Reggatta De Blanc has always been my favorite Police album. The band was doing a lot of club gigging and a lot of the on the album has a wonderful ragged edge to it. At the time Reggatta was released, I saw the Police in Boston's most notorious punk rock cellar the Rat and they blew me away. Their sound wasn't exactly punk but it wasn't "new wave" either... it was more like reggae music on steriods. A lot of punk oriented bands were experimenting with reggae and dub at the time including Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello, Public Image and the Members.
I disagree with you on the instrumental song Reggatta de Blanc. Stewart's drumming is awesome on that song especially the opening which he plays entirely on a drum rim. It's reggae raveup and most of the chanting is the word "Jah." This song is one of the earliest experiments in dub effects by a rock group. It was the most exciting song I heard them play live and it was their finale number and they jammed on it for about 15 or 20 minutes.
All three members of the band were and still are great musicians. Stewart Copeland is a drummer's drummer and you can hear reggae one drop influences, African tribal drumming and jazz influences in his style. He's definitely my favorite rock n' roll drummer.
There are three songs on Regatta that I've played over and over for the last 30 years and never gotten tired of: Message in a Bottle, Walking on the Moon and Bring on the Night. The Police never sounded as raw and energentic after Regatta. Their next album Zenyatta Mondatta was the album that broke the Police in the United States but I found it to be a major disappointment and MOR pop sellout. Nothing on Zenyatta is up to par with the material on Regatta.
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