I have always been a big fan of the band The Police. From the band's first album Outlandos d'Amour, released in 1978, which includes such songs as "Roxanne", "Can't Stand Losing You" and "So Lonely", I was hooked. The first time I saw them live was on the "Ghost In The Machine" tour which was just amazing.
As with any band, I enjoy the origins of how they began. In 1997, this CD was released. It gave us a rare look at some music that later would play a big part of MTV and music history. Strontium 90 is a band that included Sting, Andy Summers, Stewart Copeland and Mike Hoowlett. This is Mike Hoowlett's explanation of the band and the contents of the CD, as described on the back of the CD:
I first saw Sting play live in a room above a pub in Newcastle on tyne, England, in the summer of '76. The band was Last Exist, sounding a bit like Weather Report with vocals. Sting soon moved to london following his best chance instinct. I had just quit my group Gong and was working on material for my own project. I asked Sting to sing on the demos I was recording. Meanwhile I'd bumped into Andy Summers at a party in January '77. He'd been out of the scene for a couple of years studying classical guitar. When I asked him to play on my demo, he was glad to do something new.
I needed a drummer. Sting had met Stewart Copeland, he'd bring him along. So that's how it happened. We all met in a studio called Virtual Earth around February 1977. this was the first time Sting, Andy and Stewart played together. That session makes up the studio part of this record.
The first gig was in huge circus tent in Paris in front of 6,000 crazy French hippies on May 28, 1977. It was a reunion of my old group Gong - an all day event with each band member bringing his own current project. Mine was Strontium 90, and this was the first time we had played live. That was the first time Sting, Andy and Stewart stood on a stage and played together. The gig was recorded but only the monitor mix survives which makes up the live part of this record.
Strontium 90 was just a step on the path that ended in The Police. For the observer of patterns, here is a footnote in the history of popular music. For the lover of moments of magic, here are a few gems!
Andy Summers - Guitar
Stewart Copeland - Drums
Sting - Lead Vocals - Guitar (tracks 2, 6) - Bass (tracks 1, 6, 8)
Mike Howlett - Bass (solos on tracks 5, 7, 8)
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