bob_tomato's Full Review: Synchronicity [Remaster] by The Police
Think back to 1985 (those of you born post-eighties will just have to trust me)
Do you remember the uproar surrounding the release of Sting's solo album The Dream Of The Blue Turtles? A lot of people remember that event – many die-hard fans of The Police worldwide thought Sting a world-class bastard for having the nerve to record a solo album when the group was long overdue for releasing their sixth studio recording. Back in 1985, my fledgling inner fan had a lot of questions, and now in 2004, my matured inner fan can answer him with the benefit of hindsight and twenty years separation from this traumatic event…
What does it all mean for The Police? It's over
Are they really breaking up… for… for good? Yes, but given their shoddy performance at their induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, this is probably for the best…
What's the deal with the jazz/rock fusion? It's what he wanted to sound like all along…
Just what is Sting doing? Leaving Stewart and Andy behind him, the rat bastard...
But the fact of the matter is – The Dream of the Blue Turtles wasn't Sting's solo debut…he'd already conquered the pop music scene single-handedly with Side 2 of The Police's final album, Synchronicity.
What do you mean "single-handedly"? There were two other guys in The Police and I know for a fact that you loved them for their skills and performances. They certainly can't be considered as mere window dressing on Synchronicity, can they?
Well, Stewart Copeland (founder, drummer, manic) and Andy Summers (latecomer, guitarist, psychotic) were certainly highly skilled musicians who contributed a lot of time and talent to the band's song catalog. Sting (founder, vocals/bass/songwriter, bastard) had always been the face of the band, the de facto leader, and though he deferred to Stewart and Andy for the musical presentation on many of the early songs, his jazz roots and his pop inclinations began to assert themselves in the songs the band recorded. But even as these things had changed over the short span of the band's career, Andy's choppy faux-reggae chords and Stewart's pseudo punk tempos on their first four albums were becoming de rigeur - copycat bands were getting famous sounding their own Police sirens (Men at Work, anyone?) The Police wanted a deliberate, definite change in their sound , and as Sting was the most forcefully vocal about this, it fell to him to craft almost all of the music for Synchronicity (Andy admitted as much that Sting was the best songwriter in the band, and that he and Stewart eventually gave into it so "there are hardly any broken hearts"1)
It's not like Stewart and Andy didn't contribute to the record, but for the first and only time in the band's short career, it sounds like they only played on the album, rather than truly helping to craft it. They each left a definite mark on Synchronicity - Stewart provided one of his uptempo and typically wry songs with Miss Gradenko, and Andy stayed true to form with his contribution, the truly disturbing Mother. (If there was ever a punk soundtrack produced for the movie Psycho this song would have to be on it.) Copeland's percussion is stellar as ever, crisp, clean and driving throughout the entire recording, and Andy's otherworldly guitar sounds are absolutely perfect in each and every song.
But what's different about their contribution compared to the other four albums?
Here's the thing – each of the four previous albums has a palpable level of raw unharnessed energy pulsing through nearly every song. If you start from the beginning of the band's career, you can see the evolution of this energetic core, as it is initially drawn upon by all three members of the band to deliver some truly astonishing music. As you move farther away from the start, you begin to notice a change in the core - it is being transformed, bit by bit. The quality of the songs on every album remains high, and some of the band's best work comes near the end, but what is apparent is that Sting's influence is taking over, and the energy is being shaped towards his desires, while Stewart and Andy slowly fade until they more or less become Sting's backing band by the time Synchronicity comes along. It's still The Police, but the energy has been diverted to new efforts, and the void it left within Stewart and Andy was too great to overcome.
If you want to witness the transformation of the band in a nutshell, there is no greater evidence of the change than over the course of the first seven songs of Synchronicity.
