365 – New Music Daily

Another episode of The Police discography run through – Regatta de Blanc. To me, this album is where Copeland shines the most, especially in the front half. Message in a Bottle is a fantastic song with a great guitar lead, but god damn are the drums fucking fantastic. The little triplet cymbals on the after-chorus breakdown are so good and groovy, and the drums build so well throughout the whole song. The next song (the title track) is essentially just a Copeland showcase with weird sting oooo’s peppered in. It’s Alright For You is also a great song drumming wise, and also is apparently written by Copeland.

In researching two of the songs for this – On Any Other Day and Does Everyone Stare – both of which have vocals from Copeland – I found this interesting tidbit on the making of this album. Copied from a page on thepolicewiki.org:

“When The Police recorded Outlandos d’Amour they had a lot of material to choose from. For Reggatta de Blanc they were kind of short of new songs. Sting came up with a few songs he had written on tour and also made use of material he wrote for Last Exit. So this LP also features a few “fillers” by Stewart Copeland that might have started as Klark Kent songs. It’s Alright For You and On Any Other Day are two of those, where Stewart played all the instruments (except for the guitar solo on It’s Alright For You). As they were still a bit short of material they even reused No Time This Time, the 1978 b-side for So Lonely. “

Interestingly enough, this tidbit actually contextualizes and summarizes the album very well. This is an album with two of the most iconic Police songs on it, mixed with their classic reggae/groovy song, but also some really messy shit that almost sounds unfinished. Overall, it’s still good, but Outlandos d’Amour reigns supreme once again.

Favorite songs: Message in a Bottle, Regatta de Blanc, It’s Alright For You, Bring on the Night, Walking On The Moon, The Bed’s Too Big Without You, No Time This Time