Guitar Jam: Whammy Bar: Andy Summers Doesn't Suck

September 05, 2006

Whammy Bar: Andy Summers Doesn't Suck

By Larry Dobrow
Flipping around the tube the other night, I stumbled upon Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out. The flick, which headed straight to cable after a stealth debut at Sundance in January, compiles super-8 home movies shot by drummer Stewart Copeland during the band’s rise to global rock/pop/new wave/ska/arty-black-and-white-music-video super-dominance.

Frankly, it sucks – so badly, in fact, that even the hardest-core Police fan would be advised to devote its 70-odd minutes of run time to worthier pursuits, like discussing the day’s events with a loved one or regrouting the tiles in the tub. It does, however, reveal quite a bit about inter-band dynamics.

Before watching the flick, I’d bought into the widely held perception that Andy Summers didn’t have a whole lot to do with the success of the Police. The argument goes something like this: Sting wrote the hooks and Copeland provided the rhythmic bombast, while Summers merely showed up with a chorus pedal and filled in the gaps.

The footage, however, suggests otherwise. In the studio and on stage, Summers comes across as a vital cog in the creative process, subtly refining many a melody or phrasing while at the same time restraining his mates from overindulging their world-music jones. And just when you think he’s content to sit in the corner and fiddle with his hope chest of fuzz boxes and delay doohickeys, Summers dons the guitar-god cape and steamrolls everything in his path. Witness the jagged, metallic solo that explodes out of nowhere into the otherwise chimey “Driven to Tears,” or the frenetic guitar assault that is “Synchronicity II.”

Does this officially vault Andy Summers into underrated-guitar-player territory? I think it does! Tina, prepare the paperwork.

Truth is, I’ve always loved the way the guy riffed in and around Copeland’s hyperkinetic drumming and Sting’s melodic bass lines. Summers never sounds particularly inventive or artful, but he always – always – serves the song well. His crashing chords during the chorus of “Truth Hits Everybody” offer a crunchy counterpart to Sting’s pitched chirp, just as his staccato chord flourishes during “The Bed’s Too Big Without You” elevate the song from reggae impostor to punkish hybrid.

One could make an argument that the Police’s biggest hits wouldn’t have become the radio staples they are without Summers’ subtle contributions. His plaintive, metronomic arpeggios during “Every Breath You Take” cloak the stalker-ish undercurrent of the song’s lyrics. On “Roxanne,” his driving, trebly chordwork frees Sting to craft one of album rock’s more memorable bass lines. Without Summers’ stutter-y lead riff, “Message in a Bottle” is merely a passable melody with a Gilligan’s Island lyric motif.

Then there’s the profile Summers cuts in the aforementioned Everybody Stares. As opposed to Sting – insufferable in every setting, probably even when handing out medical supplies to underprivileged mute orphaned amputees – Summers comes across as a pleasant guy to have around. Seriously. He occasionally wears funny hats.

Alas, we’re all about the geee-tahr here at Whammy Bar. We can ignore Summers’ few Police-era attempts at songwriting – especially “Mother,” which wouldn’t sound out of place as musical backdrop for a Yoko Ono exhibit. We can dismiss his post-Police outings, even his atonal guitar noodlings with Robert Fripp, as well-earned indulgences. What we can’t do is forget that the Police were one of the best bands in the universe for a five-year stretch, however much Sting has inadvertently chipped away at the band’s legacy since then, and that Andy Summers was a major reason for this.