The Police “Synchronicity”

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#460 in the series) Is The Police, Synchronicity.

Like most of the people that visit this site, I’m guessing that you’re more fans of the earlier stuff like Zenyatta Mondata and Reggatta de Blanc etc., well I’m right there with you.  When I decide to put a Police album on, it’s usually one of those. That doesn’t mean that I don’t like this album as well. It too contained some pretty decent tunes.  As far as the masses go, this was the one that sold the best.

The Police did quite well up to Synchronicity.  Every album seemed to build a nice momentum for the band to this point.  This was the album that took them, and especially Sting, from rock stars, to MEGA-rock stars.  It also showed that Sting had actually started to out grown the band. Not musically, but as a celebrity.  It was time and he knew it. This would be their last album.

Besides selling eight million albums in the US alone, Synchronicity’s success can also be shown via the three Grammy Awards it was honored with.  “Every Breath You Take” was Song of the year.  This Grammy went to Sting as it’s a songwriter award.  The song won the band Grammys for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal while the album won the same award.

Also, as an album, Synchronicity, stayed at #1 for a number of weeks on the Billboard Top 200 album chart. It actually replaced Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Eventually Thriller would recapture the top spot but then Synchronicity would get it back.

As far as singles, “Every Breath You Take” would be a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The follow-up, “King of Pain” would hit up to #3. My favorite song on the album, “Synchronicity II” would be the third single and it would reach only up to #16. The last single to chart would be “Wrapped Around Your Finger”. It would get as high as #8.

— Larry Carta

Track listing

All songs written by Sting except where noted.

1. “Synchronicity I” – 3:23
2. “Walking in Your Footsteps” – 3:36
3. “O My God” – 4:02
4. “Mother” (Andy Summers) – 3:05
5. “Miss Gradenko” (Stewart Copeland) – 2:00
6. “Synchronicity II” – 5:02
7. “Every Breath You Take” – 4:13
8. “King of Pain” – 4:59
9. “Wrapped Around Your Finger” – 5:13
10. “Tea in the Sahara” – 4:19
11. “Murder By Numbers” – 4:34

Personnel

• Sting – bass, keyboards, lead vocals, backing vocals, oboe, drum machine on “Synchronicity I”, saxophone on “O My God”
• Andy Summers – electric guitar, keyboards, lead vocals on “Mother” and “Someone To Talk To”, backing vocals on “Someone to Talk To”
• Stewart Copeland – drums, xylophone, miscellaneous percussion

Links

BONUS VIDEO: Sting Joins Frank Zappa and his band in 1988 for ‘Murder By Numbers’