Thanks to Sting and The Police fan Shawn Farrell for the following book review.

I recently came upon an uncorrected proof of Stewart Copeland’s new book: Strange Things Happen – A Life With The Police, Polo & Pygmies, due for publication on October 6, 2009. While I’d originally planned to wait until I finished reading another book I’d been plodding through, once I picked this up, I could not put it down. Like Sting’s & Andy’s memoirs before it, this is the kind of book there should be more of: honest, upfront looks back at what makes these men & their music so compelling for so many, directly from the source. This is not like one of the no doubt dozens of books that will soon spring up about Michael Jackson, written by leeches, & hangers on, but Stewart’s life in his own words.

Rather than tell his story from birth to the present, which, I admit, might be an approach preferred by some, Copeland’s book is a collection of glances back at his storied career in music. Opening with a letter to a childhood friend from Lebanon, he quickly fast forwards through the musical paths taken in his early years, to topics as diverse as his fondness for polo, travels to the Congo & collaborations with sundry musicians. Oh, & there’s also a bit about The Police….

I was only around 9 years old when The Police reached their artistic & commercial zenith & unfortunately, for me, there didn’t seem to be enough on that part of his life, but I imagine that’s only because it’s been covered previously. While it’s a little frustrating that Copeland devotes more time to his fondness for polo than his time with one of the biggest bands in the world, it’s understandable – he’s instead sharing things about himself that many of us may not have known. Things you can’t read about in back issues of Rolling Stone.

The Police are hardly ignored, however, & while their early years are somewhat glossed over, the circumstances that led to their recent reunion tour are covered in great detail.

You’ll all have the chance to pick up this book for yourself in the months ahead & while I doubt I’d need to convince anyone, I suggest you do so. I’ll close with a brief excerpt from the book that might especially interest you lot:

“…Sting is another story. We have a lot of conflict onstage. We both understand each other’s issues perfectly, but struggle to accommodate them, although it’s finally getting easier to put our good intentions into practice. Sting has a concept in his mind of the ideal form that music should take. It’s our job to re-create that ideal in the physical world, on that stage. I have very little in my mind, ideal or otherwise. I don’t count bars or look at a map. The patterns and arrangements are learned at a very deep level, where my conscious mind rarely goes. So when Sting, as an able arranger and bandleader, imagines a rhythm and asks me to play it, he never quite gets what he asked for. Anything that isn’t what he wants is chaos to him. Working with me (on drums) requires an unreasonable tolerance for chaos…”

I cannot wait to read this book myself! It is available for preorder from Amazon at the following link, and I’m heading there now to preorder my own copy!

http://www.amazon.com/Strange-Things-Happen-Police-Pygmies/dp/0061791490/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247844728&sr=1-1