Reggatta de Blanc: 1979/80

The Police...

Successful rock trios have been few and far between, and watching The Police reminded me more of the approach, if not the style. of the great Sixties exponents like Cream and Hendrix, rather than contemporary new wavers like The Jam.

The Police, along with Dire Straits, have been the most commercially successful new British band in America during the year, and deservedly so. But in many ways they stand apart from the post punk scene, for they don't concentrate on high energy playing, dance tunes ог meaningful lyrics. They may share the current white British fascination for re interpreting West Indian reggae and dub influences, but they do so in a way that lays the emphasis on studied, clever, and careful playing. In a trio, there's no room for mis- takes, and The Police are slick and professional that you'd never believe there were so few of them on stage.

In the past two days, they've been popping up all over London. Last night they were at the Rainbow, and before that they were at both Hammersmith Odeon and Palais (using an armoured car and a lot of real police to get between the two).

The audiences were suitably enthusiastic (after all, the band currently have yet another No. 1 with 'Walking On The Moon'), but at the first of their shows at least they were going against current trends by playing music for the mind rather than the body, to impress rather than excite.

Otherwise they just played, very well indeed. Sting proved that he's not just a good actor, but has the high, subtly textured voice of a great white soul singer. Andy Summers played guitar so that it often sounded like keyboards (and effectively used echo and delay devices). and Stewart Copeland's drumming held it all together.

(c) The Guardian by Robin Denselow