You’re Under Arrest was Davis’ glossiest album of the ’80s, and his most successful; it spawned multiple radio hits. No surprise, since it contained covers of three pop tunes — Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time,” Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature,” and D-Train’s “Something’s On Your Mind.” The first two became live staples, and the studio versions can still be heard on smooth jazz radio to this day. (Rumor has it, there was to be an entire album of contemporary pop and R&B songs, but that never panned out, and the lost tracks have never emerged.) As his final release for Columbia before signing with Warner Bros., it was a hell of a way to go out.

The rest of the pieces on You’re Under Arrest have a slightly harder edge than the singles. The opening track is hilarious, as much for Davis’ posturing as for the outrage it sparked in conservative jazz critics; it’s a skit which Davis can be heard making loud sniffing noises and then engaging in caustic dialogue with a cop who’s pulled him over. Ultimately, he’s heard arguing with multiple cops in multiple languages — one of them a French-speaking Sting. Behind him, the band plays a high-speed funk vamp. Other cuts, like “Ms. Morrisine” and “Katia,” feature loud electric guitar (played by John McLaughlin, his first session with Davis since 1972). The album ends with a medley, “Jean Pierre/You’re Under Arrest/Then There Were None,” the latter part of which features samples intended to dramatize the end of the world through nuclear war. Between the police oppression of the album’s intro to the global destruction of its conclusion, it’s clear he was attempting to make a serious statement, while leavening it with tender ballads. It’s this mix of gloss and grit that makes the album as good as it is.