‘Under the Volcano’: The paradise that broke up The Police and comforted Paul McCartney
the haunting undersea images of the R.M.S. Titanic, the opening shot suggests that this faded house, like the ill-fated British liner, once was home to brilliant parties, dazzling people and epic moments. And so it was.
The new documentary “Under the Volcano” (in theaters and streaming on Apple TV, Vudu, Google Play) brings back heady ’80s days. It was a time when recording budgets were limitless and everyone who was anyone – the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, The Police, Marvin Gaye, Dire Straits, Duran Duran, Elton John, Earth Wind Fire, Jimmy Buffett – flew or sailed to AIR Studios Montserrat.
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More private home than industrial studio, the idyllic ocean-view estate, built by Beatles producer Sir George Martin as a way to fire the imaginations of musicians, held much magic until a one-two punch – Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and the Soufrière Hills volcano eruption in 1995 – silenced it all.
In “Under the Volcano,” artists struggle to define their AIR experiences. Dire Straits’ Mark Knopfler said “it was like going into a dream.” Elton John’s drummer Nigel Olsson said thinking of AIR “makes me tear up, you can never go back and get the same energy.” But Martin says it best with philosophical simplicity: “Everything has a period. You bring something out of nothing, and it always goes back to nothing.”
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The result of that temporary detente was a live wire of an album, featuring the two-part title track, “Every Breath You Take,” “King of Pain” and “Wrapped Around Your Finger.”
In the case of The Police, AIR Studios Montserrat proved a classic-forging crucible. But for many other groups, the island vibes were far happier. Among them:
Next round is on Mr. Margaritaville
Island life devotee Buffett embraced his time at AIR Studios, calling out the island by name in “Fins” and eerily predicting the eruption in “Volcano” (“I don’t know where I’m a gonna go/When the volcano blows”), from his 1979 album of the same name.
But he did have an issue with some of the “colonial aspects” of the British territory. Specifically, he didn’t like how the lack of a running tab slowed down service at a local watering hole. “The Coral Reefer Band was not happy,” recalls the “Margaritaville” man. “So I said, ‘I’ll buy the whole bar!’ ”
Stevie Wonder ad-libs songs with locals
Within days of Lennon’s 1980 murder, McCartney arrived in Montserrat with a huge security entourage. But the Beatle soon realized that they were unnecessary in this remote spot, where locals were more impressed with cricket stars than pop stars.
A highlight of Macca’s stay was convincing Wonder to join him to record “Ebony and Ivory,” his hopeful song about race relations. Wonder warmed to the task, and later descended on a local haunt where he led a singalong with locals using ad-libbed lyrics that included, “Paul McCartney is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.”
Sting thought this collab wouldn’t sing
Knopfler and Dire Straits arrived in 1984, not long after The Police had wrapped up, though Sting stuck around to perfect his windsurfing skills.
Knopfler had composed a cheeky tune about the luxurious rock star life from the perspective of appliance delivery men, “Money for Nothing.” He had also recently seen The Police in a MTV promo and had an idea when someone said the singer was on the island. Sting’s falsetto “I want my MTV” line defines that single. But he confided to his now wife, Trudie Styler, that he didn’t think much of the song. It hit No. 1.
Elton John inspired by his baked entourage
After a string of disappointing albums, John decamped for Montserrat to record “Too Low for Zero.” It proved his best-selling disc of the decade.
“I’m Still Standing” has an amusing origin. When his band came down with the flu and begged off work, John grew incensed and screamed that no one was around. But one entourage member piped up from a marijuana-induced haze: “No, I’m still standing!”
But that song and others almost never were heard. John at one point grew frustrated, and insisted on being given the master tapes – which he promptly threw in the pool. Fortunately, knowing his ways, an engineer had handed him blank tapes.
AIR studios: Ashes to ashes, dust to dust
Two years after the volcano’s violent awakening, Martin put together a concert featuring many of the stars who recorded at his home studio to raise money for Montserratians.
“I fell in love right away with the place,” Martin told USA TODAY at the time. “In retrospect, to build there was madness. But in my life, I like climbing mountains, doing things people say can’t be done.”