Synchronicity (The Police album)

Synchronicity
Studio album by The Police
Released	1 June 1983
Recorded	December 1982 – February 1983 AIR Studios, Montserrat Le Studio, Quebec, Canada
Genre	New Wave, reggae fusion, post-punk
Length	44:32
Label	A&M
Producer	The Police, Hugh Padgham
The Police chronology
Ghost in the Machine (1981) Synchronicity (1983) Every Breath You Take: The Singles (1986)
Singles from Synchronicity
"Every Breath You Take" Released: May 1983 (1983-05) "Wrapped Around Your Finger" Released: July 1983 (1983-07) "Synchronicity II" Released: October 1983 (1983-10) "King of Pain" Released: January 1984 (1984-01)

Synchronicity is the fifth and final studio album by The Police, released in 1983. The band's most popular release, Synchronicity includes the hit songs "Every Breath You Take", "King of Pain", "Wrapped Around Your Finger", and "Synchronicity II".

History

The album's title was inspired by Arthur Koestler's The Roots of Coincidence, which mentions Carl Jung's theory of synchronicity. Sting was an avid reader of Koestler, and also named Ghost in the Machine after one of his works.

The album marked a significant reduction in the reggae influences that were a part of the band's first four records, instead featuring production-heavy textures and liberal use of synthesizers that, at times, drove entire songs ("Synchronicity I", "Wrapped Around Your Finger"). The influence of World music can also be heard in songs such as "Tea in the Sahara" and "Walking in Your Footsteps".

As with their prior album, the basic tracks for Synchronicity were recorded at AIR Studios, Montserrat. For sound engineering reasons, the three band members recorded their parts in separate rooms: Copeland with his drums in the dining room, Sting in the control room, and Summers in the actual studio. According to co-producer Hugh Padgham, subsequent overdubs were done with only one member in the studio at a time.

During the recording of "Every Breath You Take", Sting and Copeland came to blows with each other, and Padgham nearly quit the project.^[1]

The album was published in the UK and USA on both LP and CD in 1983, and on super audio CD in 2003. In 1989 it was published as a remastered gold CD. It was reissued as a remastered digipack CD in 2003.

Songs

"Synchronicity I" starts the album off with a sequencer line that repeats throughout the song. Its lyrics include a term from "The Second Coming", "Spiritus Mundi" (literally "spirit of the world"), which Yeats used to refer to the collective unconscious, another of Jung's theories. "Walking in Your Footsteps" features lyrics concerning the relation between extinct dinosaurs and humans, and is followed by the jazzy "O My God." (The song recycles some lyrics from two earlier Police songs: "Three O'Clock Shit," which was never recorded on an album^[2] but was widely bootlegged from live performances, and the 1981 single "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.") "Mother" features screamed vocals by Summers and a frantic guitar line reminiscent of Robert Fripp (with whom Summers had previously recorded), and "Miss Gradenko" is a song about a romance in the middle of a communist bureaucracy.^[3] "Synchronicity II" features extensive use of audio feedback.

"Every Breath You Take", which begins side two of the record is possibly The Police's best-known song, with Sting's vocals on top of a steady rhythm featuring picked guitar, strong bass, and controlled drumming. Originally, the song was what Andy Summers called a "Hammond organ thing that sounded like Billy Preston." The guitarist came up with a more interesting guitar riff which became distinctive part of the piece. The song, released before the album, went to #1 on both the U.S. and UK charts, aided by a black and white video directed by Godley & Creme.

"King of Pain" features a lyrical imagery and numerous effects and instruments, while "Wrapped Around Your Finger" uses subdued keyboards. The record's closer, "Tea in the Sahara", is a quiet, eerie song about three women who are deceived by a prince and left in the desert, where they meet their death. The title of this song comes from a section of Paul Bowles' novel The Sheltering Sky, which mentions the story. "Murder By Numbers", originally the B-side of "Every Breath You Take", was added to the CD and cassette versions of the album, and has lyrics comparing political power to the development of a serial killer. "Synchronicity I" and "Synchronicity II" allude to "The Second Coming", a poem by William Butler Yeats.

