Outlandos d'Amour: 1977/79

'Police' No Cop-Out On Rock Rhythms...

Give a group a name like The Police and there's no end to the law-enforcement metaphors. For their Buffalo debut at Harvey and Corky's Stage One Sunday night, A&M Records even arranged to give the British band a sheriff's escort.

Thank goodness the metaphors did not extend to their stage act. The three-man aggregation did not resemble constables at all. In their black leather jackets and jeans, they could have passed for purse snatchers on probation.

As hard-rock trios go, The Police packed an exceptionally big arsenal of rhythms. And they were not afraid to use them. For a tune like 'So Lonely' from their 'Outlandos d'Amour' album, they slipped from a funky reggae to screaming rock and back to reggae again.

Their command of dynamics made their rhythms rock all the harder. They brandished it best as they closed their set with their single, 'Roxanne'.

First came the rhythm guitar, all by itself and slightly distorted in midrange. Then the bass and drums laid down a triphammer syncopation. The vocal cried plaintively about it until a deluge of sound and harmony washed over it in the chorus.

Leading the assault was the tall, crew-cut bassist, who goes by the name of Sting. An actor in the Who's 'Quadrophrenia' movie, he proved himself with high-revving play and appropriately raw tenor. He led the crowd in a call and answer to finish off 'Roxanne'.

After running through most of the songs on their album, The Police apparently did not have any ammunition left when it came time for an encore after the first of their two sold-out shows. They reprised 'Can't Stand Losing You', which was how they began an hour earlier.

Opening were Romantics, a young four-man group from Detroit all turned out in black.

Artists for underground Bomp Records, they put out a driving sound that was reminiscent of the early '60s Merseybeat back in the days when the Beatles were still down in the Cavern Club, complete with the single guitar line threaded into the rhythm, just like George Harrison's.

They slammed their rosy-cheeked sentiments home one after another with scarcely a stop for breath.

(c) The Buffalo Evening News by Dale Anderson

Rock and reggae at Stage 1 - The Police and the Romantics stand out...

Last Sunday night at Harvey and Corky's Stage 1 there was one of those record company parties at which media folk get crocked on free drink and chomp up free food. A&M records sponsored this bash which included food not of a culinary delight, but of a stomach's delight. It was a lot of fun and no one was obnoxious to me so my food digested rather well.

The party was thrown for the New Wave/reggae/rock band, the Police, but I liked the opening band, The Romantics, better. While both bands are good bands in the sense that they rock without many mistakes, are young and energetic, and pose melodies that are listenable and hummable, both have their problems.

The Romantics were surprising - the pop band from Detroit seem a regular throwback to the '60s English influenced American rock, almost like the local band, The Jumpers but without rough edges. The Jumpers are fine with their inaccuracies since those are usually hidden by energy. But The. Romantics have polish along with energy much like '60s bands like the Buckinghams, the Hollies or Harper's Bizarre. Their ballad "Cary" a single on Bomp records was well-performed and got a lot of folks to moving and jittering dances in their seats. The four-man band's harmonies stir up a pleasant sound but for their pop melodies, they sometimes play out of their range. I mean, when .you think a note should be given a soprano treatment, it's given an 'alto by the lead singer. Still, even a bunch of drunks can sound good when they harmonize, and the Romantics aren't; they sing good rock 'n' roll together. I suppose this is what the Beatles have spawned; the emulation is sure there.

While I must say the problem with the Police is much greater, the crowd didn't notice. Fact is, they hailed the Police like supermen saving all those Lois Lanes and Jimmy Olsens in the crowd from boredom, a night of looking up or down to the sky for fun. There's a problem in this fantasy since the crowd is looking for a certain type of star to rock to, a certain type of music to move to. And that music has to be familiar. So the leader of the Police is sort of scratchy voiced and macho like the guy who sings 'Do Ya Think I'm Sexy', the guitarist is sort of funny like the guy who wrote 'Surrender', but more subdued, and the drummer is a hard worker with four sticks in his hands like the guy who bats for Cheap Trick.

At more than one time the three men combined rock and new wave and reggae along with politics and sociology in "I Was Born In The Fifties." Now a lot of kids in the crowd were born in the '50s and enjoyed the musical trip through the '60s and the mention of the Beatles, their songs and such. The Police told them all about their childhood in a five-minute song which is no small feat, which is hip, always hip, since it's nostalgia.

But solos during 'Roxanne', the Bob Marley song, were predictable with a lot of reverb on the bass and guitar to make the band sound full. Oh, a lot of chuka-chuka, too. I don't mean to make light of this, really. Obviously, reggae was an influence in England more than it was here and the Police seem fairly serious about playing such music. The sound in a small club put through large speakers is the right way for reggae to be played. But when there is a question is it rock or is it reggae or is it a combination, the band has to come off without pretension but with confidence that is sublime. This the Police did not do. They' are still young; they seemed fearful. Their eyes darted; they wondered too much.

They force when they should flow. When they play number 10 on the song list, they have no right to make like it's unplanned unless they can cover their tracks or at least hide the playlist from audience view. Still, the crowd rose and sang along through the song, which is the sign of a hungry crowd out to have an enjoyable evening. Not that any music could have done it to them, but the Police had the acceptable formula.

Me, sometimes I like to wonder what vegetables are in my soup.

(c) The Spectrum by Harold Goldberg