Album #79 : The Police - Synchronicity

The Police

Synchronicity (1983)

By 1983, The Police were, essentially, a burnt out wreck of a band. Bassist/vocalist Sting was a major deal in the world, through his work in movies as well as his work with The Police, and was considering branching out to a solo career; drummer Stewart Copeland had fallen out with Sting, and their previous working relationship had deteriorated completely; and guitarist Andy Summers had dissolved a marriage, fathered a child and remarried, meaning music was less of a priority.

Dragging themselves into AIR Studios on Montserrat, the three recorded Synchronicity, the band's fifth (and final) studio album. The writing was on the wall during the sessions, where the band had (not just for sound reasons) each recorded their parts in a completely separate room from each other, and even avoided each other during the overdub process; Sting and Copeland even had a punchon at one stage. That they managed to put out a decent album is nothing short of a miracle.

Many critics regard this as their best work. As you'll see, I disagree with that assessment.

The Album

The high points on Synchronicity are properly soaring. The two tracks that share the album's name are two of the album's best; Synchronicity I is a repeated synthesiser line and a rock solid bass riff, with some clever rhymes and interesting vocabulary; Synchronicity II is an absolute beast of a track, with Summers crunching some positively dark tones out of his guitar, brilliant transitions between the lyric sections, top class vocal work from Sting and some biting lyrics, contrasting one man's emasculating, pathetic work and family life with the rise of some unseen evil. It's one of the best on the album.

While Every Breath You Take is one of those songs that's overplayed (WHY ARE PEOPLE USING THIS AS A WEDDING SONG?? HAVE YOU LISTENED TO THE LYRICS?? IT IS ABOUT STALKING!) it's also a brilliant tune; its simplicity is its strength, simplicity encapsulated by Summers' perfectly picked guitar melody and Sting's terrifically passionate vocal. Wrapped Around Your Finger will go down as the last properly great Police song; mostly keyboards and synthesisers, there are some little guitar licks here and there, while Sting's hypnotic bass line draws you in and takes you away. The choruses add a touch of scale to the track, as the synths and guitars swim up louder, anthem-style.

After this, though, there's a drop in quality. King Of Pain is pleasant but no more than that; there's some nice chord progressions and some decent lyrics, but it's not as thrilling as any of the four previously discussed tracks. Miss Gradenko is a song I've always liked but really, objectively speaking, it's a bit of throwaway filler. The vocal harmonies are great, Copeland's drum work is decent and the picked guitar is cool, but it's really just an average song all things considered. O My God is notable for the jazzy work of Andy Summers (who would go on to a decent career as a jazz guitarist after The Police) but that's about it.

There are also two songs on here that must be contenders for the worst Police song ever. Walking In Your Footsteps is wanky African-influenced junk about dinosaurs and humans, with congas, rhythm sticks and Deep Forest woodwind/synth work galore. Basically, it's utter shit. Mother gets a slight pass ahead of that, only because the artistic intention of the song is well executed; lyrically it's a song of obsessive paranoia about an unhealthy mother/son relationship, and the guitar work of Summers helps convey that paranoia. However, his screamed lyrics shit me up the wall. It is a dreadful song made barely tolerable by that successfully executed artistic vision.

The Verdict

With only a handful of properly good tunes, and an abundance of filler, I can't see how Synchronicity is better than Reggatta de Blanc or Ghost In The Machine, both of which I consider superior albums. Yeah, at its very, very best it's probably ahead of tracks on those albums, but those albums never bottomed out like this one does. If the critics are right, and this really is The Police's best studio work, then I guess we can safely say they were a singles band, because this is far from a complete, quality album.

Take the good tunes, ignore the rest. Experience The Police at their best because their worst is pretty dreadful.

My rating: ***

Standout Tracks

Synchronicity II

Wrapped Around Your Finger

Synchronicity I

The next album is an EDM release by a great old-school dance music act.