Synchronicity

The Police

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: June 1983
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: A&M
• ASIN: B000002GF8
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (141 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #60,294 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording
Synchronicity is the last full-length studio recording from the Police, the final evolution of their sound, and the album that yielded their greatest success. It is a brilliant pop record, but it's something more, as well. The singles, particularly "Every Breath You Take," "King of Pain," and "Wrapped Around Your Finger," while pure gems by themselves, are an integral part of the album's musical and lyrical texture. As the title indicates, the album's intellectual content is inspired by C.G. Jung's psychosocial connecting principle and it manifests lyrically in some of the most evocative imagery Sting has ever created. Musically, the band defines a sonic space with arrangements that are often spare to the point of transparency. The songs are constructed from delicate arpeggios and eerie washes of guitar, sinuous keyboard lines, solid, repetitive bass figures, and the signature Stewart Copeland drum sound, all topped by Sting's voice moving through a wide range of pitch and sentiment. Synchronicity is a collection that creates and sustains a mood in the sensitive listener, a feeling that remains after the last note has died away. A benchmark album from a tremendously influential band, it will stand the test of time as a genuine classic. --Al Massa

Amazon.com
With the release of 1983's Synchronicity, their fifth and final studio album, the Police were briefly the biggest rock band in the world. As such, it's a suitably overblown representation of their stature. Gone are previous albums' love ditties set to danceable Caribbean pop and new wave; in their place are the pretentious conceptualism of the title, the grand strokes of chart-friendly drama, and rock-star brooding found in the record's three top-ten hits, "Wrapped Around Your Finger," "King of Pain," and the undeniable classic, "Every Breath You Take." The newfound seriousness spurred multiplatinum sales, convincing Sting it was time to go solo. --Roni Sarig

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Trip Through Your Psyche., February 22, 2000

By	Jason Stein (Chula Vista, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

How do I rate Synchronicity? I'd have to put it in perspective with the other 1,999 cds I've collected over the years. I have all 5 Police cds as combined on their Message in a Box set. I have all 6 Sting solo cds. It's Synchronicity that I keep coming back to. It's 17 years old now and I was just 10 1/2 when it came out. At the time I hated "Every Breath You Take" and "King of Pain", but what does a ten year old know! As I matured, I began to understand what Sting was saying. This is one of those rare albums where music and lyric combine and compliment each other. Psychologically this album never becomes dated or out of touch. It's as tough a disc as Peter Gabriel's 1992 cd "Us" or Jane Siberry's 1993 cd "When I Was a Boy." All 11 tracks on Synchronicity deal with the theme of love and relationships. The metaphorical take on nuclear war in "Walking in Your Footsteps", the mother-son emotional damage playing itself out in future relationships in "Mother", the stress of working and having a family leading to emtional turmoil on "Synchronicity II", the obsessiveness of stalking a loved one on "Every Breath You Take", the isolation and pain of being in a relationship on "King of Pain" and the psychological/emotional damage of the games we play in relationships on "Wrapped Around Your Finger." Few popular albums have ever achieved such depth in lyric and richness in sound as the Police did on Synchronicity. It's digitally remastered too to bring forth all the best elements of this disc. To be fair, all Police albums are at least good. Synchronicity avoids the repetitiveness of their first 3 discs and takes a step further than Ghost in the Machine. Sting as a solo artist hasn't been this lyrically provoking. The closest he's come is on 1991's Soul Cages disc in which the music kind of fell short. Synchronicity is a disc that our grandchildren will know about like Led Zeppelin's IV or Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Definitely worth having in your cd collection.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best rock albums ever recorded, September 28, 1999

By A Customer

Bias - Synchronicity was the first rock album I ever received (alongside of VH 1984) and it blew me away then, as it still does now.

The biggest thing that hit me - after purchasing the CD years after I lost the tape - is how well the production fits the music. Everything is so lush, its like stepping into infinite sonic space while bumping into pieces of sound floating all around you. The depth of this album is amazing. It, like Peter Gabriel's _Security_, was made for CD.

The songs - To me the only throwaway is "Murder by Numbers" - the definitive version of that song was done by Zappa on the "Broadway the Hard Way" (with Sting at the helm, of course). I think Summers is too clean and sloppy for this song to work. I love the arpeggiated riffing by Summers on "Miss Gradenko", and I must be the one person that loves the swirling, arabesque "Mother" - primarily because when you break down the music, its turns out to be a very cleverly disguised 12-bar blues riff! Such is the majesty of this album.

The best songs for your hi-fi have to be "Walking in Your Footsteps" and "Synchronicity II". The former sparkles and tantalizes with strange percussive synth noises (why does everything on this album sound so different from every synth-pop band of the same time frame? Its still modern after almost 15 years). The latter, a grungy, daring escape into pure musical darkness, is the best performance of the Police's - and especially Andy Summers' - careers. The feedback "guitar solo" and the ripping 16-th note solo that fades in at the end of this track are utterly gripping.

The best part about this album though, if you are a gloomy gus like me, is the lyrical work by Sting. The images in "King of Pain" stick with you long after the music leaves your mind - "A skeleton choking on a crust of bread" is my favorite. You don't have to be some erudite Jungian analyst to appreciate the sense of lyrical foreboding in "Synchronicity II" - the polemic dedicated/dessicating the the suburbanite animal is bitter and acidic in its exactness and realism. What does old Nessie have to do with Dad and Grandmother screaming at the wall? I don't know, I still don't know, but the song still sends a shiver up my spine 15 years after I first heard it.

Its a bona fide classic, like Zeppelin IV. Unlike that album though, repetitive play and ultimately time doesn't diminish its power. If you love music you simply must own this album. It is the definitive rock statement of the 80s, and one of the best rock albums ever made.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Pop Rock, March 16, 2007

By	Olukayode Balogun (Leeds, England) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Synchronicity [Digipak] (Audio CD)

The Police don't need any introduction and I doubt this album does either. I had it on (very worn) vinyl for years but finally decided to upgrade to CD. In light of their recent announcement of a reunion tour, it may not be long before this becomes harder to find and/or more expensive than it is at the moment. It's great rock music delivered in the way only The Police know how but it's also classic 80s pop.

My favourite tunes are "Every Breath You Take", "Synchronicity II" (I absolutely loved the video!), "Tea In The Sahara" and "Wrapped Around Your Finger" but it's a great CD all round. Even back then, it was easy to see that Sting would become the megastar that he eventually did. I hope the reunion works out. I'd pay good money to see these guys play live.