Synchronicity (1983)

Synchronicity is the fifth and final studio album by the English rock band the Police, released on 17 June 1983 by A&M Records. The band's most successful release, the album includes the hit singles "Every Breath You Take", "King of Pain", "Wrapped Around Your Finger", and "Synchronicity II". The album's title and much of the material for the songs were inspired by Arthur Koestler's book The Roots of Coincidence (1972). At the 1984 Grammy Awards the album was nominated for a total of five awards, including Album of the Year, and won three. At the time of its release and following the Synchronicity Tour, the Police's popularity was at such a high that they were arguably, according to BBC and The Guardian, the "biggest band in the world".

Synchronicity reached number one on both the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200, and sold over eight million copies in the US. The album was widely acclaimed by critics. Praise centered on its cohesive merging of disparate genres and sonic experimentation. Rolling Stone described "each cut on Synchronicity [as] not simply a song but a miniature, discrete soundtrack". It was ranked number 17 in the magazine's lists of the "100 Best Albums of the Eighties" and number 159 on the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". In 2009, Synchronicity was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2023, the album was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Recording

The album's title was inspired by the Carl Jung book Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle, going so far as to quote the book's title in the lyrics of the albums first song Synchronicity I, singing "Synchronicity...a connecting principle...".

The album marked a significant reduction in the reggae influences that were a part of the band's first four studio albums, instead continuing the trend of production-heavy textures and liberal use of synthesizers featured in their previous album's hit single Spirits in the Material World. This direction sometimes drove entire songs ("Synchronicity I", "Wrapped Around Your Finger"). The influence of world music can also be heard in songs such as "Tea in the Sahara" and "Walking in Your Footsteps". As opposed to the band's previous effort, Ghost in the Machine, the songs have no overdubbed saxophone(s). Sting explains:I enjoyed making Ghost in the Machine and playing with the tools of the studio, just building things up and sticking more vocals on. Great fun. But listening to it, I thought. "Hey, my voice on its own sounds as good as fifteen overdubs, so I'll try it on its own." And I've done the saxophone section bit now, I'm bored with it; and Andy [Summers] was into just plunking down one guitar part. I'm glad we did 'Ghost'. I don't regret it. But it was time to change the regime again.As with Ghost in the Machine, the recording for Synchronicity took place over a period of six weeks, at AIR Studios in Montserrat with the Neve 8078 console beginning in December 1982. The three band members recorded the basic tracks live in separate rooms: Stewart Copeland with his drums in the dining room (connected to the control room via video link), Sting in the control room, and guitarist Andy Summers in the actual studio. According to co-producer and engineer Hugh Padgham, this was done for two reasons: to obtain the best sound for each instrument and "for social reasons." Sting explained how this setup worked for him:In my case, it's because there is nothing worse than hearing a bass through a set of headphones. Basically, it sounds like a frog farting. I play much better when the sound coming out of the instrument is rich and warm. If we played together like that in the same room, we wouldn't be able to hear anything except the drum, because the guitarist has to have a lot of volume to hit a certain level of distortion or passion or emotion. I play in the studio next to the engineer [Hugh Padgham] so I can hear the instruments balanced and mixed roughly as they'll sound on the record.While tracking live, the band would do multiple takes of each song. Alongside Padgham, they would listen through each take and select the best parts, which would be edited together into one 'master backing track' before they recorded overdubs (including vocals, which were often bounced down to make room for other overdubs on the 24-track).

During the recording of "Every Breath You Take", Sting and Copeland came to blows with each other, and Padgham nearly quit the project. The song was originally attempted with the live method, but due to numerous failed takes the song had to be assembled entirely from overdubs, including all drum parts.