aren't unlistenable, either.

If you're someone who thinks a single-disc compilation of Police hits is all you need to own of this groundbreaking band, I challenge you to pick up this album and discover for yourself all the amazing music you've been missing. My guarantee: you will not be disappointed.

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