Reggatta de Blanc | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 5 October 1979 | |||
Recorded | February–August 1979 ("No Time This Time" in 1978) | |||
Studio | Surrey Sound, Leatherhead, Surrey, UK | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 41:52 | |||
Label | A&M | |||
Producer |
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The Police chronology | ||||
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Singles from Reggatta de Blanc | ||||
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Reggatta de Blanc is the second studio album by British rock band the Police, released on 5 October 1979 by A&M Records. [4] It was the band's first release to top the UK Albums Chart and features their first two UK number-one singles: "Message in a Bottle" and "Walking on the Moon". In early 1980, the album was reissued in the United States on two 10-inch discs, one album side per disc, and as a collector's edition with a poster of the band.
The album's title loosely translates in French to "White Reggae". [5] It was the band's second album to bear a Franglais title, after their 1978 debut album Outlandos d'Amour . Reggatta de Blanc proved more popular and successful than its predecessor. The title track earned the band their first Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
In 2003, Reggatta de Blanc was ranked at number 369 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Reggatta de Blanc took four weeks to record, spaced over several months. [6] Unlike its successor, Zenyatta Mondatta , there was no pressure on the band. Of the sessions, drummer Stewart Copeland said, "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." [7]
Against the wishes of A&M Records, 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. [8] The small budget (between £6,000 and £9,000) was easily covered by the profits of their previous album, Outlandos d'Amour , [9] 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 Reggatta de Blanc were so short on new material that the band even considered re-recording "Fall Out" at one point. [9] To fill in the gaps, Sting and Copeland dug up old songs they had 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, [10] while "Does Everyone Stare" originates from a piano piece Copeland wrote in college. [11] The closing track "No Time This Time" was previously the B-side to "So Lonely" in November 1978, and was added to pad out the album's running time.
As on the band's first album, Reggatta de Blanc features the Police's original fusion of hard rock, British pop, reggae, and new wave music. [12] The instrumental "Reggatta de Blanc", one of the few songs written by the Police as a group, was developed from an extended instrumental piece that the band would typically work into their live performances of "Can't Stand Losing You". [13] "Bring On the Night" was written three years earlier as "Carrion Prince", the title taken from Ted Hughes's poem "King of Carrion", and is about Pontius Pilate; however, after reading The Executioner's Song , Sting felt that the words fitted Gary Gilmore's death wish, and says that since then, "I sing it with him in mind." [10] "The Bed's Too Big Without You" was covered by reggae singer Sheila Hylton in 1981, and became a UK Top 40 hit. [14]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [15] |
Chicago Tribune | [16] |
Christgau's Record Guide | B− [17] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [18] |
The Great Rock Discography | 7/10 [19] |
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide | [20] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [21] |
The Sacramento Bee | [22] |
Spin Alternative Record Guide | 7/10 [23] |
Uncut | [24] |
Reggatta de Blanc continued to build on the success of Outlandos d'Amour, hitting number one on the British, Australian, and Dutch album charts upon its release in October 1979. [25] [26] [27] "Message in a Bottle" and "Walking on the Moon" were released as singles and both reached number one in the UK, the band's first singles to do so. [25] According to rock journalist Tim Peacock, with its success, the album transformed the Police "into one of the post-punk era's defining bands". [28]
