So a big fan of The Police – and actually saw the “Synchronicity” Tour back in 1983, and had the entire catalog on vinyl back in the day… Don’t think I ever listened to this one all the way through before – usually a side here, or the other side there – so was looking forward to this… What becomes immediately clear on “Regatta de Blanc” – is that the song-writing and musicianship is DEFINITELY evolving from the work on their debut album “Outlandos d’Amour”…. Where the former was much more basic and punk influenced, “Regatta” was much more intricate, considerably more polished, and had way more of a reggae feel to it – which would become a hallmark of their music… In the late 70’s, I kinda of thought of The Clash & The Police as the next iteration of British punk – bands with much more complex songs, which were way more accessible, and performed by talented musicians – all of that being the opposite of original punk in my book… Both eventually became much more radio-friendly – though The Clash would keep their political roots – and BOTH were absolute originals… So many outstanding tracks on the album – and even the lesser quality efforts, were still good… Favs included – “Message On A Bottle” – 7-stars out of 7… “Walking On The Moon” – 6-stars out of 7… “The Bed’s Too Big Without You” – 5-stars out of 7… “On Any Other Day” – 4-stars out of 7… Excellent diversity throughout the album, and the musicianship & audio mix were both exceptional… Would probably give this a 4.25 if I could – as their next 2 albums “Zenyatta Mondatta” & “Ghost In The Machine” would absolutely blow-up… “Ghost” will definitely be a 5 in my book, and we’ll have to see how “Zenyatta” stacks up when it comes up on the 1,001…