Police - Synchronicity POLL

can't tell if you're being sarcastic, bimble, but i genuinely like the song. probably because it's the song i've known since i was little - fuck da haters

I've half a mind to vote for "Mother". Or rather I'd vote for "Mother" if I had half a mind, or something.

But no, I'll go for title track #1, which I wish was longer.

Synchronicity II for me. But I do have a great love of Mother and hell, the whole rest of this album.

It's still my favorite Police actually, but that's because I haven't consciously gone through their catalog as an adult. I just continue to enjoy it the way I have since my Mom first bought the cassette and played it in her truck on long drives.

Was it even a single in real form?

Oh yeah. It reached No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard charts. And, as Wiki notes, "(i)nterestingly, King of Pain was the only single from Synchronicity that did not have an accompanying music video."

I was a young 'un, but I remember "King of Pain" hearing a lot on the radio (around Big Country's "In a Big Country" and H&O's "Family Man"), so its chart position makes sense.

*but I remember HEARING "KOP," rather

I thought Family Man was mostly an MTV music-video phenomenon. I can't even remember hearing it on the radio. Great song, tho.

I for one am pleased to not see the CD bonus track "Murder By Numbers" included although it's better than at least half the songs on this album, but it's just refreshing to see an accurate representation of the original release for once.

The lyrics of The Police, although consistently terrible, have always been overshadowed by how great the music is (in this one person's opinion). This is why songs like "Tea In The Sahara" are so good. Unfortunately, some people just can't get over bad lyrics.. which seems to be the case with most people posting here.

"O My God" is not shitty because the bass line is sick, and the outro is sublime.

And "Synchronicity 1" is way underrated.. I think I'm voting for that.. okay I just did.

I was a young 'un, but I remember "King of Pain" hearing a lot on the radio (around Big Country's "In a Big Country" and H&O's "Family Man"), so its chart position makes sense.

I suddenly want to make a huge 1983 mix.

H2O is the 1982 hit album from the duo Daryl Hall and John Oates. It featured three Top 10 U.S. singles, including "Maneater" which was the biggest hit of their career, spending four weeks at the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The album title is a play on the chemical formula for water, where "H" is for Hall, and "O" is for Oates.

late 82 album = singles charted in 83 stfu

no! I was responding to Daniel about "Family Man."

yeah i'm down w/ tea in the sahara, even if it prefigures the solo sting tripe that was to come. i don't put much stock in lyrics though - unless it's so blatantly over-the-top or forgrounded in such a way that i can't get around it.

i think Becker/Fagen lyrics are the only ones where i actively pay attention and am not consistently dissapointed or embarrassed.

fore-

im all on defense today. sorry

Am I the only one who really, really loves Miss Gradenko?

yeah, sorry

What a mildly stupid fate I have.

King Of Pain by a mile

This.

THERE'S A LITTLE BLACK SPOT ON THE SUN TO-DAY

THERE'S A SALE ON OUR GABARDINE SUITS TO-DAY

"every breath you take" is unassailable even if no one ever needs to hear it again

OTM. It's a perfect song, a gorgeous recording, and a deserved juggernaut of a single. And, while it's weird to call it this, a monster riff.

Am I the only one who really, really loves Miss Gradenko

Maybe, but I do really, really like it.

The results of this poll may surprise you, Abbot.

Weird, I had never noticed that Murder By Numbers was a cd bonus track before.

I'm pretty sure this was the first album I ever bought new from a store with my own money (as opposed to from a garage sale; that was the White Album). I still pretty much like this record and think it was the best thing the Police ever did, and I like Mother too, because it has a pretty strong Crimson vibe to it. This album also introduced me to Paul Bowles and other stuff that was cool to be into when I was in junior high, even if it now seems kind of pretentiously passe. Anyway favorite song is probably Synch 2.

"Wrapped Around Your Finger". Best Police song ever.

I like all of the singles here. Among the non-singles, "Tea In The Sahara", "Synchronicity I" and "Walking In Your Footsteps" are great, while "Mother" is of course horrible.

And, hey! Yes "Murder By Numbers" was great!

I don't understand why people hate Mother so much. I guess I would expect Geir not to like it, but I love its utter madness. I've heard Murder By Numbers, it's okay I guess.

Mother is a delight. I played that damn song so many times in 2001. Real Mother kick.

It reminds me off a sillier/creepier (longer) '5% for Nothing.'

I really, really hate "Mother". I'm all about crazy songs where someone just screams, but really.

It is pretty out of place, I will admit.

It was "Mother" that prepared me for the likes of Captain Beefheart and Wild Man Fischer

"Synchronicity II" is awesome and really not overplayed for me - not sure what it was like at the time but it's now the Police single you never here. Sting may lay it on thick in places ("another suburban family morning" etc) but there's some really great moments of stridency and man, yeah, Summers is kicking ass on this one. Love the "BA DA DA DANG DANG BRANG A DANG A DANG DANG" after the part about how the guy's eyeballs ache. And the spooky evil rising from the dark Scottish lake works for me - the two parallel plots make a nice pair of really detailed daily breakdown versus really vague/menacing.

It's probably supposed to be some psychoanalytic BS where the dark Scottish lake is the guy's subconscious but I like it better as just this totally separate thing happening, "Meanwhile, far away, unbeknownst to our hero..."

That said, this is the one Police album I haven't yet been able to make myself spring for a dollar copy of and so I'm not voting.

There's two versions of the cover art on the original LP. One has a bare breast. One does not.

Also, a lot of copies are not actually black, but semi transparent purple. Hold yours up to the light and check.

