Eberhard Schoener: Video Magic (1978)

Now let it be known that I am reviewing the original German print of Eberhard Schoener’s Video Magic on the Harvest label, rather than a compilation called Video Magic released in 1979 that consisted of material from both Video Magic and Flashback (1978) (often called Video Flashback, especially later on to avoid confusion).

Now this has got to be the most unusual thing on the face of the planet: to hear The Police do prog rock. On Schoener’s previous album, Flashback, he had all three members, Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland play on that album. I have to say I hadn’t heard that one. With Video Magic, Stewart Copeland sat this one out, with Evert Fraterman in his place. I have to let you know that Schoener had Andy Summers play on many of his albums even way before The Police ever existed.

The album opens with “Octagon”, which is an instrumental piece, dominated by Andy Summers guitar playing. Here, I get reminded so much more of Pink Floyd than anything The Police would ever do. Sting here is sticking to bass duty. “Speech Behind Speech” is a real trip: totally drenched with Mellotron, and Sting here is doing the singing. You know right away that Sting’s voice is perfect for the usual music you expect the Police to do, but in a prog setting, it sounds really peculiar. “Natural High”, again has Sting doing vocals, it’s about as close to The Police sound you’re gonna get here, but it’s still packed with Mellotron, and is actually an excellent song. All this Mellotron work came from Schoener himself. “Code Word Elvis” is largely an orchestral piece, no surprise, given that Eberhard Schoener had spent his time conducting orchestras. “Night Bound City” is a purely electronic piece that you know none of the dudes from The Police participated in, while “San Francisco Waitress” brings to mind Sting’s post-Police solo albums like Dream of the Blue Turtles, especially because of the jazzy feel and sax (although sax here is by Olaf Kübler, who used a tenor sax, unlike Branford Marsalis who tended to soprano sax). The last piece, “Koan” is an instrumental piece that tends to be rather minimalist.

Now this isn’t going to be the greatest thing you’ll ever hear. Police fans might find it a bit unsettling to see their heroes doing prog rock, and neither is it the most cohesive album out there (Schoener couldn’t decide whether to do prog rock, electronic, or orchestral music), but if you’re a proghead and you wonder what would happen if the Police were a prog rock band, give this album a try (you can also see that The Police would never be anywhere as popular as they were if they were a prog rock band, beside they came during the punk/new wave era and capitalized on that instead, which was to their benefit). But get this album if you can find it for cheap, which is what I did. Don’t overspend. File this under: curiosity.