Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | |
| Robert Christgau | (B+) |
| Rolling Stone | (negative) |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
The LP initially flopped, due to low exposure and an unfavourable reaction from the BBC to its first two singles, "Can't Stand Losing You" and "Roxanne" (about suicide and prostitution, respectively). As Sting describes:
...We had publicity campaign with posters about how the BBC banned 'Roxanne'. The reason they had a problem with 'Can't Stand Losing You' was because the photo on the cover of the single had Stewart standing on a block of ice with a noose around his neck, waiting for the ice to melt.
The band's low-budget tour of America in support of the album made people across the country aware of the band, and especially "Roxanne". The song received more and more airplay from radio DJs in both the United States and the United Kingdom in April 1979. When A&M re-released "Roxanne", it went to #12 on the UK charts, and "Can't Stand Losing You" followed, eventually hitting #2. The album itself peaked at #6.
Contemporary reviews of the album were largely unfavorable. Rolling Stone magazine had high praise for the technical abilities of all three band members, but was relentlessly disparaging of their attempt to tackle sophisticated rock and reggae while posturing as punks. They were even more critical of the perceived lack of emotional conviction in the band, especially in Sting's vocals, concluding that "Outlandos d'Amour isn't monotonous—it's far too jumpy and brittle for that—but its mechanically minded emptiness masquerading as feeling makes you feel cheated... worn out by all the supercilious, calculated pretense." In 2003, Rolling Stone reversed their position by ranking the album number 434 on their list of greatest albums of all time.
Allmusic called Outlandos "by far most direct and straightforward release" and "unquestionably one of the finest debuts to come out of the '70s punk/new wave movement", saying that even many of the lesser-known cuts are outstanding. In his short review of the album, Robert Christgau described it as "mindlessness", saying that only "Can't Stand Losing You" was completely satisfying even on a visceral level.
Read more about this topic: Outlandos D'Amour
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