Outlandos d'Amour: 1977/79

THE POLICE - New Wave rock band performed in concert at the Texas Opry House Thursday - Opening act: The Natives...

The Police have hit very fast, and their instant success has been due to a smash single, 'Roxanne'.

This quick rise also has a lot to do with the promotional push that has been put behind the band, apparent in things like the 'Roxanne' look-alike contest" which the Opry House sponsored, and also in more subtle things, like the bored patron across from me who turned out to be a curious, off-duty police officer.

The music of the band is New Wave, not punk, because it is not nasty enough and has a lot more finesse than bands like the Ramones. 

There is a distinction, fine though it may be, and this band is one that is discovering that to make it with the American kids who will be buying the records, concessions will be necessary.

The version of 'Roxanne' which the band played toward the end of the single, sold-out set did not sound like much of a concession. The hard-edged singing of the bassist, Sting (who also writes most of the music), told the story of a semi-retired hooker whom the singer tells, "you don't have to turn on the red light." The crowd was plenty revved up by this point, and it was not solely on the basis of the expectation of hearing 'Roxanne'; the music from 'Outlandos d'Amour' is solid New Wave material.

The band's style is more instrumentally evolved than any other New Wavers. Guitarist Andy Summers took many leads, something a lot of punkers frown on since the music is a reaction against the music of the '60s which accented open-ended guitar soloing.

This is a purist slant, and songs like 'Hole in My Life' benefited from the tight, competent playing of the musicians, though perhaps the band risks a labelling as pop-punk. The reggae feel of 'So Lonely's' verse broke into a chorus that had more in common with Foghat than the Clash, and it was one of the spots in the set where listeners might forget that they had come to hear a New Wave act.

The band is into other odd stuff, like the tune 'Be My Girl - Sally' which featured a poem recitation about a young man who purchases an inflatable wife. The anger of 'Peanuts' and 'Truth Hits Everybody' came across much better live than on the LP, as did most of the material in the band's initial Houston performance.

(c) The Houston Post by John Atkinson