Outlandos d'Amour: 1977/79

The Police Put Power Into 'Honky-Reggae'...

The Police are a white Anglo-American rock band that commercially exploits reggae music, and they do pretty well at it even though it's not real reggae.

What The Police come up with, as exemplified by their single 'Roxanne', is a rock-and-reggae amalgam that has a pleasantly hypnotic effect on the listener. And, as with successful hypnosis, one comes out of the trance feeling fine.

The Police have never tried to play down their "punk" image. They do, however, combine the more positive barrier-breaking musical aspects of the punk syndrome with what drummer Stewart Copeland calls "honky-reggae," influenced to a large degree by London's large West Indian population.

While Copeland is a West Coast native who once played for the second version of Curved Air, guitarist Andy Summers and bassist/vocalist Sting hail from London and Newcastle, England, respectively. This makes for interesting theories about Anglo-American influence, but the truth is that The Police seem to be more interested in creating new trends than in rehashing old ones from either side of the Atlantic.

The group played to a crowd of about 450 Thursday night at One Block West, preceded by a Lawrence, Kan., group called Thumbs, fronted by a singer with numerous Elvis Costello affectations. Though the six-man format was wasted on the minimal rock sound they strove for, and though their version of Nick Lowe's 'What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding' was blandly disastrous, much of their original material showed some potential.

The power of The Police's sparse three-piece setup was even more effective by comparison. In addition to their first British single 'Fall Out', they played most of their current A&M album 'Outlandos d'Amour', with the exception of "Masoko Tanga," their one attempt at non-commercial reggae. Even though it was well played, the set ran just under an hour, even with the two "encores," repeats of 'Can't Stand Losing You' and 'Truth Hits Everybody', which had led off the set. C'mon boys, you must know more songs than that.

Nevertheless, the band has a sense of outrage and gut-level appeal that makes up for shortcomings in showmanship. Lead vocalist Sting, looking something like Terence Stamp on quaaludes, sings not unlike Bob Marley, though with a more piercing and urgent quality, set against visceral two-and three-chord rock and the ever-present Caribbean rhythms.

The Police's musical forte is under-statement, while their lyrics tend simultaneously toward the excessive and the minimal. On one hand they threaten suicide on 'Can't Stand Losing' ("You'll be sorry when I'm dead, and all this guilt will be on your head") and plead with a French prostitute not to take to the streets on 'Roxanne'. Then they counter by chanting monotonous choruses on 'So Lonely' and 'Hole In My Life', in which they admit "maybe I'm just looking for too much."

Maybe we're just looking for too much from The Police. It's been so long since we've heard a trio put out so much excitement that we want a lot more than we get.

(c) The Kansas City Star by Nancy Ball