#159 The Police, 'Synchronicity' (1983)

Previously #448

By this stage of the list last time, we had seen four entries by The Police already. I was beginning to think that perhaps they had fallen out completely, but here we have their fifth and final album. A band that opted to bow out when they were on top, this album was their most successful of their career, including the hits ‘Every Breath You Take,’ ‘King Of Pain,’ ‘Wrapped Around Your Finger’ and ‘Synchronicity II.’ The album would be nominated for 5 Grammys, taking home 3 of them.

This album saw the band abandoning their Reggae influences, displaying more of a pop sound and alternative sound, including the heavy use of synthesizers throughout. Stewart Copeland, who happens to be one of my favourite drummers, played beats that were more straightforward on most of the songs and less like his usual complex playing. That’s one of the elements contributing to the album’s more straightforward pop sound. Guitarist, Andy Summers, breaks ranks on the wacky punk-influenced song, ‘Mother,’ on which Sting contributed Oboe. Hit single, ‘Every Breath You Take,’ would go on to become the band’s signature song. It was about the break up of Sting’s relationship with Frances Tomelty and the subsequent affair with her best friend, and his future wife, Trudie Styler. Sting wrote the song at James Bond author, Ian Fleming’s writing desk at his home, Goldeneye, in Jamaica. The song would go on to be the most played song in radio history, with more than 15 million spins (I would have put my money on Nickelback’s ‘How You Remind Me’). The album went to #1 in the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand and would briefly knock Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ off of the top spot. It would enjoy 17 non-consecutive weeks at the top spot.

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