25. Zenyatta Mondatta by The Police
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNIZofPB8ZM&list=OLAK5uy_mctDATS-H8mOzk3RAPT9j_S0mVgjvkJVg
This was the album that is the most closely related in my mind to the time I visited Randy during the summer of 1981 in Sand Hollow. I was there by myself that visit, for some reason, so I didn't have any family members there to boss me around, but I knew that Mom and Dad expected me to help out with the chores on Aunt Elva's dairy farm as best I could. While we did chores, sometimes Randy would take off while I was doing some job, and after I finished the job, I'd look up to find that he was gone. Then I'd just be standing there wondering what to do. Having been a farm boy for...well...my entire life, I knew that standing around doing nothing isn't what farm boys are supposed to do, especially when you're supposed to be helping out on someone else's farm. You can be lazy on your own farm at times, but when you're at someone else's farm, then you've got to represent the family well and be at the top of your game. So I'd search the farm to try to find him and help out with whatever chore he was doing. After a couple days of doing this, I started to stick to Randy like glue and not let him out of my sight. When I started doing that, he started singing "Don't Stand So Close to Me." I asked him why he was singing that song. He said it was because I was standing to close to him and being a tag-along. I took that kind of hard, as I thought Randy and I were not just cousins but friends. So after that, if he took off, I'd just do what I did on the farm back home, which was to wander around and look at stuff or find a spot to sit and watch the cows. Later on in the visit, Randy and I got into a conversation about The Police, which he liked a lot.
When I returned home after that visit, I eventually saved up my money to buy Zenyatta Mondatta, and that was when I started liking The Police too. Although there were only two hit singles off the album, "Don't Stand So Close to Me" won a Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo Or Group with Vocal. (Nice category. THANKS!) "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" didn't win anything, but "Behind My Camel" won a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. The fun fact about "Behind My Camel" is that Sting hated it so much that he refused to play bass on it. He thought it was an awful song, so I take a little bit of pleasure in knowing that it probably bothered him that it won a Grammy. (I've already talked about how "Behind My Camel" shouldn't have won over "YYZ" by Rush.) I personally think that "The Other Way of Stopping" is a better instrumental song, but that's probably because it's got the kind of upbeat tempo song that I like in running songs. Same thing with "Canary in a Coalmine"
The other songs on the album are best listened to in the same way that you'd listen to a Pink Floyd album--laying on a bed with your head perfectly positioned between the speakers. It's the kind of album that you can just listen to and space off and think about nothing and everything all at once. I ranked this album higher than Synchronicity only because of the memories it triggers of that time between 9th and 10th grade just before I started high school when my days were filled with farm work, riding motorcycles in the back 40, scout activities with the Arimo Mafia, and tubing the Portneuf River with Devon and whatever other kids we could round up for that Saturday after doing the Arimo garbage run. Also, since I had my license, I got to drive the truck all over Marsh Valley to run errands for Dad. Man! What I wouldn't give for a few days of that life again!
Nardo
#25: The Police—Zenyatta Mendatta. Also known as “Reggae Music for White People.” There are definitely some good songs here, namely the two hits, plus “Canary In a Coalmine,” “Man In a Suitcase,” and “The Other Way of Stopping.” Most of the rest of the songs are just okay, except for “Behind My Camel.” Sting was right, and Rush was robbed. (What do you find behind your camel? Camel poop.)
ReplyDeleteI’ve already told your some about my love/hate feelings for Sting and the Police. Some of the writing is fantastic, like the “poets, priests, and politicians” line, and how no one is “jamming their transmissions.” Plus, I almost felt like I was getting smarter by listening to Police songs, and their references to people and things I was unfamiliar with, kind of like Dennis Miller jokes that used to go over my head, back when Dennis Miller was funny.
On the other side, though, there were things that infuriated me about The Police (and Sting.) Like the fact that when I bought the 1986 release of “Every Breath You Take—The Singles,” I was pissed that they replaced the “real” version of “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” with a boring, slowed-down, non-reggae piece of crap. Sting would later do the same thing with his own “Fields of Dreams—The Best of Sting” album, which features a bastardized version of “We’ll Be Together Tonight.” It was little things like that that really annoyed the heck out of me about Sting. (And The Police.)
Over the years, though, I’ve softened my stance. As earlier noted, the “GoldSting” skit with Steve Martin on SNL helped. And, more recently, another collaboration between Sting and Steve Martin has brightened my opinion of this band’s lead singer. Sting makes a few brief appearances in “Only Murders In the Building,” the funny and entertaining television series starring Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez. He’s pretty funny and self-deprecating in it, and I highly recommend the entire series. (If for no other reason than Martin Short’s retelling of the opening night of “Splash: The Musical.” I laughed. I cried. At the same time.)