530 The Police - Montserrat 81

First  viewed :  19  December  1981

Another  little piece  of  the  modern  world  falls  into  place  here.

This  one-off  documentary  called  in  at  AIR  Studios  in  Montserrat  while  The  Police, probably  the  biggest  band  in  the  world  at  the  time,  were  recording  their  fourth  album  Ghost  In  The  Machine. I  would  imagine  that  neither  band  nor  label  were  particularly  chuffed  at  the  scheduling, nearly  three  months  after  the  album's  release  and  with  all  its  singles  already  out.

While  The  Police  were  entering  the  autumn  stage  of  their  career  as  a  band,  the  documentary  marks  the  beginning  of  a  TV   career  that's  still  going  strong  today. I'm  presuming  A  &  M  had  editorial  control  over  the  programme  because  the  presenter  and  interviewer  of  the  three  musicians  was  the  ex- keyboard  player  from  labelmates  Squeeze.  Jools  Holland  had  left  the  new  wavers  at  the  start  of  the  new  year  to make  boogie-woogie  records  with  his  own  band   The  Millionaires. He  had  no  TV  presenting  experience  but  had  acted  as  the  on-stage  MC  at  Squeeze  concerts. As  was  clear  from  the  film   he  was  not  particularly  enamoured  of   The  Police's  music  but  I  guess  a  paid  trip  to  the  Caribbean  when  you're  not  selling  any  records   is  hard  to  turn  down.

Jools  was  respectful  during  the  interviews  as  the  trio, all  articulate  men, described  the  creative  process  from  their  angle,  giving  real  insight  into  how  a  band  sets  about  making  an  album. The  Police  were  notorious   for  internal  tensions  but  there's  little  sign  of  that  in  the  film  as  all   three  appeared   to  be  relaxed   and   good  humoured.  Inevitably  Jools  got  to  jam  with  the  boys  on  the  studio  piano  but  he  didn't  get  on  the  album.

Ghost  In  The  Machine   is  probably  the  best , most  consistent  of  their  always  patchy  albums. There  was  only  one  more  to  come. Jools  would  have  a  regular  TV  gig  within  a  year  of  this  being  broadcast.