Zenyatta Mondatta

Zenyattà Mondatta is the third album by The Police, released in 1980.

Written during the band’s second tour and recorded in just four weeks (minus several days for a short tour of the Netherlands). The band members have often expressed disappointment over it, going so far as to re-record two songs during a brief, unsuccessful reunion. Drummer Stewart Copeland, who contributed the songs “Bombs Away” and “The Other Way of Stopping”, said about the time pressures:
“ We had bitten off more than we could chew. We finished the album at 4 a.m. on the day we were starting our next world tour… It was cutting it very fine. ”

Nevertheless, Zenyattà Mondatta went to #5 in the U.S. and #1 in the UK and Australia, spurred by the success of the Sting-penned singles “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” and “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da”. It would later receive glowing reviews from re-assessments in Rolling Stone and Q Magazine, among others, in spite of the fact that this is the least well-received of the five albums by The Police - so much so, it was the only of their five albums not to obtain a spot on the Rolling Stone’s list 500 greatest albums of all time.

As alluded to by Copeland, the Police embarked on a tour of the world the day of the album’s completion, beginning in Belgium and reaching places such as India and Egypt.

The album itself is the last of the Police’s early era, influenced by reggae and punk and featuring few musical elements on top of the core guitar, bass, and drums.