Who'd believe it?

May 10 2005

By The Newcastle Evening Chronicle

A guitar used by rocker Pete Townsend in concerts on Tyneside has sold for £24,000.

The 1972 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe was used by The Who guitarist at gigs in November 1973.

The instrument was just one of a number of items with North East connections to go under the hammer at a Christie's auction, in London.

A poster advertising a return visit of Newcastle group the Animals to the Galaxy Club in Basingstoke in 1965 went for £264.

Guitars owned and signed by Mark Knopfler fetched £384 and £420.

And a blue cotton shirt worn by Sting on The Police's Synchronicity tour in 1980 sold for £180.

Wow- whoever wrote up that article isnt a Police fan. They didnt even know that the Synchronicity tour was in 1983.

Hey LadyAlex, I read over that and didn't even notice! :shock: Yeah, 1980 was Zenyatta Mondatta. And hey if I'm wrong, I wasan't around then, so Nah. ; )

What does Zenyatta Mondatta stand for anyways? I've heard multiple differen't things, one of which was that it means nothing, just sounds cool (my guess).

I dont think it actually means anything lol. Great album none-the-less :)

Zenyatta Mondatta is sanskrit for Top Of The World

That's quite a CLIMB !!

The Synchronicity tour was in 1983...and I certainly don't remember a blue cotton shirt....he wore a long white shirt, a painted jacket and/or the black shirt with the paint logos...

Zenyatta Mondatta was originally going to be called Trimondo Blondomina, meaning "three blond guys (dominating the world)," but the band did not want another title referring to "blond" so it was shot down. They reached a consensus with Zenyatta Mondatta. Zenyatta Mondatta is supposedly a composite of several things. "Zen" comes from the eastern religion. "Yatta" is rumored to have ties to Kenyatta (the leader of the Mau Mau's of Congo-Zaire-Kenya). "Mond" comes from "Monde" - the French word for world. The whole thing was then articulated in such a way to sound like "Reggatta." Another possibility is that the title came from "Zenith" and "Monde," which means "Top of the World." A third theory: In Japanese, Zenyatta Mondatta has a somewhat rude meaning: "gave money, gave a massage."

I remember seeing an MTV show where Sting held up each LP album cover and said that the first three album's were titled by Miles who told Sting, Andy and Stewart that they were gibberish and didnt mean anything....but then maybe he was pissing about!

Considering the size of all their ego's (and the LP cover).. top of the world makes a lot of sense, unless Miles enjoyed rock climbing in Yosemite Valley!! :o

So, pardon my ignorance, what does Reggatta de Blanc mean? - we regret the blondes? lol! And.. erm.. Outlandos d'Amour? 'something' of love?

Ten Summoner's Tales is my favourite album name, especially since it has 12 tracks (13 on some)!! lol!

I think "Reggata de Blanc" might allude to White Reggae !

Ooooooohh! Makes sense!! :)

Yeah, I heard that somewhere too. But it was quickly denied by french speaking Sting fans. I myself speak a little french, and have never heard that regatta means reggae. A translation using one of the internet's major engines comes to the same conclusion - regatta is NOT reggae.

Then again, I could be wrong. Wouldn't be a first.

They probably just made up their own language!! A bit like Masoko Tango, lol!

Outlandos D'Amour is Outlaws of Love

Again, not so sure. d'Amour is "of love", but I don't think 'outlandos' is a French word. Perhaps Spanish?

All Music Guide:

While their subsequent chart-topping albums would contain far more ambitious songwriting and musicianship, the Police's 1978 debut, Outlandos d'Amour (translation: Outlaws of Love) is by far their most direct and straightforward release. Although Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland were all superb instrumentalists with jazz backgrounds, it was much easier to get a record contract in late-'70s England if you were a punk/new wave artist, so the band decided to mask their instrumental prowess with a set of strong, adrenaline-charged rock, albeit with a reggae tinge. Some of it may have been simplistic ("Be My Girl-Sally," "Born in the '50s"), but Sting was already an ace songwriter, as evidenced by all-time classics like the good-girl-gone-bad tale of "Roxanne," and a pair of brokenhearted reggae-rock ditties, "Can't Stand Losing You" and "So Lonely." But like all other Police albums, the lesser-known album cuts are often highlights themselves -- the frenzied rockers "Next to You," "Peanuts," and "Truth Hits Everybody," as well as more exotic fare like the groovy album closer "Masoko Tanga" and the lonesome "Hole in My Life." Outlandos d'Amour is unquestionably one of the finest debuts to come out of the '70s punk/new wave movement.



Enough said.