Police
Reggatta De Blanc

THE REVIEW

Police - "Reggatta de blanc"

In December 1979, the second album by the Police, 'Reggatta de blanc', was released, quickly reaching the top of the UK charts, and presenting several delightful innovations compared to the excellent debut album. The album was recorded at Surrey Studios until August 3rd. On September 7th, the single Message in a bottle was released as a preview. The track achieved great success, also thanks to the push from discotheques that played it continuously.

The unmistakable style of the group remains, in its general outlines, practically unchanged. The three musicians delve even deeper into their musical universe, almost wanting to emphasize the good elements that distinguished the previous album while highlighting those concerts unnoticed by critics and listeners. Happy with their success, they are driven by an unstoppable desire to move forward, to explain their roots and to throw an endless bridge toward the music of the future. The album opens with the already mentioned Message in a bottle, a splendid rock-reggae piece entirely based on Sting's dramatic and compelling vocals, with the other two musicians acting as fearful and devoted companions, small apostles who respectfully keep their distance from the magnetic leader. The song's lyrics perfectly capture the indifference enveloping a society already disillusioned by the ideals of the seventies, too many lost hopes, and the gray horizon the approaching eighties were revealing. The following track, Reggatta de blanc, is a piece whose musical part is composed by Stewart Copeland with Sting. The track features a captivating ritual chorus that transports the listener to a multi-ethnic stadium, underscoring a desire for equality and freedom in a future society without borders.

It continues with the incredible It's alright for you, a terrifying acid punk rock that undoubtedly represents one of the album's gems; it's just an episode, as reggae returns in the following Bring on the night, sweet and obsessive. The first side closes with Deathwish. The hallucinatory visions of Walkin' on the moon open the second side: in this track, Sting delivers an excellent vocal performance with many references to the great reggae masters. It continues with the brisk pace of On any other day, a syncopated rock. The Police's love for the reggae movement explodes with fury in the subsequent The bed's too big without you; while the finale belongs to No time this time.

Sting's musical ideas are paving his way toward dreams that seemed unattainable just a few years earlier in New castle when, behind a desk, he tried to teach the kids who the great Thelonius Monk was. Now he found himself behind a microphone; more than speaking, he must shout, more than explaining, he must play the bass; there are no longer thirty people in front of him, in front of him is the world. All he must do is step off the stage, leave his friends playing, and continue walking alone towards other achievements.