FEATURE:
Every Breath You Take
The Police’s Synchronicity at Forty
_________
A classic album…
IN THIS PHOTO: The Police (Stewart Copeland, Sting and Andy Summers) The Police, pictured in 1983 during promotional tour to launch their hit single, Every Breath You Take/PHOTO CREDIT: Mirrorpix
released on 17th June, 1983, The Police’s final, Synchronicity, reached number one in the U.K. and U.S. It was a real high for the band to go out on. There is something a little heartbreaking about the album. Even if the material is superb and it is a brilliant swansong, the truth is that the band (Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers) were growing tired of each other. There was a lot of frustration and tension when they came to record Synchronicity . Their fifth album is one of the most accessible, but it is also experimental too. Having released their debut, Outlandos d'Amour, in 1978, they put out a lot of brilliant work in five years. Despite tensions and The Police coming to an end soon after the album was released, I wanted to celebrate forty years of Synchronicity. It is a magnificent album that homes one of The Police’s best-known songs, Every Breath You Take. I am going to come to some features and reviews of this phenomenal album. In 2019, XS Noize revisited this classic:
“The Police by December of 1982 had achieved fame and fortune and were much admired by both critics and the public at large. Their 1981 release “Ghosts in the Machine” had cemented the accolades they had received after the release of their breakthrough album 1980’s “Zenyatta Mondatta”. The band was at a point where many inside and outside the band wondered if they could top those efforts. Their 1983 release “Synchronicity” would display that The Police possessed that singular legacy making tendency that all great artists possess. Rather than resting on their laurels churning out more of the same Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers would experiment with new sounds and ideas as they followed their own path. They would take a chance disregarding the demands of critics, fans and their label and end up with a blockbuster. “Synchronicity” was a masterwork that is often obscured by the untimely breakup of the band. That break up in some ways cast a shadow on what The Police accomplished with this intelligent, quirky at times but always heartfelt effort. The album that initiated my life long love of lyrics fell into a memory hole of sorts. So consider this my attempt to correct that occurrence some 36 years later.
The album that would become “Synchronicity” was recorded at AIR Studios on the island of Montserrat and Le Studio in Quebec, Canada. It was recorded between December of 1982 and February of 1983. It was produced by Hugh Padgham and the members of The Police. The personal trials and tempestuousness of the band’s social dynamic drove the recording. Padgham resorted to recording each of the band member’s parts in different recording studios at different times to keep the argumentative nature of the members in check. At one point refereeing the pugnaciousness nature of their social interaction would see Padgham threaten to abandon the project, but in the end, the recording was completed and released in June of 1983. It didn’t take long for it to become The Police most successful effort.
“Synchronicity” would unleash four mammoth singles; “Every Breathe You Take”, “King of Pain”, “Wrapped Around Your Finger” and “Synchronicity II”. MTV was in its heyday and the videos for three of the songs would garner increase popularity for the band. The release would go number 1 in both the US and UK, it would sell 8 million units in the US alone and receive critical acclaim for its ability to cohesively merge disparate genres and sonics with intelligent lyrics. The 1983 Rolling Stone Readers poll would vote “Synchronicity” Album of the Year. The album would be Grammy nominated for Album of the Year, win for Best Rock Performance and take home one of the big prizes, winning the Grammy for Song of the Year with “Every Breathe You Take”. To give some context to that award, the song bested Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” from “Thriller”. The album would also move “Thriller” out of the number one spot for 17 weeks. Not too bad for an album about esoteric ideas provided by the likes of psychologist Carl Gustav Jung and author/journalist Arthur Koestler.
The album gained its title from Carl Gustav Jung’s book “Synchronicity”. The word by definition means unconnected events that have a causal connection. That definition really informs the overall concept of the album with each song being so individual yet each song fit like a puzzle piece that once connected created a total picture. “Synchronicity” delved into many archetypal struggles that mankind has faced for an eon but it was also about the break down of relationships. Sting and Andy Summer’s marriages were ending during the recording and the aftermath of that emotional turmoil seeps into many tracks along with the band’s struggles to get along with each other. This would prove to be a task they failed at miserably. The album was a sum total of all the cacophony the band was confronting, fears that lingered and the break down of relationships. Those topics make for a universal appeal that was akin to Jung’s theories of motif and coincidence that gave the album its title. Like all masterworks, each encounter with the album revealed something new and it maintains its relevance even 36 years after it’s released. What was so alluring about the album was its ability to convey a sort of end of the world gyre that the poets had warned about.
