Synchronicity

Good album by the British band. Much less energetic than the debut, it remains a good album but far from being their best.

Reallyyyyyy like this album. I've been a big fan of The Police for a while, more so their "Ghost in the Machine" album. I really like their sound. I forgot that "King of Pain" was on this album, which is a song I adore. "Mother" is a little weird, pretty much the only song I feel iffy about on the album. It simultaneously is hella annoying but I also like it? Every other song is peak and a joy to listen to.

The first and second halves of this album are completely different. Both pretty good in their own ways, but neither blow me away. Mother is a wild song and I kind of liked it but will only listen again if I decide to listen to the whole album and not alone. This album definitely does make me want to come back. I bet I would like it more after a few listens, but for right now, it's middle of the pack.

Not a classic by any stretch. Whilst i’d generally say the Police always deliver a listenable tune at worst ‘mother’ proves that wrong.
Every breath you take is obviously a classic but overall the album is just meh

As someone who (until this project) solely knew The Police through singles, it appears they were far, far, far weirder than I ever previously appreciated.

The start of the opening track sounds like a mobile ringtone from before the time we had mobiles, and later has a lyric I misheard as "spirits that will spoon me" (he's actually singing "spiritus mundi" aka world spirit in latin and that's equally odd just for very different reasons).

Sting's pronunciation of footsteps, in Walking in Your Foodsteps... I mean Footsteps... was fascinating. And, you know, unexpected songs about dinosaurs always get a tick from me.

Wrapped Around Your Finger resulted in another excellent misheard lyric: "vegetable well, a bastard" aka "[I will turn your] face to alabaster". I'm not sure if it was Sting's pronunciation or my ears, but there was ample opportunity for misunderstandings during this listen.

I thought Murder by Numbers was a good way to round out an absolutely bizarre album.

Now, to address the elephant in the room, which I have so far skipped... Mother. I started off thinking "What is this shit?" but something happened before the end.... I think I started enjoying it? Given that I enjoyed the rest, and (I'm sure to the horror of the other listeners in my group) I actually liked Mother too, I think this gets a:

3/5 (but I was very close to a 4)

I went into this review determined to be fair and not let my long-standing dislike of Sting colour my judgement. That resolve didn’t last long. Synchronicity gets off to a painfully bad start: Synchronicity I and Walking in Your Footsteps are awful, setting an immediately sour tone.

There’s a brief lift midway through. O My God and Miss Gradenko inject a bit of energy and character, and Synchronicity II finally delivers some genuine bite. Every Breath You Take is the obvious high point.

Beyond those moments, the album quickly sinks back into pretentious, joyless territory. Tracks like Mother are borderline unlistenable, and the overall experience feels far weaker than the band’s reputation suggests.

Favourite track: Every Breath You Take — a genuinely great pop song and the album’s sole saving grace.
Least favourite tracks: Synchronicity I, Mother, and Walking in Your Footsteps — all genuinely horrid and I had so many poor songs to choose from.
Album artwork: A decent cover, though it feels overly obsessed with Sting’s image.

I feel surprisingly won over by this album. I had always thought of Sting and the Police as kind of corny, perhaps because of their hits or their representation in pop culture. Or rhyming “cough” with “Nabokov.”

But my mind grew more open when I found “Synchronicity” in my father-in-law’s CD collection after he died. This was a guy of broad but cultivated taste, and over the years he only held onto the books, albums, and movies he truly loved. He knew more about poetry than anyone I’ve ever met. I wish I knew what he had heard in this album.

So I listened to the album with his ears and I heard the poetry in it, the references to everything from dinosaurs to Paul Bowles. I feel intrigued rather then creeped out by “I’ll Be Watching You” and “Murder By Number.” And of course there’s “King of Pain,” which to me always transcended whatever ideas I might have had about the group.

So it’s a five, maybe the most surprising five I’ve given so far, even if it may have been obvious to many other people.

