The Police - Outlandos d'Amour. Limited audiophile pressing LP. New + sealed

A limited Audiophile Pressing by Vivante Productions

• 180g vinyl LP
• Brand new + factory seale


Selections:
Side One:
1. Next To You
2. So Lonely
3. Roxanne
4. Hole In My Life
5. Peanuts
Side Two:
1. Can't Stand Losing You
2. Truth Hits Everybody
3. Born In The 50's
4. Be My Girl - Sally
5. Masoko Tanga


The roots of Outlandos d'Amour were laid in early 1978 when The Police checked into Surrey Sound Studios to record a few tracks. "Our first album was recorded on second-hand multitrack tape - at that time, we couldn't afford our own tape," said Sting. "We were working in a home-made studio in Leatherhead belonging to Nigel Gray, a doctor whose hobby was recording. There were egg boxes on the walls, a sure sign of the home enthusiast. The room was tiny and the noise you hear at the start of 'Roxanne' was me falling backwards and accidentally sitting on the piano and then laughing.

"We recorded a few tracks, one of which I wrote more or less as a throwaway. That was 'Roxanne', I didn't think much more about it until we played the album to Miles Copeland who is, of course, Stewart's brother and a bit of an entrepreneur, though he'd never been particularly interested in The Police. In fact, he'd kept away from it to say the least. He did come along to the sessions while we were putting the first album together but more or less just to offer brotherly advice to Stewart. He heard the album and quite liked it. When we got to Roxanne, we were a bit embarrassed because the song was a bit of an anachronism, because compared with our usual material it was slow, quiet and melodic. Far from saying he thought it was a piece of shit, he said it was amazing. I thought, 'He likes this song This is fantastic!"'

The next day, Miles secured a deal to release the track as a single and this in turn led to a full record contract. Sting was delighted, because he liked the song and "It was a total off-shoot from what we'd been doing and it was immediately recognised by a record company as being commercial. That was the turning point for The Police - that and Andy joining, which enabled us to do more sophisticated material," he told Melody Maker.

Recorded in chunks over a six month period, Outlandos was released in November 1978 and featured at least three classic Police songs (four if you count the thrash of 'Next To You') in the shape of 'Roxanne', 'Can't Stand Losing You' and 'So Lonely' each of which were released and re-released as singles. Whilst 1978 may have been the era of late punk The Police's debut was an album that was truly different from what was the then mainstream. There was nothing on the airwaves like 'Roxanne'. Sting recalled that "It stuck out like a sore thumb on the radio when it came out because there was nothing else like it around." Sadly, the BBC slapped a ban on the track due to its prostitution theme, and the single stalled before it could make the top 30.

The album was particularly well received in the States with the Los Angeles Times describing it as 'the most inviting mainstream rock debut since the Cars' LP last summer' and persistent no-frills gigging around the country meant that within six months, the band had built up a sufficiently strong following to play the 3000 seater Santa Monica Civic Theater. When the band returned for a headlining tour of the UK in Spring 1979, the re-released 'Roxanne' had made the top 20, and the Police had become a force to be reckoned with. They were on their way.
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