One of the most exciting groups to slither out of the U.K. in the last five years, the Police are a harried hybrid of recent musical trends. They mesh hard rock with reggae rhythm, punk power, pop melody and Monty Python poetry to create a sound that is as distinctively exuberant as it is unnerving. At first listen, the Police sound like just a decent, melodic rock outfit. A few spins of [Outlandos D'Amour] later, one realizes the true dementia of the band….

[The songs are catchy] and crazy. "Be My Girl-Sally" is a pop poem dedicated to an inflatable rubber mate …, "Peanuts" is a frenzied swipe at stardom …, and "Roxanne" is an anguished, driving reggae which pledges tortured but undying love to a hooker….

All the siren songs on the Police's debut lp are similarly strange and never less than wonderful. Energetic, loud and melodic, The...