Despite its worldwide success, The Police deliver an album lacking any sort of power to be of interest to hard rockers.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: The Police
ALBUM: Synchronicity
LABEL: A&M
SERIAL: AMLX 63735
YEAR: 1983
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England
LINEUP: Gordon Sumner (Sting) – lead vocals, bass * Andy Summers – guitars * Stewart Copeland – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Synchronicity I * 02 Walking In Your Footsteps * 03 O My God * 04 Mother * 05 Miss Gradenko * 06 Synchronicity II * 07 Every Breath You Take * 08 King Of Pain * 09 Wrapped Around Your Finger * 10 Tea In The Sahara
WEBLINK: Site Link
The Police Background
By 1983, The Police had broken through in the hard to crack US market thanks to the efforts of their fourth album: 1981’s ‘Ghost In The Machine’. Music wise they had veered away from their new wave/reggae origins to something that was more akin to art rock. Though others will form different opinions of their contribution to the history books.
Produced by Hugh Padgham, The Police (before during and after this album) were labelled the ‘biggest band on the planet’. Rolling Stone magazine subsequently named this as one of the top 100 albums of the 80’s. They included it in their top 500 albums of all time. At the time, I didn’t buy into it.
The album was based on a book by Arthur Koestler called ‘The Roots of Coincidence’. Sting was a big fan of his work. Hence the songs being visualized like separate chapters within a book.
The Songs
‘Synchronicity I’ Kicks it off with a hint of ‘Tubular Bells’ in the keyboard motif. The track is driven along quite nicely with Stewart Copeland’s drum work providing the momentum.
Musically, there’s not a lot happening with ‘Walking In Your Footsteps’. It’s just a steady percussion beat, some ambient guitar parts and meandering vocals.
‘O My God’ is an upbeat affair with the sax work (from Sting no less). It makes this more mainstream than it initially appears.
‘Mother’ is a wacky number, the spoken word parts comes across like Lou Reed at his best (or worst). ‘is that my mother on the phone?’
‘Miss Gradenko’ is a short two-minute groovy urban number that is just too hip to be square.
‘Synchronicity II’ is next. I’m not certain that this is a direct reprise of ‘Synchronicity I’ which went earlier. But I like it because its a straight-out rocker with no hint of weirdness.
‘Every Breath You Take’ is the first of the big hits on the album, an iconic hit of the 80’s decade. Though the lyrics read like a psychopath or a misogynist control freak. Not a good read decades later.
‘King Of Pain’ is the second big hit, and is my pick of a strange bunch of songs so far. The verses are plaintive, lacking energy though the tune picks up at chorus time.
Following a similar pattern is ‘Wrapped Around Your Finger’. It’s another track that sits in the pocket, very melancholy with no real oomph contained within.
Unfortunately ‘Tea In The Sahara’ doesn’t lift the excitement meter any, cruising out on a gentle breeze.
In Summary
Despite its worldwide success, overall this is a very restrained listen. One wonders how these songs went across live as there’s not a lot of power to be heard throughout.
This would be the last of their proper studio albums during this first phase of their career. Although they would reunite for a world tour during 2006-2007.
The Police on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
