Outlandos d'Amour is the debut studio album by the English rock band the Police, released on 17 November 1978 by A and M Records. Elevated by the success of its lead single, "Roxanne", Outlandos d'Amour peaked at No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart and at No. 23 on the Billboard 200.
The album spawned two additional hit singles: "Can't Stand Losing You" and "So Lonely".
Although Outlandos d'Amour received mixed reviews upon its release, it has since been regarded as one of the strongest debut albums. Rolling Stone ranked it as the 38th best debut album of all time and the 428th greatest album of all time.
On a budget of £1,500 (£9,000 in 2023 borrowed from their manager, Miles Copeland (brother of drummer Stewart), the Police recorded Outlandos d'Amour at Surrey Sound Studios in an intermittent fashion over six months, with the band recording whenever the studio had free time or another band's sessions were cancelled. 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.
Miles occasionally visited the studio during recording, and he reacted to what he heard from the band with vehement derision. However, upon hearing "Roxanne" he had the opposite reaction and took the recording to A&M Records the following day, where he persuaded the record label to release it as a one-off single.
Although the single failed to chart, A&M agreed to give the band a second chance with "Can't Stand Losing You". At first, A&M proposed the band create an improved mix of the song, but after five attempts admitted that it could not improve upon the band's mix, and released the original mix for the single. When it became the band's first hit, the label quickly approved the release of the by-then finished album.
Miles had originally wanted to name the album Police Brutality. However, after hearing "Roxanne" and then envisioning a more romantic image for the band, he proposed Outlandos d'Amour instead. This title is a loose French translation of "Outlaws of Love", with the first word being a combination of the words "outlaws" and "commandos", and "d'Amour" meaning "of love".
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