Artist: The Police
Album: Synchronicity
Reased: 1983
Label: A&M Records
Genre: Rock / pop / post-punk
Purchase date: 26 Oct 2010
Format: CD (used)
Source: Friends of the Library Book Sale
In the summer of 1983, I had just finished seventh grade, and was finally becoming interested in the popular music scene. I was listening to the local hard rock station on the radio a great deal at the time, and one of the DJs put the album cut of "Synchronicity II" on high rotation that summer. I wasn't all that familiar with The Police, but I really liked the sound of that song. Then, "Every Breath You Take" became one of the big hits of the year, and The Police seemed to be everywhere.
I remember buying the LP at the Record Town at the Bedford Mall with money I'd earned mowing lawns. I also remember that this was the first record I brought home that my mom took an instant dislike to, and asked me not to play it on the living room stereo. Fortunately, we had a cassette deck, so I dubbed a copy onto cassette and mostly played that. (I realized that this was also a very effective way to keep my LPs in excellent condition, so I started to do this for all of my records, at least until I was able to buy my own stereo for my room.)
Nominally a loose concept album about Jungian psychology, I'd never heard of Jung at 13, so most of the literary references were lost on me. What I did like was the music plus the vivid imagery in the lyrics. The fact that most of the lyrics are distinctly creepy was not lost on me. This was one of the first pieces of music I'd encountered that had disturbing or otherwise difficult lyrics, and I really enjoyed the darkness of it.
I hadn't listened to this record in years, and really enjoyed hearing it again. I'd forgotten how creepy some of the lyrics are: the hit single "Every Breath You Take" is about a stalker. "Wrapped Around Your Finger" seems to be about a Dom-Sub relationship. "Mother" (the stinker track of the album IMAO) seems to be told from the perspective of the character Norman Bates from the film Psycho. "Synchronicity II" is about the living hell that is the suburban rat race-- and who can forget the post-apocalyptic imagery of the video? "Walking In Your Footsteps" is a typical '80s afraid-of-the-Bomb song, and the closing track "Tea In The Sahara" leaves its protagonists to die stranded in the desert.
This music certainly showcases the fear and anxiety that was latent in the mid-'80s zeitgeist. Not an uplifting album, but the music really carries it. I had fond memories of this album, and I think it still stands up very well.
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