Synchronicity
	Produced by Hugh Padgham and The Police
	Released on June 1, 1983
	UK CHART POSITION #1 . . . US CHART POSITION #1 . . . 8x PLATINUM RECORD
	Find it at GEMM
SP-3735 cover [high resolution scan]

K ronomyth 5.0: JUNG AND THE RESTLESS. Okay, so Sting the Beautiful holding a book by Carl Jung is the very definition of pretentious. I’ll give you that. But c’mon, critics: How can you give Synchronicity—an album that sold 8 million copies in the US alone—three out of five stars? (You’d think they were pootin’ those stars out of their own stingy hiney holes.) Synchronicity is a great album by a great band that I admire greatly. And “Synchronicity II” is a great song. I even like the contributions from Summers (“Mother,” which would have felt at home on Fripp’s Exposure) and Copeland (“Miss Gradenko,” best thing he’s done since Klark Kent). It’s the second side of the album, the Sting “solo” side if you will, that usually gets all the attention. At the time, I didn’t much appreciate being bombarded with “Every Breath You Take” every ten minutes, but these days even I have to admit it’s a brilliant ballad. “King of Pain” and “Wrapped Around Your Finger” are also terrific, the latter ushering in the literate, romantic age of Sting (“Fortress Around Your Heart” et al). Although many critics will tell you the first side is uneven, I think the second side is too even. Not a lot of agitation, just gauzy guitar textures (apparently, Andy Summers was still under Fripp’s hypnotic spell) plus some unremarkable drumwork from the normally fiendish Copeland. And for all the talk of filler, only “O My God” and “Tea In The Sahara” are dispensable in my book. I see Synchronicity as a mature, complex album that might be the smartest record seven out of those eight million Americans ever bought. I can’t think of the last time a band broke up on such a high note; maybe Squeeze, but that’s stretching it.

TRACK LISTING

1. SYNCHRONICITY I    3:23
2. WALKING IN YOUR FOOTSTEPS    3:35
3. O MY GOD    4:00
4. MOTHER    (Andy Summers)    3:03
5. MISS GRADENKO    (Stewart Copeland)    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
    
    CD reissue bonus track
    
11. MURDER BY NUMBERS
    
    CD re-reissue bonus video track
    
12. EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE (VIDEO)
    
    All songs written by Sting unless noted
    

CREDITS

STEWART COPELAND --
STING --
ANDY SUMMERS --

return to THE POLICE discography

For more discographies visit...

© 2010 Connolly & Company. All rights reserved.