Outlandos d'Amour

Untitled

Outlandos d'Amour is the debut album by The Police, released in 1978.

Overview

The LP initially flopped, due to low exposure and an unfavourable reaction from the BBC to its first two singles, "Can't Stand Losing You" and "Roxanne" (about suicide and prostitution, respectively). As Sting describes:

...We had [a] publicity campaign with posters about how the BBC banned 'Roxanne'. The reason they had a problem with 'Can't Stand Losing You' was because the photo on the cover of the single had Stewart standing on a block of ice with a noose around his neck, waiting for the ice to melt.

The band's low-budget tour of America in support of the album made people across the country aware of the band, and especially "Roxanne". The song received more and more airplay from radio DJs in both the United States and Great Britain in April 1979. When A&M re-released "Roxanne", it went to #12 on the UK charts, and "Can't Stand Losing You" followed, eventually hitting #2. The album itself peaked at #6.

The album starts off with "Next To You", a punk number with a slide guitar solo in the middle. "So Lonely", a song about loneliness with a reggae beat follows. "Roxanne", about a prostitute, was written by Sting after visiting a red-light district in Paris and is one of the Police's best-known songs. It is followed by "Hole in My Life", another reggae-tinged song about loneliness, and "Peanuts", a Sting-Stewart Copeland collaboration with a strong punk influence. "Can't Stand Losing You" and "Truth Hits Everybody", a pair of ominous songs detailing love gone wrong, begin Side Two of the original LP. "Born in the 50's", which is about the experiences of Sting and Stewart's generation (Andy Summers was born in 1942), and "Be My Girl—Sally", a combination of a half-finished song sung by Sting, and a short Andy Summers poem about a blowup doll (one of the rare songs with Andy on lead vocals). This leads into the album's semi-instrumental closer, "Masoko Tanga".

Police manager Miles Copeland III originally wanted to name the album Police Brutality. However, after hearing "Roxanne" and then envisioning a more romantic image for the band, he proposed Outlandos d'Amour instead. This title was derived from "Outlaws of Love", which was merged with the word "commandos" and then given an exotic-sounding French translation.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 434 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Punk band No Use for a Name covered the song "Truth Hits Everybody" (with modified lyrics) on their 1990 debut album, Incognito. The pop-punk band Motion City Soundtrack also covered the same song for a Police covers album.

"Truth Hits Everybody" was also released as downloadable content for the Rock Band series of rhythm games, the fourth song off this album available for it (aside from "Next to You", packaged in the first game—though it can be imported to Rock Band 2—and "Roxanne" and "Can't Stand Losing You", which were also made into downloadable content), and fifth overall from the Police in the series (as well as "Synchronicity II", from their 1983 final album Synchronicity).

Track listing

All songs written by Sting except as indicated.

Side one

1. "Next to You" – 2:50
2. "So Lonely" – 4:49
3. "Roxanne" – 3:12
4. "Hole in My Life" – 4:52
5. "Peanuts" (Sting, Stewart Copeland) – 3:58

Side two

1. "Can't Stand Losing You" – 2:58
2. "Truth Hits Everybody" – 2:53
3. "Born in the 50's" – 3:40
4. "Be My Girl - Sally" (Andy Summers, Sting) – 3:22
5. "Masoko Tanga" – 5:40

Three other songs were recorded as B-sides.

1. "Dead End Job" (Sting, Copeland, Summers; "Can't Stand Losing You" B-side)
2. "Visions of the Night" (Sting; "Walking on the Moon" B-side)
3. "No Time This Time" (Sting; originally a B-side to "So Lonely", later released on the following album Reggatta de Blanc)

Personnel

• Sting – bass guitar, lead vocals
• Andy Summers – guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals and piano on "Sally", vocals on "Dead End Job"
• Stewart Copeland – drums, backing vocals

• Joe Sinclair – piano on "Hole in My Life" and "Masoko Tanga"

Charts

Year	Chart	Position
1979	Billboard Pop Albums	23
1983	The Billboard 200	138

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1979	"Roxanne"	Billboard Pop Singles	32
1982	"Roxanne"	Billboard Mainstream Rock	28