THE POLICE – REGGATTA DE BLANC LP – Nr MINT  PUNK REGGAE

The Police – Reggatta De Blanc
(A&M Records  1979  SPJ4792  Canada Press)
Audiophile Half Speed Master Press

Vinyl in Nr MINT condition
(there are some surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality)

Sleeve in Nr MINT- condition
– some slight wear to edges

The Police were an English new wave band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the band consisted of Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar, primary songwriter), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Police became globally popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s and are generally regarded as one of the first new-wave groups to achieve mainstream success, playing a style of rock influenced by punk, reggae, and jazz. They are also considered one of the leaders of the Second British Invasion of the U.S. They disbanded in 1986, but reunited in early 2007 for a one-off world tour that ended in August 2008.

Their 1978 debut album, Outlandos d’Amour, reached No. 6 in the UK. Their second album Reggatta de Blanc became the first of five consecutive UK No. 1 albums with its lead single, “Message in a Bottle”, their first UK number one. Their next two albums, Zenyatta Mondatta (1980) and Ghost in the Machine (1981), saw further critical and commercial success. Their final studio album, Synchronicity (1983), was No. 1 in both the UK and U.S., selling over 8 million copies in the U.S. alone. “Every Breath You Take” became their fifth UK number one single, and first in the U.S. The Police have sold over 75 million records, making them one of the world’s best-selling artists of all time. They were the world’s highest-earning musicians in 2008, thanks to their reunion tour.

The band has won a number of music awards, including six Grammy Awards, two Brit Awards—winning Best British Group once, an MTV Video Music Award, and in 2003 were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Four of their five studio albums appeared on Rolling Stone‘s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The Police were included among both Rolling Stone‘s and VH1’s lists of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Reggatta de Blanc is the second album by The Police, released in 1979. It features the band’s first two number 1 hits, “Message in a Bottle” and “Walking on the Moon”.

The album took four weeks to record, spaced over several months. Unlike its successor, Zenyatta Mondatta, there was no pressure on the band. Stewart Copeland described it, “We just went into the studio and said, ‘Right, who’s got the first song?’ We hadn’t even rehearsed them before we went in.”

Against the wishes of A&M, who had wanted to equip the promising band with a bigger studio and more famous producer, the Police opted to again record at Surrey Sound with Nigel Gray. The small budget (between £6,000 and £9,000) was easily covered by the profits of their previous album, Outlandos d’Amour, further ensuring that the record label would have no control over the actual creation of the band’s music.

Whereas Outlandos d’Amour had benefited from one of the most prolific songwriting periods of Sting’s life, the recording sessions for Regatta de Blanc were so short on new material that the band even considered re-recording “Fall Out” at one point. To fill in the gaps, Sting and Copeland dug up old songs they’d written and used elements of them to create new songs. Much of the lyrics to “Bring on the Night” were recycled from Sting’s Last Exit song “Carrion Prince (O Ye of Little Hope)”, and “The Bed’s Too Big Without You” similarly started as a Last Exit tune, while “Does Everyone Stare” originates from a piano piece Copeland wrote in college.

The album’s title is a pseudo-French translation of “white reggae”.

Track listing

Side one

1. “Message in a Bottle” (Sting) – 4:51
2. “Reggatta de Blanc” (Andy Summers, Sting, Stewart Copeland) – 3:06
3. “It’s Alright for You” (Sting, Copeland) – 3:13
4. “Bring on the Night” (Sting) – 4:15
5. “Deathwish” (Summers, Sting, Copeland) – 4:13

Side two

1. “Walking on the Moon” (Sting) – 5:02
2. “On Any Other Day” (Copeland) – 2:57
3. “The Bed’s Too Big Without You” (Sting) – 4:26
4. “Contact” (Copeland) – 2:38
5. “Does Everyone Stare” (Copeland) – 3:52
6. “No Time This Time” (Sting) – 3:17

Personnel

• Sting – bass guitar, lead and backing vocals, double bass
• Andy Summers – guitar, piano
• Stewart Copeland – drums, guitar on verses and chorus of “It’s Alright for You”, lead vocals on “On Any Other Day” and intro of “Does Everyone Stare”