Synchronicity I, at it's heart, is classic Police – a hard driving number that (despite the high gloss sheen of studio production values that selling millions of copies of albums provides a successful band) would have been a crowd favorite back in the days of Outlandos D'Amor. This song was a huge hit - it's fast and loud, slashing and whirling with guitars, hi-hat and wild vocals, everything the die-hard Police fan needs in a Police song…
Walking In Your Footsteps is something relatively new for the band, relying on some innovative synthesizer effects, eschewing the typical band sound to craft a primeval soundscape for the lyrics that speak of humanity's rush to follow the dinosaurs into extinction… but The Police had done this sort of sound painting before on previous albums, most notably with Walking on the Moon on Regatta De Blanc and Invisible Sun on Ghost in the Machine…
O My God is another throwback to older pseudo-punk material, another middle finger at the Ultimate Authority - this song could have easily found a home on Zenyatta Mondatta…
While Sting was heavily exploring Jungian theory in his lyrics throughout this project, Andy threw in a large dose of Freud - Mother could be the fevered ramblings of Alex from A Clockwork Orange. It's like the acid nightmare of the character singing about his "girl" Sally on Outlandos D'Amor…
Stewart's life experience as the son of a highly ranked CIA official comes to the fore with Miss Gradenko, and here again, the style of the song seems a polished version of a track from Zenyatta Mondatta…
Synchronicity II was an even bigger hit than I and it really should have been the lead single from the album, as I think it's the greatest track ever recorded by The Police…
now, wait just a minute…this is just Side 1. There's still King of Pain, Wrapped Around Your Finger and...
Listen - I'm quite serious. The Police as you know it comes to a complete halt with the last notes of Synchronicity II.
But…
Think about it. What's the seventh song, the very next track?
Every Breath You Take…but…
Right…one of the biggest pop ballads in history and it is NOT a typical song by The Police. This is the birth of Sting's solo career that you are hearing. Stewart and Andy provide wonderful atmosphere with the sparse instrumental track, but this song is all about Sting. As his later solo career unfolded, it became apparent that he loved to tweak the pop industry by writing lyrics that are insufferably literate, but undeniably memorable – a rare gift in today's pop music scene. He wrote Every Breath You Take in twenty minutes as a joke, merely an exercise in foolish pop rhyming and phrasing, but it became an instant classic with a public that just didn't understand the humor…you'll see what I mean when you attend several Sting solo concerts in your future
Really? right now, mom and dad won't let me go see any concerts yet
I remember. You'll get to see a Sting show in each of his concert tours, and every time he plays Every Breath, you'll find yourself amused at the sight of couples slow dancing to the song. There are a lot of people who think it's a love song, not noticing that Sting's written the love ballad of the psycho stalker. He loves to write songs from the viewpoint of strange characters, and this is only one of many.
Stewart and Andy capably fill their new purpose as backing band, and Sting takes over the remaining moments of Synchronicity as his personal playground. In King of Pain and Wrapped Around Your Finger - again, Sting writes super-literate lyrics (caught between the Scylla and Charibdes being the prime example) contained within catchy pop balladry. Tea In the Sahara explores the landscapes of the book The Sheltering Sky - it's the most haunting track on the record, and one of my personal favorites by Sting (and The Police, but they don't count any more at this point). Murder by Numbers was completely misunderstood by right wing moralists, thinking Sting was proposing murder as an acceptable social act – Sting said at the Nothing Like The Sun show I attended "I heard Jerry Falwell on the TV talking about these horrible lyrics and I thought, that's terrible…then I realized I wrote the f*cking song!"
OK – now you've said that Sting takes over the last half of the album, but why are they his songs only?
Remember I pointed out how the songs on the first half of the album are good examples of styles found on previous albums by The Police? Well, the second half songs are indicative of Sting's upcoming solo albums. Sting will start to create a unique fusion of jazz, rock, and pop, sometimes throwing in classical, old R&B, and even country elements for good measure. His "solo" songs are a long slow burn of the jazz fusion that would reveal itself fully with his debut album The Dream of the Blue Turtles, while the lyrics are somewhat dark, much like his third solo effort, The Soul Cages.
Sounds interesting…
Trust me – you're going to love Sting's solo material (in fact, you're going to become notorious in some circles for how much you love Sting's music), but don't give up on The Police. Each of their albums is terrific, and Synchronicity is no exception. It's the connecting of two careers – the end of The Police's reign as kings of pop-punk and the beginning of Sting's solo artistry, which makes it the perfect album for fans like me -
and me!
…who love both The Police and Sting. One more thing – brush up on your writing skills in that college class, OK? We're gonna need them later for writing music reviews for epinions.com…
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The Police - Synchronicity
Originally released in June 1983 by A&M Records
All lyrics quoted are the copyrighted property of Sting
1. The Police - Message In A Box: The Complete Recordings box set booklet, page 49
Original Track Listing
Synchronicity I / Walking In Your Footsteps / O My God / Mother / Miss Gradenko / Synchronicity II / Every Breath You Take / King Of Pain / Wrapped Around Your Finger / Tea In The Sahara / Murder By Numbers
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My Top Ten List of albums that molded my musical tastes
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