The album's original cover artwork was available in 36 variations, with different arrangements of the colour stripes and showing different photographs of the band members, which they took themselves. In the most common version Sting is reading a copy of Jung's Synchronicity on the front cover along with a negative/superimposed image of the actual text of the synchronicity hypothesis. A photo on the back cover also shows a close-up, but mirrored and upside-down, image of Jung's book. The original vinyl release appears black like most records, but is actually purple when held up to the light.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[4]
Robert Christgau	(B+) [5]
Rolling Stone	[6]
Sputnikmusic	[7]

Synchronicity topped the album charts in both the UK^[8] and USA (interrupting the dominance of Michael Jackson's Thriller in the US). It won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

In 2001, the TV network VH1 named Synchronicity the 50th greatest album of all time. In 2003, the album was ranked number 455 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Pitchfork Media ranked it #55 in their list of The 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s. In 2006, Q magazine placed the album at #25 in its list of "40 Best Albums of the '80s".^[9]

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" (Words: Sting, Music: Andy Summers) – 4:36 (Not included on original LP release.)

Three other songs were recorded as B-sides.

1. "Someone to Talk To" (Summers)
2. "Once Upon a Daydream" (Sting, Summers)
3. "Tea in the Sahara (Live)"

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

Production

• Hugh Padgham – production, engineering
• Dave Collins, Bob Ludwig – mastering
• Jeffrey Kent Ayeroff, Norman Moore, Vartan – art direction
• Jeffrey Kent Ayeroff, Norman Moore – design
• Duane Michals – photography

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1983	UK Albums Chart[8]	1
	The Billboard 200
	Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1983	"Every Breath You Take"	UK Singles Chart	1[8]
		Adult Contemporary	5
		Club Play Singles	26
		Mainstream Rock	1
		The Billboard Hot 100	1
	"King of Pain"	Adult Contemporary	33
		Mainstream Rock	1
		The Billboard Hot 100	3
	"Synchronicity II"	UK Singles Chart	17[8]
		Mainstream Rock	9
		The Billboard Hot 100	16
	"Wrapped Around Your Finger"	UK Singles Chart	7[8]
		Mainstream Rock	9
1984		Adult Contemporary	13
		The Billboard Hot 100	8
	"King of Pain"	UK Singles Chart	17[8]

Awards

Year	Winner	Award	Category
1983	"Every Breath You Take"	Grammy Awards	Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
			Song of the Year
	Synchronicity		Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal

References

1. ^ Buskin, Richard (March 2004). Classic Tracks: The Police's 'Every Breath You Take', Sound on Sound.
2. ^ Note: Though no proper album recording of "Three O'Clock Shit" exists, a demo recorded by the band Strontium 90 was eventually released on Strontium 90: Police Academy, with its title censored as "Three O'Clock Shot".
3. ^ "Stewart Copeland's AOL transcript". June 22, 1995. http://www.stingetc.com/stewchat.shtml. 
4. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Synchronicity (The Police album) at Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-06-18.
5. ^ Album Review, robertchristgau.com.
6. ^ Album Review, Rolling Stone.
7. ^ Album Review, Sputnikmusic.
8. ^ ^{a b c d e f} The Police in the UK Charts, The Official Charts.
9. ^ Q August 2006, Issue 241

Preceded by Thriller by Michael Jackson Thriller by Michael Jackson	Billboard 200 number-one album 23 July – 9 September 1983 17 September – 25 November 1983	Succeeded by Thriller by Michael Jackson Metal Health by Quiet Riot
Preceded by Thriller by Michael Jackson	UK Albums Chart number one album 25 June 1983 – 8 July 1983	Succeeded by Fantastic by Wham!
Preceded by The Number Ones by The Beatles	Australian Kent Music Report number-one album 11–31 July 1983	Succeeded by Keep on Dancing by Various Artists