Reggatta De Blanc

The second one, and the one where they figured out what they were. Outlandos had the singles. This one has the band. “Message in a Bottle” opens with that Andy Summers riff every guitar player has tried and mostly failed to play clean, and then “Walking on the Moon” comes in on basically one bass note and a lot of empty space and works anyway.

The title track is an instrumental that won a Grammy, which tells you these were three guys who could actually play, not just three good haircuts. Copeland drums like he’s annoyed at the beat. Summers fills the corners. Sting hadn’t started believing his own press yet. “Regatta de Blanc” is mock-French for white reggae, which is exactly what it is and they knew it. Cheap to make, fast to record, and it holds up better than most of what came after.