The Police "Zenyatta Mondatta"

Today’ Cool Album of the Day is “Zenyatta Mondatta” by The Police.

How great is this piece of music? It’s really hard to pick a favorite from that early Police period, but I’m going with this one.

Highlights, we got a few. ‘Don’t Stand So Close to Me, When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around, Canary in a Coalmine, Man in a Suitcase’ and my fave mainly because of Andy Summers scorching guitar solo, ‘Driven To Tears.’

This 1980 release peeked at #5 in 1981. It hit the charts again in 1983 and had a cup of coffee at #129.

It won two Grammy Awards.

The Police were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 2003.

Track listing

Side A

1. “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” – 4:04
2. “Driven to Tears” – 3:20
3. “When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around” – 3:38
4. “Canary in a Coalmine” – 2:26
5. “Voices Inside My Head” – 3:53
6. “Bombs Away” (Stewart Copeland) – 3:09

Side B

1. “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da” – 4:09
2. “Behind My Camel” (Andy Summers) – 2:54
3. “Man in a Suitcase” – 2:19
4. “Shadows in the Rain” – 5:02
5. “The Other Way of Stopping” (Copeland) – 3:22

Personnel

• Sting – bass, lead vocals, synthesizers, backing vocals.
• Stewart Copeland – drums, backing vocals, synthesizers, guitar on “A Sermon”
• Andy Summers – guitar, guitar-synths, bass on “Behind My Camel”, lead vocals on “Friends”, backing vocals

Here’s a great live version of ‘Driven To Tears’ from the great movie, ‘Urgh, A Musical War.’