I don’t know why I hadn’t done this before, but the other day I bought a couple of solo albums by Stewart Copeland, drummer and founder of The Police (and incidentally my favourite member).

My first observation is that if you compare and contrast Copeland’s solo output with Sting’s, it’s obvious whose sound dominated The Police on their first three albums. Even the Sting-penned tracks on Reggatta de Blanc, for example, sound like Copeland handled the arrangements.

My second observation is that Copeland’s sensibilities are very close to Peter Gabriel’s, and that these two need to work together more often. Copeland’s album The Rhythmatist is just a work of genius.

My third observation is that it may not necessarily be a bad thing if The Police don’t record a new album, unless Copeland and Andy Summers are allowed the freedom they deserve — they’re both far too talented to be relegated to session musicians for Sting.

If a new Police album sounds like a Sting solo album, it’ll be the biggest disappointment since Sacred Love.