[The Police], for all their success on both sides of the Atlantic, seem a little pallid. Reggatta de Blanc … has its good moments, but it is too clearly programmed for success, lacking in spontaneity, with its nods to New Wave Energy, reggae rhythm and Dub echo. Sting has a distinctive voice, the lyrics are fashionable 'concerned' and some of it is very danceable, but the album misses the bite that would make its chart success seem more than a very clever calculation. (pp. 867-68)

Mark Kidel, "Highstreet Madness," in New Statesman (© 1979 The Statesman & Nation Publishing Co. Ltd.), Vol. 98, No. 2541, November 30, 1979, pp. 867-68.∗