Zenyatta Mondatta [Digipak] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

The Police

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 4, 2003)
• Original Release Date: October 1980
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Interscope Records
• ASIN: B00008BRDV
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #34,023 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Their Best Album Ever! Great Remastered Sound Too!, February 19, 2006

By	Frederick Baptist (Singapore) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is by far their best album and this very well remastered version makes this the best sounding version as well. This album and especially the track "Don't Stand So Close To Me" was the one that introduced me to the Police and just blew me away! I was just so fortunate to be a teenager at the time of the New Wave movement that was sweeping the world from Britain at the time and The Police was just one of the many great bands that were riding the crest of that Wave. Having also heard all their albums since, this one stands out head and shoulders over the rest. Firstly, it's the one coherent album in which every track flows very well and there are really no weak tracks here. Sting's brilliant lyric-writing skills also find a peak here on this album. From the first track about teacher-student romance where Sting makes references to "Lolita" in the brilliant lyric "just like the old man in that book by Nabokov" to the second track about politics and apathy keeping people poor in 3rd World nations: "too many cameras and not enough food"; brilliant, intelligent lyrics that were unheard of before then in pop/rock music. Andy Summers also does his best work here, even winning the Grammy award that year for the Best Instrumental Performance with "Behind My Camel" but check out the great work he does on "Canary in a Coalmine" and on "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" as well. This album represents The Police at their creative best and this version which is excellently remastered represents the best sound quality that you can currently get out there. Very highly recommended!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great CD, August 16, 2002

By	CMM (Spokane, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zenyatta Mondatta (Audio CD)

In an interview some years ago STING had said that this was The Police's last effort where they worked truly together as a band. It was after this album that things began to fall apart in their relationships. I am not a professional critic but I consider The Police to be among the most talented ever to have recorded. I consider Zenyatta Mendatta to be the peak of their recording and professional career.

There are elements of the band's past on this album such as the second and third tracks, Driven to Tears and When the World is Running Down. These songs carry the heavy reggae beat and the flavor of the first two Police albums. Yet there are other tracks like Don't Stand So Close To Me and De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da that bleed into their next work, Ghost In The Machine. I'm not sure where songs like Canary In A Coalmine fit overall but it has its place on this album as does Bombs Away which is a witty song in my opinion.

This record contains a wealth of songwriting and it holds its own against Outlandos de'Amour and Regatta de Blanc.
It is significant that STING still regularly performs When The World Is Running Down live. He re-recorded Shadows In The Rain on his first solo effort. Ofcourse Don't Stand So Close was reworked as the goups swan-song. Zenyatta Mendatta has tremendous value in its contents. It may not have been as commercially successful as Synchronicity or have contained anything as solid as the benchmark three singles that define the peak of The Police's potential, but it overshadows Ghost on any playing field.

I believe this album is the transition between the Roxanne and Message In A Bottle years and the Every Little Thing and Every Breath You Take years. The Police did what few bands could ever do and changed their sound almost completely between their first and last albums. The same band that left us Roxanne left us Every Breath You Take and Wrapped Around Your Finger just a few short years later. Zenyatta Mendatta is where the pivot in The Police's career is fixed. This album shows what was and what will be, and I believe it stands as the bands most listenable album from start to finish. I rank it as their best album.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get Yourself Arrested by These Police., October 28, 2002

By	The Groove (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Zenyatta Mondatta (Audio CD)

When rock critics discuss the greatest bands of all time, the Police are rarely, if ever, mentioned. Why is that? Before Sting became a boring VH-1 staple, his onetime punk outfit rose to critical and commerical heights through its winning fusion of rock, reggae, and jazz. Sting effortlessly pulled off what few blue-eyed British guys can do: perform smooth guitar-laced pop with its roots firmly planted in soul. The group's third and best album, "Zenyatta Mondatta" shows Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland at its artistic zenith. The instrumentation of "Driven to Tears" is brilliant as the band playfully swings between edgy rock and reggae. There's the memorable hooks of "When the World is Running Down..." and "De Doo Doo Doo." And we're also treated to the sizzling reggae lilt of "Shadows in the Rain" and the soulful swing of "Voices in My Head." There's not a single dud on this release; it was one of my most-played albums in my preteen years, and very little of it sounds dated. A true classic by any standard.