“Synchronicity” closely examined the world, relationships both marital and personal and the idea of understanding God and it was all accomplished in 43 minutes of song. The landscapes in which this examination took place spanned from the Sahara desert to tiny impersonal office boxes in bleak industrial parks. “Synchronicity” was peopled by obsessed lovers, Amazonian Soviet secretaries, thwarted apprentices, serial killers, yearning eccentrics and a chap at the garden gate philosophizing about mankind’s fate. Betrayal hung heavy in the air and is found in almost every track; be the betrayer a spouse, employer, humanity or God. Throughout Sting begs for reconciliation or at least for the pain to stop. The album was looking for a way to transcend the unmitigated difficulties of life”.
Most people know what transpired in the near future after the dust settled with the release of “Synchronicity”. The band would acquire the top perch in the world of Rock Music as undeniable leaders. They would attempt a sixth album, however, the band’s fraught relationship with each other, which at the best of times was a clash of brilliant ambitious egos, would lead to the band breaking up officially in 1986. Sting would head off to his successful solo career; Stewart Copeland would continue to jump in and out of various musical projects landing successfully in producing. Andy Summers would record with various musicians like Robert Fripp and publish his photography. Time would eventually bring the band together from time to time, first on the last three stops of the Conspiracy of Hope Amnesty International Tour in 1986 and then a The Police reunion tour that the band swears was a one-off in 2007. I guess fans were foolish to think that the super concentration of musical brilliance the likes of the three members of The Police could last, like some kind of comet they were destined to burn out. But what an album they released before they parted. “Synchronicity” would prove to be an intricate combination of dazzling sonics, glacial doom and pop hooks. Sadly too often its magnificence is overshadowed by the never-ending question of what might have been if The Police has remained operational.
When you move beyond that question it is apparent the release deserves appreciation for what it was and it is a masterwork. It defined the musical zeitgeist of the era challenging future artists to match and exceed its vision and brilliance. If you have never listened to the album please make sure to avail yourself before you exit this world. I can attest to its power as personally “Synchronicity” set me off on my own musical journey ever so long ago and that journey continues today; thanks Sting, Stewart and Andy, I am eternally in your debt”.
I am not sure if there are any events or plans for the fortieth anniversary of Synchronicity on 17th June. It has split some fans of The Police, as many consider it to be their best album, whilst some feel it is weaker and less consistent than their previous four albums. Albumism did a great retrospective feature of Synchronicity for its thirty-fifth anniversary in 2018. It is interesting how they note the fact The Police wrap everything up on the album. Synchronicity is not an album that suggests more things are coming. It is distinctly a goodbye and real statement. I think the intensity of recording so many albums together in a short time, coupled with extensive touring, did take its toll on the band’s relationships:
“When you look back on a band’s canon of work you can’t help but wonder if they knew the last album they recorded would actually be their last. Although Sting has retroactively hinted that during the recording of Synchronicity (and the subsequent tour) he knew it was the end of the line for the band, it’s hard to say how conscious of this he was during the actual recording.
Regardless of whether or not the collective of bassist, singer and chief songwriter Sting, guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland knew that Synchronicity would be the album that would have them calling it quits, it definitely has the feel of a band trying to end an era with an exclamation point rather than a petered-out period.
With three strong-willed musicians confined to a studio for weeks, you expect some fireworks. But by all reports, the recording of Synchronicity was like cobbling together three solo acts rather than recording a trio. With each musician given their own recording space in George Martin’s AIR Studios (out of the line of sight and interaction of one another), socializing was kept to a bare minimum. Even the subsequent overdubs on the album were reportedly recorded in solo sessions so that band members wouldn’t cross paths.
But for all the personality clashes and overbearing tantrums that took place during the recording of the album, the tumultuous trio managed to deliver their most focused and concentrated album.
But in its purest album form, Synchronicity is The Police in the prime of their powers, presenting well-crafted tune after tune for our listening pleasure. It was the album that further skyrocketed them into the musical stratosphere, garnered them Grammy Awards and chart-topping success, and ultimately spelt their end. But if a band is going to go out, you’d be hard fought to find a better album to go out on”.
want to end with a couple of reviews (the second one is from 1983). This retrospective review from BBC in 2007 does highlight some weaknesses in Synchronicity, but they go on to say that it is a timeless release. I think that many people will be looking back at The Police’s final album as we get closer to its anniversary next month:
“By 1983 Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland were trapped in a loveless marriage. Sure, the guys still cared about each other, but 4 years of teenage adulation and non-stop touring had highlighted the difficulties of having three such large egos within one tight-knit trio. Previous album, Ghosts In The Machine had ended up with a bland red on black cover because the members couldn't even agree on a design, such was the festering rancour. So it was that Synchronicity was to be their Abbey Road. A final masterpiece born out of tears and break-ups.
