‘Synchronicity’ is 70s/80s English rock band The Police‘s fifth studio album released in 1983. It also became their last album when their sixth album was aborted. The definition of synchronicity is “the simultaneous occurrence of events that appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection.” Does that definition set the expectations of what the album holds? A jumble of songs only connected by being on the same record? Let’s hope not.

I only know The Police for the simple fact that they’re fronted by Sting. The other members, unfortunately I would not be able to name. Sting is clearly the driving force behind the coppers, with 8 out of 10 tracks written by him.

First track ‘Synchronicity I’ is fast paced, very repetitive and reminds me of some kind of computer game maze, the player running through the levels. This is followed by a completely different style in ‘Walking In Your Footsteps’, which is all about walking in the footsteps of dinosaurs. The song is tribal like with a weird breathy flute sound at the beginning. It almost sounds like something out of The Lion King. I really like the simple song structure but not too keen on Sting’s falsetto vocals during the second verse and chorus.

‘O My God’ has the brilliant line: “O my God you take the biscuit / Treating me this way.” The song also contains a great saxophone solo played by Sting. There’s a little note amongst the credits on the inside cover that says: “All noises on this album played by The Police.” They should probably add: ‘With the majority of them played by Sting.’

My least favourite track happens to be the only one written by guitarist Andy Summers: ‘Mother’. This time he does the lead vocals which, frankly, just aren’t that good. He sounds hysterical and ends with some scary laughing.

‘Synchronicity II’ closes Side One. I prefer II to I simply because it’s much less repetitive, more rocky and quite a powerful sound. The lyrics are surprisingly depressing despite the upbeat accompaniment.

‘Every Breath You Take’ opens Side Two. Probably the most famous The Police song I know. Hearing the original version, at first it seems quite a love-dovey song, however reading the lyrics it does seem slightly stalker-ish with the line “I’ll be watching you.” Needless to say, it’s a great song and is considered to be The Police‘s signature track.

I feel like I recognise penultimate track ‘Wrapped Around Your Finger’. It sounds vaguely familiar and was released as one of the singles off the album, but is overshadowed by the huge ‘Every Breath…’.

I love the glasses…

Final track on the album is ‘Tea In The Sahara’ showing off Sting’s vocal range. Having tea in the Sahara desert is a lovely image. I wouldn’t mind having a cuppa sat on a sand dune, might get a bit sandy though.

Despite its definition of the word, ‘Synchronicity’ certainly isn’t just a jumble of tracks. There’s a stronger connection between each song, which makes this a powerful album.

This is a pretty amazing mash up…

However, here’s the original video of ‘Every Breath You Take’

Released in 1983 on A&M Records
Side One – ‘Synchronicity I’, ‘Walking In Your Footsteps’, ‘O My God’, ‘Miss Gradenko’, ‘Synchronicity II’
Side Two – ‘Every Breath You Take’, ‘King Of Pain’, ‘Wrapped Around Your Finger’, ‘Tea In The Sahara’