Zenyattà Mondatta by The Police

Zenyatta Mondatta, the Police's third album, came out on A&M in October 1980, and it's the sound of a trio that no longer needed to prove it had come up through punk. Sting on bass and lead vocals, Andy Summers on guitar and Stewart Copeland on drums co-produced it with Nigel Gray, and they pushed their reggae-rock lope into sparer, stranger shapes: Copeland's hi-hat skittering like rain on a tin roof, Summers smearing chords into echo, and Sting's bass leaving acres of room for everything else to breathe.

"Don't Stand So Close to Me" and "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" were the hits. The first creeps along nervously before the chorus bursts open; the second is a nursery-rhyme singalong with a sly shrug underneath. "Driven to Tears" and "Canary in a Coalmine" keep the rest of the record jittery and wiry, new wave with a Caribbean pulse.

It went to number one on the UK Albums Chart and to number five on the Billboard 200, and that American showing made it the breakthrough across the Atlantic. It also earned them a pair of Grammys, one for the group vocal performance on "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and the rock instrumental award for "Behind My Camel". Wedged between Reggatta de Blanc and Ghost in the Machine, it's the hinge where the Police turned from punk-scene upstarts into a band the whole world was listening to.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.