Ah 1983, l'année où le monde entier a décidé collectivement de se faire lobotomiser par un blondinet péroxydé qui se prenait pour un intellectuel jungien. On s'attaque aujourd'hui à "Synchronicity", l'album de la consécration, ou plutôt, l'album du divorce le plus lucratif de l'histoire du rock.

Une note de 3/5 s'impose ici avec une lucidité qui trahit une usure certaine, celle de l'ancien disquaire qui a trop souvent dû feindre l'enthousiasme quand il fallait vendre ce disque pour la centième fois de la journée.

Je pense qu'il faut, dès le début, mettre le doigt sur la plaie béante de ce disque : c'est du "faux punk" devenu de la "vraie soupe FM". The Police a toujours été une arnaque géniale – trois virtuoses déguisés en voyous pour surfer sur la vague punk de 77. Mais arrivé en 1983, les masques tombent avec fracas. Fini le reggae blanc nerveux, place aux synthétiseurs froids et à la production clinique. C'est propre, c'est net, c'est aussi aseptisé qu'une salle d'attente de dentiste. Sting ne joue plus dans un groupe, il joue avec des musiciens de session qu'il déteste (et qui le détestent en retour). L'ego du bonhomme a tellement enflé qu'il faut désormais un grand angle pour le faire rentrer sur la pochette.

On ne peut pas nier l'efficacité redoutable de la machine. "Every Breath You Take" reste l'hymne de stalker ultime, un chef-d'œuvre de malaise déguisé en chanson d'amour que les beaufs continuent de passer à leurs mariages sans écouter les paroles. "King of Pain" ? Une complainte de riche malheureux, calibrée au millimètre pour les radios américaines. C'est techniquement irréprochable, et c'est bien là le problème : ça manque cruellement de sang et de tripes.

Mais là où l'analyse devient vraiment savoureuse, c'est quand on se penche sur les sauveurs inattendus de l'album : "Murder by Numbers" et surtout... "Mother".

Ah, "Mother" ! Ce morceau que 99% de la planète considère comme une verrue auditive, une erreur de parcours, la chose à skipper d'urgence. Et pourtant, pour mes oreilles c'est une bénédiction, c'est le seul moment de l'album où le vernis craque. C'est Andy Summers qui pète un câble, hurlant en 7/8 sur une mère abusive, dans un style qui lorgne plus vers Captain Beefheart ou une version sous acide de King Crimson que vers le Top 50. C'est désagréable, strident, complètement hystérique et, par conséquent, c'est probablement le seul morceau "honnête" du disque. C'est le cri de désespoir d'un guitariste coincé dans un groupe de pop mondiale, étouffé par l'omniprésence de son bassiste.

Quant à "Murder by Numbers", c'est une petite leçon de cynisme jazz-pop qui rappelle opportunément que ces types savaient jouer avant de devenir des produits marketing. C'est vicieux, c'est fluide, ça groove.

Bref, "Synchronicity" est un monument, certes, mais un monument funéraire. C'est le son d'un groupe qui meurt sous les applaudissements. Un 3/5 mérité : un point pour la technique, un point pour les singles historiques (qu'on le veuille ou non), et un point bonus pour la folie furieuse d'Andy Summers qui hurle après sa maman. Le reste ? De la nourriture pour bande FM.

I had never listened to this album in full even though I had always wanted to. I thought I would enjoy it much more than I did, but I was honestly let down. Call me basic if you want, Every Breath You Take is a great song and easily the best on the album.

The rest of it sounds so different to me that it is hard to believe I did not accidentally change the album. I had no idea it was so reggae(?) oriented. I would rather leave reggae to the artists who can actually make it work because this just is not for me in any way, shape, or form.

I am glad I did not listen to this earlier. I would have been even more grateful if I had never listened to it at all. Barely a 2. I usually rate albums as a whole, but this time I had to grade each song individually just to see if it even deserved a 2.

Wildly pretentious (thankyou Sting).

