PEROXIDE POLICEMAN: ANDY SUMMERS
One moment his shimmering guitar will be all that is holding the band together.
If you’re like me, when and if you think about the Police, the first member that comes to mind is Sting, the matinee idol who writes most of the band’s material, comes up with some very neat bass lines, and sings with THAT voice. Then if you’re like me, the next Policeman you’d think about would be drummer Stewart Copeland, who wrote most of the band’s worst songs and still had enough left over to put out under the assumed name of Klark Kent. (I’d use an assumed name too if they were my songs!) And after that, if you’re like me, you’d think about lunch.
Which, of course, is quite unfair to the third peroxide muppet of the trio: Andy Summers, whose effects-laden guitar-playing gives the Police much of their distinctive sound. One moment his shimmering guitar will be all that is holding the band together—weaving in, out, and around the voice and rhythm section and pulling it all together like a drawstring. The next moment everything else will gel and it’ll be Andy fragmenting the chord structure with jazzy progressions and echoplexed lead lines. The fact that until recently the band was just three pieces meant that Summers’ guitar was always right out in front, making it obvious that without Summers it just wouldn’t be the Police.
