THE POLICE Second Album

Original released on LP A&M AMLH 64792

(UK, October 1979)

By 1979's "Reggatta de Blanc" (translation: White Reggae), nonstop touring had sharpened the Police's original blend of reggae-rock to perfection, resulting in breakthrough success. Containing a pair of massive hit singles - the inspirational anthem "Message in a Bottle" and the spacious "Walking on the Moon" - the album also signaled a change in the band's sound. Whereas their debut got its point across with raw, energetic performances, "Reggatta de Blanc" was much more polished production-wise and fully developed from a songwriting standpoint. While vigorous rockers did crop up from time to time ("It's Alright for You," "Deathwish," "No Time This Time," and the Grammy-winning instrumental title track), the material was overall much more sedate than the debut - "Bring on the Night," "The Bed's Too Big Without You," and "Does Everyone Stare." Also included was one of Stewart Copeland's two lead vocal appearances on a Police album, the witty "On Any Other Day," as well as one of the band's most eerie tracks, "Contact." With "Reggatta de Blanc", many picked Sting and company to be the superstar band of the '80s, and the Police would prove them correct on the band's next release. (Greg Prato in AllMusic)

THE POLICE Debut Album

Original released on LP A&M AMLH 68502

(UK 1978, November 2)

While their subsequent chart-topping albums would contain far more ambitious songwriting and musicianship, the Police's 1978 debut, "Outlandos d'Amour" (translation: Outlaws of Love) is by far their most direct and straightforward release. Although Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland were all superb instrumentalists with jazz backgrounds, it was much easier to get a record contract in late-'70s England if you were a punk/new wave artist, so the band decided to mask their instrumental prowess with a set of strong, adrenaline-charged rock, albeit with a reggae tinge. Some of it may have been simplistic ("Be My Girl-Sally," "Born in the '50s"), but Sting was already an ace songwriter, as evidenced by all-time classics like the good-girl-gone-bad tale of "Roxanne," and a pair of brokenhearted reggae-rock ditties, "Can't Stand Losing You" and "So Lonely." But like all other Police albums, the lesser-known album cuts are often highlights themselves - the frenzied rockers "Next to You," "Peanuts," and "Truth Hits Everybody," as well as more exotic fare like the groovy album closer "Masoko Tanga" and the lonesome "Hole in My Life." "Outlandos d'Amour" is unquestionably one of the finest debuts to come out of the '70s punk/new wave movement. (Greg Prato in AllMusic)