Police, the debut with “Outlandos d’amour”. The story

When “Outlandos d’Amour” was released on November 2, 1978, it was unthinkable that those three musicians, coming from very different experiences, would in just a few years become one of the most influential bands of the end of the decade. Yet, precisely in that album with its low budget and raw sound the distinctive traits of the Police were already found: punk energy, rhythmic precision, reggae influences and an out of the ordinary melodic taste.

From the outskirts of punk to the birth of the trio

The origins of the group date back to 1976, when Stewart Copeland, an American drummer who moved to London, attended a concert by the jazz-rock group “Last Exit”. He was struck above all by the charisma of the bassist and singer, a former English teacher from Newcastle called Gordon “Sting” Sumner, https://www.rockol.it/news-699324/stewart-copeland-police-ricorda- Quando-vide-per-la-prima-volta-sting who in those years was trying to make his way between jazz and pop without finding the right recording dimension.

Copeland convinces him to join him in a new project closer to the punk language, which was exploding in the British capital at the time. Together with French guitarist Henri Padovani, the two began playing in London clubs, adopting an aggressive image, with dyed blonde hair and a repertoire that mixed punk speed and more elaborate technique.

With Padovani, in 1977 The Police recorded their first self-produced single, “Fall Out”/”Nothing Achieving”, songs both written by Copeland – which in my broadcast with Silvio Poli on a private radio in Brescia we broadcast more than once, side A and side B (more often side A, to be honest).

In August of the same year, guitarist Andy Summers, fresh from collaborations with Kevin Ayers and the Animals, was added to the band and, after just a couple of concerts, the group asked Henri to leave and continued as a trio.

The first difficulties and the arrival of “Outlandos d’Amour”

In 1977 and 1978 the Police still did not have a recording contract. Copeland and his brother Miles, who would become the band’s manager, financed the first recordings at Surrey Sound Studios out of their own pockets, often at night to save money. In those sessions “Roxanne” was born, a song inspired by a Parisian prostitute.

The single was released in 1978 and went almost unnoticed in England, but aroused interest in the United States. That small sign of attention convinces A&M Records to trust the group with an entire album: “Outlandos d’amour”.

Although recorded with minimal means, the album captures the Police’s identity at the moment of discovery. “Next to You” opens with pure punk energy, “So Lonely” alternates tension and lightness in a reggae key, “Can’t Stand Losing You” plays with irony on themes of romantic desperation, and “Born in the ’50s” closes like a generational reflection.

Sting’s bass, Summers’ guitars and Copeland’s drums define a new formula: Caribbean rhythms fused with British pop and rock.

If you don’t remember it or have never listened to it, you can find it in full below.

“Outlandos d’Amour” was not an immediate success, but slowly grew thanks to American radio and word of mouth. In a few months, “Roxanne” and “Can’t Stand Losing You” entered the international charts, paving the way for larger tours and consecration with the following albums, “Reggatta de Blanc” and “Zenyatta Mondatta”.

And where did Padovani end up?

After leaving the Police Padovani he joined the Wayne County punk band the Electric Chairs, and then founded the Flying Padovanis who recorded two albums before disbanding in 1987.

Between 1984 and 1994 Padovani dedicated himself to a recording career, returning to collaborate with Miles Copeland III – Stewart’s brother and former manager of the Police – in the role of vice president of his label, IRS Records; for a short period he was also the manager of Zucchero Fornaciari (in this regard, Henry’s autobiography, “The secret policeman”) is unmissable.

On 29 September 2007, in Paris, Padovani returned to perform with the Police on the occasion of the Reunion Tour, playing the song “Next to You”.

The same year he released “A croire que c’etait pour la vie”, his first solo album in which Sting and Stewart Copeland participated in the recording of the song “Welcome Home” as special guests, thus reuniting the original lineup of the Police for the first time since 1977.

on November 12, 2016 he played the song “Next to you” again with Sting, on the occasion of the reopening concert of the Bataclan in Paris, exactly one year after the terrorist attack which occurred in that theater in 2015.