Customer Reviews

Outlandos D'Amour (Sl)

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As I listened to "Outlandos" on my iPod last night, after I dutifully purchased all of the newly remastered editions on CD, I felt the need to wax rhapsodic.
Listening to these impossibly crisp and detailed recordings, I remembered, as if it was yesterday, buying the LP. After "Ghost In The Machine", I had become a monstrous Police fan. I lived and breathed the Police. I went back and bought their first three records, and proceeded to memorize them.
This will not be an unbiased review.
I made a copy of the LP, on a cassette tape, Years later, when CDs came out, I repurchased the Police catalog, as I have with each remastering. The box set goes without saying. VHS tapes, laserdiscs, and now DVD's. I have listened to them in every conceivable media.
As the million-miles-an-hour "Next To You" opened the album, I was taken back to my high school and early college days. These guys were supposed to be punk, or punk-ish, but like The Clash, they threw more sounds...more textures into the mix. Sting occasionally sings with a tonsil-thrashing punk howl, but the airy voice always reverts to a classic melody some time before the final chorus. Andy Summers' guitars sounded like no one else at the time, and Stewart Copeland's polyphonic drumming put him head-and-shoulders above the DIY crowd.
Calming myself down just a bit, I must admit this is NOT a perfect record. "Masoko Tanga" sounds like three guys messing around in a studio with a tape running. The "Sally" interlude is funny the first few times, then gets kinda tedious. "Hole In My Life" is too long.
Who cares? "Next To You", "So Lonely" and the stone-cold-classic the first-time-you-heard-it "Roxanne" open the album in a way few debuts ever have. An instantly recognizable, commercial yet edgy, punk yet not punk, individual and unique, defiant statement proclaiming their arrival.
"Peanuts" ends side one in a manic flurry.
I could go on, about comparing the near-delicate guitar sounds in "So Lonely" to the beefy thrash in parts of "Born In The 50s", about the reggae-ification of beats that twisted conventional tunes into extraordinary ones, the nimble bass...
And this was just the beginning. The first of only five albums. The Police lit up the pop world for half a decade and then split. The three of them apart were never as potent as the three of them together, but seeing them together at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony offered us a delicious, delirious reminder of their talent.

Born out of the tail end of the British punk scene, this debut album by the Police is a severely underrated offering. Sting gives us a hint of his great lyric-writing abilities so evident on future albums on tracks like "Roxanne" and "Born in the 50's". It becomes very clear as one listens to the tracks here that this is not your usual run-of-the-mill punk band with lame, brain-dead lyrics and 3-chord 4/4 time music but the great musicianship of Summers, Copeland and Sumner and the complex stylings and arrangements of the compositions come to the fore on "Hole In My Life" and "Can't Stand Losing You" This digipak version is a real treat too as the sound quality is very well remastered and sounds excellent. Recommended.

I became a Police fan upon many nights cruising with pals cranking their greatest hits album. Upon hearing all those songs, I decided that this was a band that I needed to look more into. So, I quickly bought all their albums, as I'd already done with Pink Floyd. Seeing as how The Police have around 1/3 the number of albums that Pink Floyd have released, this was much easier on the wallet.

OUTLANDOS d'AMOUR is an excellent album, and I think it just might be The Police's finest. There's really not one bad song on it. "Next to You" is a great rocker. I think "Born in the 50's" might be my favorite one on the album. It should've been released as a single, along with "Roxanne" and "Can't Stand Losing You." "Roxanne," by the way, is one of the greatest rock songs ever, even with its vehement overexposure. Just avoid the MOULIN ROUGE version.

Buy this album, quick-like.

I was hesitant about buying another version of anything by the Police, because I had the original CDs, then bought the boxed set and was pleased with that remaster, but WOW! The sonic quality alone is above and beyond "Message In A Box." Not to mention they went back to the absolute original tapes and recitfied the proper keys for some songs, namely "Roxanne," which used to start off in F or Fsharp minor (somewhere in the cracks) and edged its way up to the original key of Gminor. "Can't Stand Losing You" is the only standout as far as being too "trebly"--it needs a new mix. Not my favorite album (it's a toss up between "Regatta de Blanc" and "Ghost in the Machine"), but still retains the spirit and energy that they delivered in their live shows. It's nice to know that The Police have been given their proper recognition: definitive CD catalog and their slot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

This was the sound of a brash young band born from a musical scene that they had a very marginal tie to. Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland had already done time in other groups (Copeland was a prog-rocker with Curved Air!) and Sting came from an academic background. The story goes that they cut their hair spiky and dyed themselves blond to tape a TV commercial for gum...all while working on "Roxanne." So when that punky slice of pop began to chart, the image of The Police as punks was almost accidental.