A film of this being recorded would make Let It Be seem tame. They recorded their tracks in separate rooms "for social reasons".

When it's good it's amazing, but there's also a lot of dross.

And then there's "Mother", Andy Summers "Lets give Ringo a song" moment.

And just to point out, Stewart Copeland goes hard on this.

Likely one of the best albums ever. I'm not even a huge fan overall, but even the worst songs on this album are creative and genre-defining. Songwriting, arranging, guitar, drums, and keyboards. All come together here like almost nowhere else.

This is just about perfect for what it is, and it's also one of the only albums that captures what I love about Talking Heads, outside of the genuine article. That being said, I don't think The Police are just "a band like Talking Heads", they very much do have their own identity that I've learned to appreciate. And this is one of their creative peaks. There really isn't a mis-step here. Sure, Mother is weird, but I've always loved that song. I actually thought the weakest point was Tea In The Sahara for a while. And while it hasn't aged the best, I do now think it's a good song. With these two out of the way, everything else is the peak of The Police. Super tight playing, eccentric, but pop-friendly writing, daring and interesting aesthetic, it's all here. And there are a bunch of cool lyrical moments here too. Walking In Your Footsteps is a really interesting reflection on the dinosaurs, their wisdom, and their end, and how it all connects to us. A less talented lyricist could have turned this song into a real mess too. Another stand-out is ultra-hit (and deeply ironic wedding favorite) Every Breath You Take. You know the trick by now: a love song grows slowly darker, until revealing itself to be about a stalker. It feels obvious, but it's very effective. In addition to these, some of my other personal favorites are King Of Pain, Synchronicity (I and II), and Murder By Numbers. But the consistency here is ultimately a strong suite here: it's not like there's a bad song. I didn't see this coming, but I honestly am feeling the 5 on this one.

It’s considered their best album and it definitely has some of their best songs on it. But as with all Police albums, there’s a fair bit of filler.

When it’s good it’s great, but some of it is just awful as well

3

So many amazing songs. SO MANY. "Synchrinicity II" is my personal favorite from The Police, so that was a total treat. Other favorites of mine include "Every Breath You Take"(one of the most iconic 80s songs, period) and "King of Pain", so hearing them all in a row on the same album was perfection. Where this album messes up is the rest of the stuff. Don't get me wrong, most of the songs are either just fine or decent. I enjoyed a couple of the deepest cuts. But there is one huge, glaring problem. And it's called "Mother". Never play that one for me ever again.

Another nostalgia album that I have listened to regularly since the '80s. Surprisingly, the triple-threat hit list of Every Breath You Take, King of Pain, and Wrapped Around Your Finger is probably my least favorite part of this album, mainly because this songs were played to DEATH on pop radio when this album was new. Sychrnoicity II is easily my favorite Police song and the inspiration for me to start looking at faster and heavier music. I have ALWAYS loved how Summers' Mother takes you completely out of the album (in the best way) and Copeland's Miss Gradenko pulls you right back in (before returning us to the Sting show). It’s not a perfect album, but one I'll always find pretty great.

Somehow both interesting & boring.

Oh man, this is gonna be hard. I've avoided The Police for so long because I really don't care for reggae. But this opening track reminds me of Genesis and I'm not complaining. The song Mother is wild and very unexpected. Overall, I went into this album with a bad attitude and came out liking it anyway

Pretty cool

Standout Tracks: Synchronicity II, Every Breath You Take

I’m a huge fan of the Police and Stewart Copeland in particular. I get the point behind the song Mother, and I like weird shit, but that song is just not good. One of my favorite live performances ever is the Police playing Wrapped Around Your Finger on their reunion tour. If you haven’t seen it you should definitely check it out.

Were they on drugs making this?

I enjoyed Reggatta De Blanc, so imagine my shock when I heard Mother!

This album was weird. You had terrible songs, mediocre songs and then an absolute banger (Every Breath You Take) all mixed in together

Choices were made here... and not good ones

3 ⭐️