Latest Release
- JUL 26, 2024
- 84 Songs
- Synchronicity (Remastered 2003) · 1983
- Outlandos d'Amour (Remastered) · 1978
- The Very Best of Sting & The Police · 1979
- Ghost in the Machine (Remastered) · 1981
- Zenyatta Mondatta (Remastered) · 1980
- Synchronicity (Remastered 2003) · 1983
- Reggatta De Blanc (Remastered 2003) · 1979
- Zenyatta Mondatta (Remastered) · 1980
- Outlandos d'Amour (Remastered) · 1978
- Outlandos d'Amour (Remastered) · 1978
Essential Albums
- The members of The Police were famously at odds when they convened to record their fifth album, Synchronicity. However, the trio channeled any interpersonal tension into their music and songwriting, resulting in one of the best albums of the 1980s. Working once again with producer-engineer Hugh Padgham, The Police synthesized their inspirations into incisive commentary about modern life: the stifling monotony of the suburbs (the driving rocker “Synchronicity II”), dealing with dark nights of the soul (the incisive “King of Pain”), and challenging power dynamics (the sinewy “Wrapped Around Your Finger”). Most successful of all was “Every Breath You Take,” a song about obsession, driven by Andy Summers’ melancholic guitar line, a steely rhythmic foundation, and Sting’s yearning vocals. Prior to making Synchronicity, each member of The Police had explored different creative endeavors. Sting acted in the 1982 film Brimstone and Treacle, while Summers recorded an album with Robert Fripp, I Advance Masked, and Stewart Copeland composed the score for the movie Rumble Fish. These different experiences naturally influenced Synchronicity, with Summers contributing the avant-garde, saxophone-driven “Mother” and Copeland penning the quirky “Miss Gradenko.” Sting especially felt energized by emerging musical technology on Synchronicity. Having started composing using synthesizers on The Police’s previous album, 1981’s Ghost in the Machine, he added sequencers into his creative arsenal. This led to songs like the evocative “Walking In Your Footsteps,” which boasts a pulsing drum sequencer and cautionary lyrics about learning from dinosaurs. “Synchronicity I” boasts tension-filled rhythms and synths that percolate like hot coffee, while glacial keyboards provide a steady foundation for the proggy “O My God.” Synchronicity was a massive critical and commercial success, selling millions of copies worldwide and propelling The Police into touring superstars, while “Every Breath You Take” won two Grammys, including Song of the Year. Even though The Police never released another studio album, Synchronicity cemented the band’s legacy as one of the most ambitious, adventurous groups of the punk and New Wave eras.
- Sting describes recording this album as “where it all clicked” for The Police, and the chemistry between them is consistently beguiling—particularly on the two killer hits. “Message In a Bottle“ is full of exhilarating gear changes as Andy Summers’s guitar sparkles and charges around Sting and Stewart Copeland’s dubby groove, while “Walking On the Moon” funnels a relaxed skank into a moorish hook. Even on the scratchy, agitated “Deathwish”, they play with the inventive confidence of a band completely in sync.
Albums
Artist Playlists
- This London reggae-rock trio dominated the early MTV era.
- Sly storytelling wrapped in sleek, punchy New Wave.
- From a punky reggae party to world domination.
- Rock-reggae fusions and killer rhythm sections.
Compilations
More To Hear
- Songs from 'Synchronicity' as the album turns 40.
- Sting’s birthday and 40th Anniversary of 'Ghost in the Machine.'
- Strombo plays hits from The Police, and hear from the icon himself.
- Jenn celebrates rock icon Sting.
- A Halloween celebration featuring Mobb Deep, Van Halen & more.
- Why The Police's Synchronicity is the soundtrack to his life.
About The Police
The Police covered an impressive amount of sonic ground during their initial seven-year run as a band. In the process, the trio—former teacher Gordon “Sting” Sumner, onetime Curved Air drummer Stewart Copeland, and veteran guitarist Andy Summers—proved that commercial rock music could be both ambitious and accessible. After forming in London, The Police debuted in 1978 with Outlandos d’Amour, a punk- and reggae-influenced LP with a melodic pop core that yielded the New Wave classic “Roxanne.” The band used that album and its signifiers—Sting’s keening yelp and live-wire basslines, Copeland’s intricate backbeats, and Summers’ slashing riffs—as a jumping-off point for experimentation; on subsequent LPs, the group explored laidback dub (“Walking On the Moon”), lively jazz-rock (“Driven to Tears”), and moody, grayscale synth-rock (“Invisible Sun”). These panoramic creative visions coalesced on 1983’s multiplatinum smash Synchronicity, a sophisticated rock album with tasteful synth flourishes and the obsession-focused No. 1 hit “Every Breath You Take.” (That song would be sampled by Puff Daddy on his 1997 hit with Faith Evans and 112, “I’ll Be Missing You,” giving The Police hip-hop cred.) After going on a break in 1984, The Police resurfaced in 1986 for several Amnesty International benefit concerts and then reunited for a proper large-scale reunion tour in 2007 and 2008 before splitting up once again. The band’s genre-blending rock approach lives on today via bands such as Vampire Weekend—and Sting himself still switches up Police songs live during his solo gigs.
- ORIGIN
- London, England
- FORMED
- 1977
- GENRE
- Rock