Following a lengthy gestation, the album came with all the hype and trappings due to such an event in the early 80s. With 36 different sleeves featuring pictures taken by the band themselves (well, it saved on those disagreements), attendant Godley and Creme directed videos and state of the art sonics co-produced by Hugh Padgham, it's a wonder that Synchronicity didn't sink bebeath the weight of its own publicity. But quality wins every time, and luckily Sting and co were still capable of delivering the goods.
Alongside the so-classic-you-don't-even-hear-it-anymore track; creepy, stalker-related "Every Breath You Take", Synchronicity does the usual Police trick of balancing pretention with pop. While its predecessor had name-checked Arthur Koestler, this one referenced the same AND Carl Jung. "Walking In Your Footsteps" made some kind of analogy between mankind's folly and the extinction of the dinosaurs (but hold on...dinosaurs didn't produce pollution and war did they? Oh well.); "Synchronicity II" took its inspiration from Yeats' The Second Coming; "Tea In The Sahara" was based on Paul Bowles' novel, The Sheltering Sky. never let it be said that Sting's work wasn't educuational. A whole generation read Lolita due to him as well.
Drummer Copeland's contribution, "Miss Gradenko" displayed his family's legacy of political globalism matched with Russian stereotypes while Andy Summers' "Mother", which seemed mere silly filler at the time, now sounds wildly funny and honest all at once. It certainly keeps the listener awake.
Of course Sting's major works here revolve around his own private life taking a downturn. "Every Breath You Take" and "Wrapped Around Your Finger" paint a desperate portrait of a marriage in shreds, while "Murder By Numbers" is taken from the point of view of a serial killer.
If the album suffers at all, it's from over-production. This band were never better than as a punchy reggae-lite trio and this was about as far as they could ever come without sounding pompous. It still has at its heart, however, a nugget of purest pop, and that makes it timeless enough”.
I will finish with a review from Rolling Stone. They were definitely blown away by what they heard on Synchronicity. It is album that I think still feels fresh today. Even if there is some overproduction, I can dive in and still enjoy every track. If you have not heard it before, do make sure that you carve out some time to get into this 1983 gem:
“Synchronicity is a work of dazzling surfaces and glacial shadows. Sunny pop melodies echo with ominous sound effects. Pithy verses deal with doomsday. A battery of rhythms — pop, reggae and African — lead a safari into a physical and spiritual desert, to “Tea in the Sahara.” Synchronicity, the Police’s fifth and finest album, is about things ending — the world in peril, the failure of personal relationships and marriage, the death of God.
Throughout the LP, these ideas reflect upon one another in echoing, overlapping voices and instrumentation as the safari shifts between England’s industrial flatlands and Africa. “If we share this nightmare/ Then we can dream,” Sting announces in the title cut, a jangling collage of metallic guitar, percussion and voices that artfully conjures the clamor of the world.
Though the Police started out as straightforward pop-reggae enthusiasts, they have by now so thoroughly assimilated the latter that all that remains are different varieties of reggae-style syncopation. The Police and coproducer Hugh Padgham have transformed the ethereal sounds of Jamaican dub into shivering, self-contained atmospheres. Even more than on the hauntingly ambient Ghost in the Machine, each cut on Synchronicity is not simply a song but a miniature, discrete soundtrack.
Synchronicity‘s big surprise, however, is the explosive and bitter passion of Sting’s newest songs. Before this LP, his global pessimism was countered by a streak of pop romanticism. Such songs as “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da” and “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” stood out like glowing gems, safely sealed off from Sting’s darker reflections. On Synchronicity, vestiges of that romanticism remain, but only in the melodies. In the lyrics, paranoia, cynicism and excruciating loneliness run rampant.
“Tea in the Sahara,” Synchronicity‘s moodiest, most tantalizing song, is an aural mirage that brings back the birdcalls and jungle sounds of earlier songs as whispering, ghostly instrumental voices. In this haunting parable of endless, unappeasable desire, Sting tells the story, inspired by the Paul Bowles novel The Sheltering Sky, of a brother and two sisters who develop an insatiable craving for tea in the desert. After sealing a bargain with a mysterious young man, they wait on a dune for his return, but he never appears. The song suggests many interpretations: England dreaming of its lost empire, mankind longing for God, and Sting himself pining for an oasis of romantic peace.
And that is where this bleak, brilliant safari into Sting’s heart and soul finally deposits us — at the edge of a desert, searching skyward, our cups full of sand”.
I am looking forward to reading and hearing how people remember The Police’s Synchronicity at forty. It is a magnificent way to end a brief but amazing career from Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers. If there was some tension when the album was released – and certainly when they were touring it -, that does not impact the quality and legacy of Synchronicity. There is no doubt that this album was one of the…
BEST of the 1980s.