They play 'Synchronicity II' as bumper music on Coast to Coast AM episodes about synchronicity.

DO YOU SEE

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

After this poll started I listened to this album about 400 times. Soooooo goooooooooood.

I love how he says 'HUMILIATING kick in the CROTCH."

I think Mother is great! It's so fucked up. I'm tempted to vote for it. Or Sync I. Can't decide.

I thought ILM hated this album. Pleasant surprise that I was wrong. Best thing Sting was ever involved in of course.

Yes because ILM is all one brain.

"Best thing Sting was ever involved in of course"

Yes, except for DUNE.

the one that goes "I WILL LISTEN HARD TO YOUR TUITION"

I stop caring about the Police after their third album. And by this one, I basically can't stand them. My wife, on the other hand, is a huge fan -- first concert she ever saw, etc. When I asked her what her favorite track was, she said she didn't have one because it's meant to be listened to as an entire album. But when pressed, she named "Synchronicity I," for being the "most rock." So I'll vote for that.

Also, we just checked her copy, and the vinyl is in fact translucent purple -- looks pretty cool! We can't find any bare breasts, however (except for those belonging to actual Police members.)

Holy shit! Mine is purple too! Wow, you would never see that unless you held it up to the light. I had to go get another record by someone else and hold it up to the light just to prove my sanity. I wonder why they didn't make it more obvious, because it's really beautiful. I don't see any bare (female) breasts on mine, either, though. The Asian lady standing near Summers is the only female I see on this.

If they release the Oakland show separately, I might actually buy that.

Love the box set. It's super weird to me that The Police never had the same cultural reevaluation that so many other bands of that era received.

Do they need it? They've never gone away!

I hope I'm not being glib. They're omnipresent on oldies radio, as background music in cafes and shops -- hell, my students know the super hits. Most of these hits are real good.

their reunion tour in 2007 was one of the highest grossing tours ever

Sting could've gone in a bad direction on some of these - just listen to the "Every Breath You Take" demo

I have to say that the demo, for me, significantly undermines Andy Summers' contention that he deserves a co-writing credit for that song. What's really striking is that every last nuance of the vocal melody is already there. All Summers did was to substitute in some cooler-sounding chords for Sting to sing over. (And, yes, arpeggiate them in a distinctive fashion.) By Summers' own telling, his harmonic choices were inspired by studying the works of Béla Bartók, so maybe the latter's estate should also get a share of the spoils?

Oh, I wasn't implying the band had a bigger hand in composing the songs, but to me it underlines how much of a difference their arrangements had on the music.

xps They never struck me as needing a reevaluation either - as long as I've known about them, they were both critically acclaimed and massively popular, probably more true after the fact than it was in the '80s when they were filling stadiums, racking up awards and critical hosannas (#5 album in 1983's Pazz & Jop poll before they split). If anything, I'm stunned Sting alone is still massively popular - I've never seen his shows and considered catching his latest tour since he's doing a lot of Police songs, but not only were tickets jaw-droopingly expensive, they had no problem selling out.

(too much alliteration there, with the "st---" words)

I have to say that the demo, for me, significantly undermines Andy Summers' contention that he deserves a co-writing credit for that song. What's really striking is that every last nuance of the vocal melody is already there. All Summers did was to substitute in some cooler-sounding chords for Sting to sing over. (And, yes, arpeggiate them in a distinctive fashion.) By Summers' own telling, his harmonic choices were inspired by studying the works of Béla Bartók, so maybe the latter's estate should also get a share of the spoils?

― Vast Halo,

Claims like Summers' -- and I agree with you -- rely on the generosity of the composer. Should Dylan have given Al Kooper credit for the hook in "Like a Rolling Stone"? Maybe? U2 and R.E.M. avoided problems by splitting the publishing.

Always a challenge with bands of any kind and especially one like the Police (or, say, the Band) where the individual players do bring so much to the final song. Every Breath You Take may have been a hit as a solo Sting tune, who knows, but it wouldn't have been the hit or the song it is without that specific guitar line.

You can see, though, that the writer of "Every Breath You Take" might look askance at the idea that the writer of "Behind My Camel" was contributing equally to the compositional success of the group.
A number of Police songs were written by Sting before he ever met the others.

Yup Every Little Thing She Does is Magic is from like 1977 I think, but the demo arrangement is nothing like what wound up on the album. The melody is there though.

Yeah, I mean if Sting were a more generous sort maybe he would've worked something out where Andy and Stewart each got like 5% of the songwriting. But also I think Andy and Stewart both did just fine off of being in Sting's band.

Dude nicked Mark Knopfler for credit and royalties after singing "I Want My MTV" to the tune of "Don't Stand So Close to Me". He coulda thrown Andy a bone.

Given how he sampled himself on "We'll Be Together" and "Love is the Seventh Wave" I'm surprised he didn't award himself songwriting credit for them.

Copeland: Andy, since we're here, I'm going to back you up on this. You should stand up right now and say, 'I Andy want all the Puff Daddy money. Because that's not Sting's song he's using, that's my guitar riff.' Okay over to you Andy, Go for it...

Summers: (meekly) Ok, I want all of the Puff Daddy Money.

Copeland: There you go, you feel better now don't you?

Sting: Okay Andy here's all the money. (pours some change on the table) Unfortunately, I've spent the rest of it.

Apparently more box sets are planned. Andy specifically mentioned a four-CD of Reggatta de Blanc in an interview prior to the Around the World reissue (which at the time was nearing completion in terms of restoration work but had yet to be scheduled for release).