Never-the-less, "Outlandos D'Amour" was aggressive in a way that future Police albums were not. "Next To You," "So Lonely" and "Can't Stand Losing You" were big on attitude, which fans of the burgeoning punk scene fed right into. "Truth Hits Everybody" and "Next To You" had the kicking tempos that made you just want to jump. The band's three piece set-up with a minimum of additives (maybe a keyboard in "Hole In My Life" and some multi-tracked backing vocals) kept things crisp and clean. The remastering brings that into bright relief on this re-issue, and reminds us just how startlingly new this all sounded back in 1978.

However, like most new bands, all the kinks were not worked through. The silly "Sally/Be My Girl" grew tired after a few listens back then and hasn't added any charm with age. "Masoko Tango" just sounds like a jam that was tacked on to the record to increase the running time. But you do hear the elements that eventually grew into brilliance...the reggae touches that made "So Lonely" and "Roxanne" so infectious, Summers' mad guitar in "Peanuts" and Sting's ace songwriting skills. The band still had a sense of humor about themsleves at this moment - just listen to the flub that remained at the beginning of "Roxanne." In fact, delete "Sally" and you could make a strong case for "Outlandos D'Amour" as a five star album (much the same way that "Mother" is a blight on the otherwise brilliant "Synchronicity"). A debut that brimmed over with the excitement of things to come, The Police also never rocked this hard again.

I'll admit that I didn't really like this album when I first got it. I already owned and loved "Zenyatta Mondatta" along with "Synchronicity", so it was a little hard to make the jump to "Outlandos". The reason for this was because the songs are generally harder to get into as most of them aren't as instantly catchy as "Every Breath You Take" or "Don't Stand So Close to Me" (though "Roxanne" and "Can't Stand Losing You" obviously are). Sting's voice is the weakest on this particular album, but it's still great and very likable. The lyrics are, as usual, well-written, catchy and very memorable. The production is decent here, but the CD could use a good remastering. As for the songs, they're mostly growers - I hated the first 4 songs on here, but after a while I finally got into them (they're more interesting than fun, arguably). Overall, if you're looking for a great Police album or one that will stand the test of time then "Outlandos d'Amour" will greatly satisfy you. Absolutely recommended!

Highlights include:

"Roxanne"

"Hole In My Life"

"Peanuts"

"Can't Stand Losing You"

"Be My Girl -- Sally"

the rest is great, too

This is a critical album for any rock/pop music fan for several reasons. Firstly, It introduces us to The Police and Sting. Secondly, the work on this disc successfully fuses rock and pop with reggae, ska and punk influences to make an album that stands the test of time. The Police were able to pull off this "fusion" with a creativity and energy that is still palatable as I listen to this album years after its release.

All the songs are well crafted and clever. And (despite massive overplay) who can forget the way their ears perked up when they first heard "Roxanne". Every song on this album is that good. Buy this; listen to a few times. You'll sing along with every song.

The Police was one of my favorite bands when I was in junior high about eighteen years ago. At the time, much of my listening was devoted to the last two albums, Ghost in the Machine and Synchronicity. It wasn't until later that I began to appreciate the first three albums including this one, their first. Practically every label seems to have been applied to Outlandos d' Amour including neo-punk, new wave, rock and roll, and reggae (only partly, of course). Much of the reggae sound comes from the final song, "Masoko Tanga". Others are more on the rock side such as "Next to You", and "Truth Hits Everybody". Also in the mix is one of the more stranger songs you're likely to hear, "Be My Girl--Sally". It's strange in its arrangement and subject matter. If you haven't heard it, I won't spoil it by revealing any more. Moreover, this was the launching pad for a great band, one that deicded to burn out, rather than fade away. Enjoy.

Must have been a pre-requisite of the day, your first l.p. must be your best (see also The Cars). Well I know that in 1978, I was 18 years old and aching for something new and different in rock. With the Police, I got it. Fresh approch to music, reggae influcenced rock, what brilliant songs. Even the throways like "Be My Girl-Sally" and instrumentals seemed to work. A must have for anyone who wants to know what innovative rock sounds like.

The rookie Police album, 'Outlandos d'Amour,' is superior to most others of their kind. There are a couple of diamonds here, namely the classic rock single "Roxanne" and a foot- tapper called "I Can't Stand Losing You." "Next to You," "So Lonely," and "Peanuts" are also solid efforts. This record has more misses than any other by the Police, however. Their sound is not developed yet, and it does have a rougher edge than their later production. Many claim the early Police to be punk wannabe's. While that can be certainly claimed on their very first recorded tunes that were never released, such as on "Fallout" and "Nothing Achieving," the Police never had a direct punk sound. Instead the first album sounds more like a run-of-the-mill rock album than any other they released. Plain and simple, songs like "Born in the 50's" and "Truth Hits Everybody" are boring. But my goal isn't to bury this record in the ground. 'Outlandos d'Amour' is a solid outing. It has high points. But I would recommend any other Police album above this one, simply because they all have better musicianship and song writing. If you purchase this record, make sure to order it on CD format, so you can skip the growing pains revealed here.