Every punky New Wave reggae party has to start somewhere; for the Police, that somewhere was their 1978 debut LP, Outlandous D'amour.

At the start, the Police couldn't help sounding at least a little bit punk. Their first LP, Outlandous D'amour, was released just as the revolution was dying in 1978; Sting and company were hardly the only group in the U.K. jumping around to three chord rave-ups and wearing spiky hair.

Yet even in the early days, Sting, guitarist Andy Summers, and drummer Stewart Copeland were forming something completely new. Outlandous contains the embroynic stages of that eventual police staple, the New Wave reggae party groove, especially on tracks like "So Lonely" and "Hole in My Life."

Sure, there are a few songs here you never need to hear again. "Roxanne" springs to mind, as does the super-cloying, baby boomer valentine "Born in the 50s."

Yet there is some terrific stuff, too. Album opener "Next to You" filters punk energy through an undeniably powerful chorus, while "Truth Hits Everybody" mulls nuclear catastrophe over a tidy, forceful track. Sting's ultra-ego is already rearing its head, although at this point it's more laughable than anything. "You don't ever want to see me again," he bawls in the not-entirely tongue in cheek "Can't Stand Losing You," "and your brother's gonna kill me and he's six-feet-ten."

There are too many throwaway tracks on Outlandous D'amour, and it's nowhere near the status of the Police's watershed LP, Regatta De Blanc. Yet hearing the Police develop punk attitude into New Wave reggae is thrilling, all the same, and the listener can't help but lament how Sting's ego would end up ruining everything.