Outlandos d'Amour (Outlaws of Love) is the debut studio album by British rock band the Police, released on 17 November 1978[4] by A&M Records.

[7] Miles Copeland had promised to pay Surrey Sound £2,000 upon completion of the recording, but did not give them the full amount until much later.

[8] Although the single failed to chart, A&M agreed to give the band a second chance with "Can't Stand Losing You".

[10] Outlandos d'Amour, while at times incorporating reggae, pop and other elements of what would eventually become the band's definitive sound, is dominated by punk influences.

Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers initially felt the lyrics were neither aggressive nor political enough for their style at the time, but bassist and vocalist Sting was adamant about keeping the song as it was.

[13] The song's title comes from the name of the character in the play Cyrano de Bergerac, an old poster of which was hanging in the hotel foyer.

[14] Sting had originally conceived the song as a bossa nova, although Stewart Copeland has been credited for suggesting its final rhythmic form as a tango.

[15] During recording, Sting accidentally sat down on a piano keyboard in the studio, resulting in the atonal chord and laughter preserved at the beginning of the track.

"[17] Having since experienced the celebrity lifestyle himself, he has said he no longer identifies with the song's lyrical content and has come to view Stewart in a different light.

This leads into the semi-instrumental closer, "Masoko Tanga", the only song on the album to not become a staple of the band's live performances.

Released on 3 November 1978, Outlandos d'Amour initially performed poorly due to low exposure and an unfavourable reaction from the BBC to its first two singles, "Roxanne" and "Can't Stand Losing You", owing to their subject matter (prostitution and suicide, respectively).

"[11] The record company took notice of the notoriety and in response promoted the band's music with posters detailing how the BBC had banned "Roxanne".

The Police's low-budget tour of the United States in support of the album made people across the country aware of the band, and especially "Roxanne",[21] which was released as their first single there.

"Can't Stand Losing You" briefly returned to the charts in 1980 as part of the Six Pack singles compilation set, which peaked at No.

Tom Carson of Rolling Stone had high praise for the band's technical abilities, but was disparaging of their attempt to tackle sophisticated rock and reggae while posturing as punks.

[36] In Sounds, Phil Sutcliffe viewed Outlandos d'Amour as "a distinctive and mostly enjoyable first album" and credited the band for not excessively flaunting their musical virtuosity, noting that they instead "emphasise starkness and tension, taking the bare framework of punk or reggae as their starting point.

Greg Prato of AllMusic called Outlandos d'Amour "by far [the Police's] most direct and straightforward release" and "unquestionably one of the finest debuts to come out of the '70s punk/new wave movement", writing that even many of the lesser-known cuts are outstanding.