Police

Synchronicity

Nasty, cynical, brilliant

Review Score:

(10/10)
Why is it that the best, most sophisticated of rock bands last for so little time? The Beatles, Cream, Genesis (the original Genesis with Peter Gabriel), Dire Straits and the Police to name a few. Those names, though, except for Dire Straits, have something more in common: They are multi-talented bands. It seems that bands that have only one member who is creatively and musically dominant seem to last much longer, maybe because the other members know quite well that they won't make it on their own. Bands like the Beatles or Cream tend to fall victim to the bandmates' egos and to power-struggles. So it happenned that, like with the Beatles, the more sophisticated the Police's music became, the worse their internal relationship was, until finally they disbanded after this, their best and only fifth album.

Though the Police's music is usually labeled as 'pop', it never was. Pop usually means mainstream, a definition which fits Sting's solo music (as good and sophisticated as it is), but never the Police, who were by far more sophisticated and original than most anything pop music produced in the early eighties. Their first albums were characterized with a style that was somehow blended from funk, punk and raggae, which was entirely origianl by itself; but in their last two releases they abandoned their trademark style and went off to explore any number of other influences, from latin (Miss Grandeko), fasr-eastern (Mother) and african music (Walking In Your Footsteps) to new wave synth pop (Synchronicity) to swing (Murder By Numbers). Mostly due to the frictions within the band, this album is much less 'Police' and much more Sting, Andy Summers and Stuart Copeland than anything else they've done. Andy's jazz persona surfaces for the first time (his influence on 'Murder By Numbers' is especially clear); and though all three players retained their very unique styles, they now use them in a wider variety of contextes, making a richer, more interesting music.

Synchronicity has a very dark atmosphere, a sort of a manic-depressive sarcasm that lasts through most of the songs, especially Sting's compositions, songs like 'Murder By Numbers', 'Walking In Your Footsteps', 'Wrapped Around Your Finger' and - yes, 'Every Breath You Take', though the tune is so drilled into our heads as a love song that we don't give much thought to the lyrics any more (I can't believe they actually play this song in weddings!) There is only one straight love song on the album - 'Tea In The Sahara', and not surprisingly it's the weakest song on the album, even though it's also quite beautiful. Stuart's one entry on the album, 'Miss Grandeko', fails to break the tense, creepy feeling of the whole thing. And it's that feeling, more than anything, that makes this album anything but pop. Most of all, my favorite song, 'Murder By Numbers', a swing track with lyrics by Sting and music by Andy, which brings out the best in all members. A perfect ending to the album.

Just a few words about Andy's song, 'Mother': it's really not that bad. It's just not what you would expect to find on this album. Is that a bad thing? True, it's not a pop song. True, it's delivered by Andy's screamy semi-singing voice instead of Sting's beautiful, immediately recognizable voice. It doesn't sound like the Police. But it's a stroke of genius by its own right. I'm not surprised Police fanatics hate it, but pay no heed to them: do not skip this track. Listen to it at least once.

Everybody has one Police greatest hits compilation or another, because the Police are best known as a hit-making pop group; but they're so much more. Get at least one Police album, and start either with Synchronicity or Ghost In The Machine.

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