Police - Synchronicity POLL

Does the world need a Sychronicity boxed set?

tbh, except for Pet Sounds, I can't think of a single rock album box set that needed to be box set. They all should have been carved up into separate releases - e.g. a remastered (or remixed) edition of the album, a live album, and an outtakes/demos/studio rarities compilation. But economically speaking, when it comes to reissues, album box sets are the most viable products a label can come up with.

Looking forward to that 21-minute version of "Mother"

A whole disk of "Mother" ala the Fun House sessions.

the motherlode

Looking forward to that 21-minute version of "Mother"

― pplains, Wednesday, 23 August 2023

Extended remix by Arthur Baker.

this is an album that easily could have landed in my top 50 if I'd thought about it. certainly interested in hearing outtakes, but like most box sets, I'd go for a digital version.

Listening to it again now after 30+ years and nope... still nowhere near as good as "Ghost In the Machine".

Love Summers' playing on "Synchronicity II', though.

6CD deluxe reissue was supposed to be released today

The box set contains the following content:

CD1 is the original album including ‘Murder By Numbers’, all remastered directly from the original source tapes
CD2 features 18 tracks containing all original 7” / 12” B-sides plus 11 exclusive non-album bonus tracks, available on CD for the first time
CD3 and CD4 contains previously unreleased alternate takes of all the Synchronicity songs
CD4 also features unreleased Police songs including an early version of Andy Summers’ 1982 track ‘Goodbye Tomorrow’ (later renamed ‘Someone To Talk To’); a demo of a Stewart Copeland penned song ‘I’m Blind’ which later resurfaced as the renamed ‘Brothers on Wheels’ for Copeland’s acclaimed soundtrack to Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Rumblefish’; an unreleased first take of ‘Truth Hits Everybody’ (originally from the 1978 debut Outlandos d’Amour’); and rare covers of the Eddie Cochran song ‘Three Steps To Heaven’ and ‘Rock and Roll Music’ by Chuck Berry
CD5 and CD6 features 19 live recordings – all previously unreleased – captured on 10th September 1983 at the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum, USA
As well as the hardcover book, the 6CD box includes four art prints. Other formats include a 2CD set (repeats first two discs of the super deluxe), a 4LP vinyl edition (42 tracks instead of the 84 on the 6CD set) and a vinyl picture disc that rejigs the running order.

would be an instant buy for me 10 years ago, now i think i'm happy with just listening to the album very occasionally

https://superdeluxeedition.com/news/the-police-synchronicity-6cd-box-set/

A library checkout for me, something to dive into for a not-busy week and that’s it.

Results from the ILM Police poll:

2 802 21 Synchronicity II
13 589 17 Synchronicity I
14 529 17 King of Pain
18 473 17 Wrapped Around Your Finger

20 374 11 Every Breath You Take
32 176 6 Tea in the Sahara
36 149 5 Murder by Numbers
40 110 4 Mother

― Bee OK, Friday, December 9, 2022

a vinyl picture disc that rejigs the running order

This actually probably makes for a more listenable (albeit front-loaded) record (I won't miss "Murder By Numbers"):

Side 1

Synchronicity I
Every Breath You Take
Wrapped Around Your Finger
Miss Gradenko
Synchronicity II

Side 2

King Of Pain
Walking In Your Footsteps
Mother
O My God
Tea In The Sahara

Conveniently on Spotify. If anything, I appreciate the band more - live cuts are great, and demos are edifying, revealing what the others brought to the songs. Sting could've gone in a bad direction on some of these - just listen to the "Every Breath You Take" demo and the "O My God" outtake.

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).