Category: Police

I’ve long had a love-hate relationship with the final Police album, but upon a recent listening I finally decided I love it more than I hate it.

So what’s not to like? Quite simply one of the most overexposed songs of the 1980s, “Every Breath You Take”. And hey, I even like the song, but it was played so often that I can really only bear to hear it once a year or so. (That said, I’ll take “Every Breath” over anything the current crop of producer-packaged teenybopper acts can cough up, so my boredom with the song is a relative thing.)

What is there to like about Synchronicity? Possibly Sting’s best work ever, with some crisply literate lyrics and some excellent music to go behind them. Mixing mythological metaphors with literary references and interesting concepts, the songs are both memorable and thought-provoking. So much so, in fact, that I think it points out why I skip “Every Breath” most of the time – its somewhat repetitive and predictable lyrics are sharply out of place on Synchronocity.

Some of the better songs, including “King Of Pain” and “Wrapped Around Your Finger”, made a somewhat smaller splash as singles, while others – including the mesmerising “Tea In The Sahara” – can only be found on the album. Overall, even with the clichè-ridden “Every Breath”, Synchronicity is an outstanding album, engaging both musically and intellectually.

1. Synchronicity I (3:23)
2. Walking In Your Footsteps (3:35)
3. O My God (4:00)
4. Mother (3:03)
5. Miss Gradenko (2:00)
6. Synchronicity II (5:04)
7. Every Breath You Take (4:13)
8. King Of Pain (4:59)
9. Wrapped Around Your Finger (5:12)
10. Tea In The Sahara (4:11)
11. Murder By Numbers (4:31)

Released by: A&M
Release date: 1983
Total running time: 44:30

Wow. Now this is more like it. My all-time favorite Police album, Ghost in the Machine may be best remembered as the album from which “Spirits In The Material World” (which will always be, in my mind, the definitive statement of the Police sound) and “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” came, but also contains other personal favorites as “Too Much Information”, “Secret Journey” and “Hungry For You”, which is sung entirely in French until the last verse. I’m not sure what else I can say about this album aside from noting that it’s the Police in their finest form, and it was really the last time their music visited the edge of being new wave. The cover design is also very cool, using simple LED-type symbols for the three band members.

1. Spirits in the Material World (2:59)
2. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic (4:21)
3. Invisible Sun (3:43)
4. Hungry For You (j’aurais toujours faim de toi) (2:53)
5. Demolition Man (5:55)
6. Too Much Information (3:42)
7. Rehumanize Yourself (3:11)
8. One World (Not Three) (4:46)
9. Omegaman (2:48)
10. Secret Journey (3:34)
11. Darkness (3:13)

Released by: A&M
Release date: 1981
Total running time: 41:05

This album may be a little more mainstream to some, as it sports such relative hits as “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” and the catchy “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da”, but the non-singles are more examples of the genius of the group in their earlier days. “Man In A Suitcase” is one of my all-time favorite Police tunes for some reason I’ve never quite been able to put a finger on. I have to rate Regatta de Blanc higher than this album, but because of the more familiar material, it may be a more ideal introduction to pre-Synchronicity Police for any curious listeners out there.

1. Don’t Stand So Close To Me (4:02)
2. Driven To Tears (3:21)
3. When The World Is Running Down, You Make The Best Of What’s Still Around (3:38)
4. Canary in a Coalmine (2:27)
5. Voices Inside My Head (3:54)
6. Bombs Away (3:06)
7. De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da (4:10)
8. Behind My Camel (2:55)
9. Man in a Suitcase (2:20)
10. Shadows in the Rain (5:04)
11. The Other Way of Stopping (3:22)

Released by: A&M
Release date: 1980
Total running time: 38:19

Let’s talk about the Police. Before they became really popular. Listening to the Police reminds me of long summers in the mid 1980s being driven around by my older brother, who’d just gotten his driver’s license, so in a weird way, it’s comfort music to me, bringing back memories of more carefree times before everything went straight to hell. But enough about the psychological impact the music has one me – the Police were good when they went soft-rock with Synchronicity, but they were better before. And this album is a testament to that. Songs such as “Message In A Bottle”, “Bring On The Night”, “The Bed’s Too Big Without You” and “Does Everyone Stare” could only have been performed by the Police before they lost their edge in the name of record sales and splitting up. There’s also the kooky “On Any Other Day” – the whole album is worth listening to.

1. Message in a Bottle (4:49)
2. Reggatta de Blanc (3:14)
3. It’s Alright For You (3:05)
4. Bring On The Night (4:16)
5. Deathwish (4:13)
6. Walking on the Moon (4:59)
7. On Any Other Day (2:56)
8. The Bed’s Too Big Without You (4:24)
9. Contact (2:39)
10. Does Everyone Stare (3:49)
11. No Time This Time (3:18)

Released by: A&M
Release date: 1978
Total running time: 41:42