Retro Spins: The Police - Outlandos d'Amour

 

People often forget that The Police didn't get their start in the 80's. In fact, their hit, Message In A Bottle, often played on 80's stations, was released in 1979.

The Police formed in 1977, consisting of lead singer and bassist, Gordon Matthew Thomas Summer, AKA Sting, guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland. They released their first album, Outlandos d'Amour, translated from French to love outlandos, but loosely translated for the album as Outlaws of Love. The album reached number six on the charts, and with the aid of their hits, Roxanne and Can't Stand Losing You, contributed greatly to their following four albums reaching number one.

Hit after hit was churned out by the band, and by 1983 they were at the height of their popularity with their 8X platinum (in the USA alone) album, Synchronicity. I imagine many that year asked where The Police could possibly go from there. Shockingly, they disbanded.

Upon completing their tour for the album in 1984, the group took a hiatus. This was mainly a result of lead singer, Sting, wanting to focus on a solo career, releasing his first album, The Dream Of The Blue Turtles. As he toured throughout 1985 and parts of 1986. Though the band intended on recording a new album, it was apparent to the remaining two members that their lead singer really didn't have any interest in the project. Coupled with drummer, Copeland, breaking his collar bone the night before they were scheduled to return to the studio, the band called it quits.

It's a bit selfish if you think about it. How many bands survive when the lead singer leaves? Sure, it happens, but not often. For Sting to be so self centered that he preferred to focus on a solo career only serves to show how greedy he is as a human being.

However, him being a douche bad didn't stop me from buying all of the band's studio albums, so today, I'm jumping into Outlandos d'Amour to give it a spin.

It's interesting hearing the album, because it sounds like grunge, before grunge was a thing. Wikipedia classifies the album as punk, and I can totally hear that in it, which is odd, because I never thought of The Police as a punk band. They really don't look the part.

Outlandos is a decent album, but it by no means blew me away. The two hits from it are fantastic even to this day, but beyond that, I didn't hear anything else that stood out. It does intrigue me to keep moving through their library of records, but it doesn't necessarily make me a fan.

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