The Police - Synchronicity

In the summer of 1983, I was 16 years old. The family vacation that year included a trip to Kansas City and the famed "Worlds of Fun"(WOF) and "Oceans of Fun(OOF). We stayed in KC for a day or two. We went to WOF one day and then to OOF the second. After a day at OOF, we drove down to St Joseph, Missouri to spend the night. We checked into our hotel room, ate supper and decided to check out the local shopping mall. I remember perusing through the cassette racks at the Musicland store in St. Joe. I found the new releases and was drawn to a blue, yellow and red album cover of the Police's Synchronicity.

I owned a few singles (45's) of the Police such as "Don't Stand So Close to Me", and "Every Little Thing She does is Magic" and "Spirits in the Material World". But, I think this may have been my first full length album by one of rock's greatest trios. I think "Every Breath You Take" had been released as the first single. I remember being less than impressed over the single. But, it was the Police and I have always felt that there were better songs on the album that what the record company had picked out as the singles. So, I was anxious to hear what else this album had to offer.

From the opening track "Synchronicity I", I thought it was just mindbending to take a word SYN-CHRON-I-CI-TY and fit it into a lyric.


The Second track "Walking in Your Footsteps" takes me by surprise with the line:

"Hey Mr Dinosaur. You really couldn't ask for more.

You're God's favorite creature. but you haven't got a future"

-so let me get this straight....this is a song for Dinosaurs? Interesting..

I remember reading the tiny lyric sheet in my cassette to the next song "Oh My God". Was this Sting asking God to fill up the space between God and man ...or is this Sting's lament to ex-wife...or both. Then, at about 3 minutes, it hits me that Stewart Copeland is just driving it home with some of my favorite drumming ever.

Andy Summers takes over lead vocals on the next song with his off-key, off kilter and avante-garde
"Mother". What always makes me chuckle is the line in this song

"Every girl I go out with becomes my mother in the end!"

This album became such a soundtrack to my teenage life. The Police was one of my Top 5 bands of my High School years. This album became so engrained into my music heritage that it's hard not to zone out the music while listening.

Side One ends with Synchronicity II which (at the time) seemed like just another song. But, when the video was released on MTV, it gave the song new energy and vibrance. I remember discussing the lyrics

"Many Miles away something crawls from the slime at the bottom of a dark Scottish Lake"

 

....Hmmm Lochness Monster...cool!

Over the years, Side two was just the side of the album with all the hits starting with "Every Breath You Take", "King of Pain" and "Wrapped Around Your finger". I loved these songs. But, I remember my weekly viewing of NBC's Friday Night Video Fights for that year either featured the Police with one of these songs or a Def Leppard song.

The album is rounded out with the songs "Tea in the Sahara" and the morbid "Murder by Numbers"

After buying this album, I became a full blown Police fan. I would buy the rest of the albums and I even had a 1984 Police Calendar hanging on my wall. If I didn't buy them at first, I would borrow the LP's from my classmate-Rick English who was also a big fan. I was always envious that Rick saw the Synchronicity tour in Denver. I wish I'd been there.

I'm sure as an older brother, my love of the Police filtered down to my brother Mike. As I stated in my note on Dave Brubeck's Time out, Mike and I would listen to the Police box set-Message in a Box as we would drive up into the Rocky Mountains.

For me, the music and the memories go together. I've met people who weren't Police fans and I couldn't believe it. I felt insulted by this probably because I had great memories associated with this music. The Police eventually reunited for a tour in 2007. The band is still made up of 3 great musicians. There are some songs on the live DVD The Police – Certifiable that Sting does have the vocal range he once had. I wish I could have seen one of these reunion shows. But, with the unbelievable price of concert tickets (and this was a reunion tour), it’s hard for me to make the trips for these things anymore.