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Reggatta de Blanc est le deuxième album de The Police, sorti en 1979.
Cet album est sorti le 5 octobre 1979 et a été produit par le groupe et Nigel Gray. Il entre directement à la première place des charts britanniques et atteint la 25e place du Billboard 200.
Le titre Reggatta De Blanc a reçu un Grammy Award dans la catégorie « meilleure performance instrumentale rock » lors de la 23e édition des Grammy en 1980.
Avec cet album, Sting a été élu meilleur chanteur de l'année 1979 par le New Musical Express.
User Album Review
Whilst Outlandos D'Amour introduced the world to the trio, 1979’s Regatta de Blanc helped confirm the Police as stars. Often seen as Sting, Stuart Copeland and Andy Summers’ best album, Regatta… is more atmospheric than the band’s debut; less punky and more controlled.
This second album is the band’s SOS to the world, with the single '’Message in a Bottle’' receiving its own feedback by commanding the number one spot in the UK charts for four weeks. Summers' trademark arpeggiated and flanged guitar opens the track and album and weaves into Sting’s sharp imagery with ease.
‘’Message…’’ is not the only commercial triumph on the album. ‘’Walking On The Moon’ blends reggae beats with the frank and understated lyrics that the Police excel at. It also made it to number one.
More dub beats follow in ‘’The Bed's Too Big Without You’’ but this time with a more soporific affect. It brings the mellowness back into the album (and was later covered by reggae singer Sheila Hilton in 1981). It reminds you what it's like to miss a partner.
But the boys do break out from their reggae influences at times. What you get when you listen to the title track is a blur of world music - an indefinable wordless frenzy which just sounds like the boys having a blast and ends far too soon.
As ever, Sting’s lyrics run much deeper than they appear. His strangulated voice and the echoing guitars on ‘’Bring On The Night’’, epitomise one man’s desire to come to the end of his time. The line ‘The evening spreads itself against the sky’ is self-consciously taken from TS Eliot’s ‘’The Love Song Of J Alfred Prufrock’’, a poem which itself deals with frustration and alienation.
Three Copeland tracks ‘’Does Everyone Stare’’, ‘’Contact’’‘ and ‘’On Any Other Day’’ stand out for their discordance and black humour. The first two focus on the space that exists between individuals while the drummer himself takes over the vocals on "On Any Other Day" a humorous take on mid-life crisis.
Regatta de Blanc could only have come after Outlandos D’Amour. The production values are higher, more intricate and some of the music more grown up – incorporating world music and jazz influences as well as reggae and roots.
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