Eberhard Schoener – Video Magic

Does Sting play on this? Why is he pictured on the back cover?

Warning: there are other Schoener titles with the Video-Magic title but are in reality music that compiled his two 1978 albums Flashback and the real Video-Magic. I guess after the Police made it big, the record company decided to do this to emphasize the Police connection (all three members, Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland are on Flashback, and on the real Video-Magic, Evert Fraterman replaced Copeland, and also Olaf Kuebler on sax, neither Police members, naturally). To get the true Video Magic, you have to look for the Harvest label, and that it's a German pressing.

I actually found a copy at a Eugene, Oregon record store for dirt cheap. Since I was already aware of the Police involvement, and the fact Eberhard Schoener used Mellotron, I wanted to see what it was like to hear Sting's voice backed by a Mellotron. Well, for Police fans, you will find it strange to see these guys venturing into prog rock. "Octagon" is firmly in Pink Floyd territory, with Andy Summers playing more like David Gilmour, and Sting just sticking to bass here. "Speech Behind Speech" is the first vocal track. You can't mistake Sting's voice, that's for sure, but you get faced with just a ton of Mellotron. It sounds completely nothing like the Police. "Natural High" is more rock and upbeat, again the Mellotron makes its presence, it's a great prog piece, nothing like you expect out of Sting. "San Francisco Waitress" is a jazzy piece that sounds a little like a precursor of Sting's own Dream of the Blue Turtles (although it's Olaf Kuebler and not Branford Marsalis on sax). The rest are instrumental, ranging from minimalism to electronic. Throughout the album you can tell this is Eberhard Schoener's show, as this music is very little like what the Police were up to. It's an interesting listen, but I'm not entirely certain this is some lost prog, electronic, or Police gem, but I do find some material I find enjoyable here.