[Roll Your Own Life] Music That Shaped Me (part 4)

The Police - Synchronicity (1983)

Ah, The Police. I'm a big fan of The Police, but got into their music relatively late. I'd heard their singles, liked them, but never really bought any of their albums. I have a distinct memory of one of my sisters buying one (I think it was Regatta de Blanc) and saying that she'd taken it back to the store the following day as it had lots of swearing in it.

Again, it was visit involving relatives that exposed me to some new music. I was staying in London with my uncle and aunt, and staying in their front sitting room on a portable bed arrangement. In the room was the family's stereo and their record collection, and I remember buying some blank cassettes while I was there so I could copy some albums while I was there to listen to properly when I got home. One of those albums was Ghost in the Machine (another one with some swearing in it, sorry sis) and I was mesmerised by some of the weirder, etherial tracks at the end (Secret Journey, Omegaman, Darkness).

Then came their next album, and Synchronicity II was released as a single. Here was a track that was about mundanity (you know I like that, after my entry on The Boomtown Rats last time), interspersed with the weirdness of a strange Cthulhoid creature surfacing from a loch and lurking towards an unsuspecting home. How freakin' cool is that? Synchronicity II was my favourite track of everything for a very long time.

Other great tracks on Synchronicity include the weird Mother, and the melancholy King of Pain. Great album where the big hit single, Every Breath You Take, is possibly my least favourite (mostly as it's really creepy and stalky).

I started with the Greatest Hits album (Every Breath You Take - The Singles) and quickly progressed on to the Message in a Box complete recordings set. Still fab now.