The album was met with positive reviews from magazines such as Smash Hits , [29] People , [30] and Rolling Stone . Writing for the latter in December 1979, Debra Rae Cohen said that objections to the band's stylistic appropriations of new wave and reggae are "rendered moot by the sheer energy of the band's rhythmic counter-punching". [31] In The Village Voice 's year-end Pazz & Jop poll of American critics nationwide, Reggatta de Blanc was voted the 35th best album of 1979. [32] Robert Christgau, the poll's creator and the Voice's chief critic, was lukewarm about the album in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981): "The idea is to fuse Sting's ringing rock voice and the trio's aggressive, hard-edged rock attack with a less eccentric version of reggae's groove and a saner version of reggae's mix. To me the result sounds half-assed. And though I suppose I might find the 'synthesis' innovative if I heard as much reggae as they do in England, it's more likely I'd find it infuriating." [17] In 1981, the album's title track earned the band a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. [33] In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Greg Prato said that the band's intense touring schedule leading up to the album had made their unique reggae rock fusion sharper, leading to a work that was "much more polished production-wise and fully developed from a songwriting standpoint", but also "more sedate" than their first album. [15]
Reggatta de Blanc has appeared on professional listings of the greatest albums. In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked the record at number 369 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time; [34] on an updated version of the list published in 2012, it placed at number 372. [35] In 2006, it was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . [36] In 2014, Spin cited it as one of the major moments in the history of white reggae. [5] In an interview with Modern Drummer , Stewart Copeland named it his favourite Police album. [37]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Message in a Bottle" | Sting | 4:51 |
2. | "Reggatta de Blanc" |
| 3:06 |
3. | "It's Alright for You" |
| 3:13 |
4. | "Bring on the Night" | Sting | 4:15 |
5. | "Deathwish" |
| 4:13 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
6. | "Walking on the Moon" | Sting | 5:02 |
7. | "On Any Other Day" | Copeland | 2:57 |
8. | "The Bed's Too Big Without You" | Sting | 4:26 |
9. | "Contact" | Copeland | 2:38 |
10. | "Does Everyone Stare" | Copeland | 3:52 |
11. | "No Time This Time" | Sting | 3:17 |
Total length: | 41:52 |
The album credits are printed as: "All noises by the Police. All arrangements by the Police." [38]
The Police
Production
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [58] | Platinum | 50,000^ |
Belgium (BEA) [58] | Gold | 25,000* |
Canada (Music Canada) [59] | Platinum | 100,000^ |
France (SNEP) [60] | Platinum | 400,000* |
Germany (BVMI) [61] | Gold | 250,000^ |
Italy (FIMI) [62] sales since 2009 | Gold | 25,000‡ |
Netherlands (NVPI) [63] | Platinum | 100,000^ |
New Zealand (RMNZ) [64] | Platinum | 15,000^ |
Spain | — | 50,000 [65] |
United Kingdom (BPI) [66] 1979 release | Platinum | ~1,000,000 [67] |
United Kingdom (BPI) [68] 2003 release | Silver | 60,000^ |
United States (RIAA) [69] | Platinum | 1,000,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. Within a few months of their first gig, the line-up settled as Sting, Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland, and this remained unchanged for the rest of the band's history. The Police became globally popular from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s. Emerging in the British new wave scene, they played a style of rock influenced by punk, reggae, and jazz.
Outlandos d'Amour is the debut studio album by British rock band the Police, released on 17 November 1978 by A&M Records. Elevated by the success of its lead single, "Roxanne", Outlandos d'Amour peaked at No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart and at No. 23 on the Billboard 200. The album spawned two additional hit singles: "Can't Stand Losing You" and "So Lonely".
Zenyatta Mondatta is the third studio album by British rock band the Police, released on 3 October 1980 by A&M Records. It was co-produced by the band and Nigel Gray.
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Andrew James Summers is an English guitarist best known as a member of the rock band the Police. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a band member in 2003. Summers has recorded solo albums, collaborated with other musicians, composed film scores, written fiction, and exhibited his photography in galleries.
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"Roxanne" is a song by British rock band the Police. The song was written by lead singer and bassist Sting and was released as a single on 7 April 1978, in advance of their debut album Outlandos d'Amour, released on 3 November. It was written from the point of view of a man who falls in love with a prostitute. When re-released on 12 April 1979, the song peaked at No. 12 on the UK Singles Chart.
"Walking on the Moon" is a reggae song by British rock band the Police, released as the second single from their second studio album, Reggatta de Blanc (1979). The song was written by the band's lead vocalist and bassist Sting. It went on to become the band's second No. 1 hit in the UK.
