The Police-Synchronicity (1983)

Track Listing:
1. Synchronicity I
2. Walking In Your Footsteps
3. O My God
4. Miss Gradenko
5. Synchronicity II
6. Every Breath You Take
7. King of Pain
8. Wrapped Around Your Finger
9. Tea In The Sahara
10. Murder By Numbers

Best Track: Every Breath You Take

Another reason why 'adult contemporary" and "quality" don't quite mix

The New Wave era was pretty much in it's twilight years by 1983, and so many bands went in different directions away from the original scene they sprung from. Some got even more diverse (Elvis Costello), others tried to shed their roots (Dire Straits) and a number went into either very mainstream synth pop (most of your New Romantics) or adult contemporary. The Police went mostly in the direction of the latter, shedding any of their reggae/punk/whatever ideas of their earlier, superior albums and insteading fashioning themselves as an adult contemp pop group. Commercially it was very successful; but in terms of quality and legacy it wasn't a great choice.

The opener is Synchronicity I, a mid tempo slightly funky number. Sting's vocals are well done, but the lack of a good melody to latch on to here means it's pretty uninspiring. I can almost say the exact same thing about Walking In Your Footsteps, except even Sting's vocals are pretty boring, bar a decent falsetto in the middle. The drumming does sound reminiscent of some world music, but it's very uniform and unchanging, grabbing your attention only briefly. O My God is yet another uninteresting track, although the slightly slappy bass line melody provides something to listen to. But everything else is very average; even the introduction of a sax does little to the lack of energy here.

These are all below average songs, but none of them are truely horrendous. Mother decides to buck that trend and start a stampede of absolute bollocks. The vocals are simply ugly; Summers is trying to sound desperate but in the end it comes out like he is trying way to hard. Copeland, who's drumming is normally superb (on previous albums), is barely heard. In fact the backing music to Summer's hideous wailings is just terrible, with a melody that sounds out of tune. Perhaps it was a delibrate ploy, but seriously what was going through their heads when they were writing that song?

Sting takes the vocals back for Miss Gradenko, which is apparantly a song about a romance in a communist nation. It's pretty poor, but at least it's short. The sequel to the opener, Synchronicity II, is kept together by a rocking guitar riff from Summers. Maybe you should stick to guitar playing instead of vocals old boy? Finally we get a song of good quality with Every Breath You Take. All the instruments blend together well, especially the guitar and bass. Sting's vocals come out sincerely and strongly, and lyrically the song is also the best on the album. Honestly who cannot identify just a little with the song? The outro with the echoey backing vocals finishes the song in the same, slightly creepy yet romantic style. Another single King of Pain has a decent jaunty synth line, which along with the snappy guitar solo makes this alright. The 80's feel is undenieably present, but it doesn't become offensive unlike earlier tracks.

Wrapped Around Your Finger has a menacing atmosphere which re-creates the strengths of Every Breath, without the melodic power of the former. Nonetheless it is one of the better songs here. The intimate Tea in the Sahara sounds like a good Phil Collins ballad, could be taken as a compliment or an insult. It's tiresome but it the soft bass thud provides adequate interest for the ears. Murder by Numbers is hampered by it's annoying hooks and Sting's cliched lyrics. The guitar work is vaguely interesting, but it lacks the ability to grab you. All in all it's a pretty weak way to finish the album.

It surprises me little that there was a lot of tension between the members of the band during the recording of Synchronicity, which is reflected in the material on the album. The few good cuts, especially Every Breath, keep the album out of the bad section but there's enough fluff here to give it a pretty poor score. Not the way you really want to go out guys...

7/15