"Message in a Bottle" is a song by British rock band the Police. It was released as the lead single from their second studio album, Reggatta de Blanc (1979). Written by the band's lead singer and bassist Sting, the song is ostensibly about a story of a castaway on an island who sends out a message in a bottle to seek love. Having received no response for a year, he despairs, believing that he is destined to be alone. The next day, however, he sees "a hundred billion bottles" on the shore and realizes that there are more lonely people like him.
The Very Best of... Sting & The Police is a compilation album issued by A&M Records on 3 November 1997, containing a mix of Police songs and Sting's solo works. It originally featured one new track, a remix of the 1978 song "Roxanne" by rap artist Sean "Puffy" Combs. The album was reissued in 1998 by PolyGram International with "Russians" removed and three added tracks: "Seven Days", "Fragile", and "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da". The original European version issued by A&M Records of this compilation instead included these tracks without removing "Russians".
Last Exit were an English jazz fusion band formed in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, in 1974. It is best remembered as the group Sting was in before finding stardom with The Police.
"The Bed's Too Big Without You" is a song by British rock band the Police, released as the final single from their second studio album Reggatta de Blanc (1979). It was written by lead vocalist and bassist Sting. An alternate version was released as a single in the UK in 1980 in the set Six Pack in conjunction with the re-release of the Police's earlier singles "Roxanne", "Can't Stand Losing You", "So Lonely", "Message in a Bottle" and "Walking on the Moon".
"Can't Stand Losing You" is a song by British rock band the Police, released from their debut album Outlandos d'Amour, both in 1978. The song also was released as the follow-up single to "Roxanne", reaching number 2 in the UK Singles Chart on a re-release in 1979. It was written by the band's lead singer and bassist Sting as a song about suicide.
"So Lonely" is a song by British rock band the Police, released as the third and final single on 24 November 1978 from their debut studio album Outlandos d'Amour (1978). The single was re-released in the UK in February 1980, and reached No. 6 on the charts. The song uses a reggae style, and featured Sting on lead vocals.
The Police is a self-titled compilation album released by the Police on 5 June 2007, to both celebrate the 30th anniversary of their recording debut and accompany their reunion tour. It contains 28 tracks over two discs, a mixture of hit singles and fan favourites. All the singles are included, with the exception of "Secret Journey" and '"Don't Stand So Close to Me '86". International editions contain two bonus tracks, "The Bed's Too Big Without You" from Reggatta de Blanc and "Rehumanize Yourself" from Ghost in the Machine. The band's non-studio album debut single, "Fall Out", originally recorded in 1977, is also included; other than Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings (1993) the song has never been included on any other Police album.
Certifiable: Live in Buenos Aires is a live album and concert video album by the Police. It was recorded in December 2007 during the band's reunion tour and was released in November 2008. The album was released in the US exclusively through Best Buy. The album has a number of releases including a four disc version containing two CDs and two DVDs. The two CDs contain the live album from River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The first DVD contains the 109-minute wide-screen concert presented in Dolby Surround and Stereo. The concert film was directed and produced by Jim Gable and Ann Kim, of Graying & Balding, Inc. The second DVD contains the 50-minute bonus feature, "Better Than Therapy," directed by Stewart Copeland's son Jordan Copeland, detailing The Police's reunion with behind-the-scenes interviews from the band and road crew, plus two photo galleries of The Police on tour: one shot by guitarist and photographer Andy Summers, and one by photographer Danny Clinch. The DVDs were also released on Blu-ray format. A triple vinyl format was also released that contained a digital download of the concert.
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Nigel Gray was an English record producer. His album credits include Outlandos d'Amour (1978), Reggatta de Blanc (1979), and Zenyatta Mondatta (1980) for the Police, Kaleidoscope (1980) and Juju (1981) for Siouxsie and the Banshees, as well as five albums for Godley & Creme.
"Bring on the Night" is a song by British rock band the Police. Written by the band's bassist and vocalist Sting, the song appeared as the fourth track on the band's second studio album, Reggatta de Blanc (1979).
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