The trios fifth and final album,Synchronicity, was almost immediately thebest-selling LP released that year.
The record, now octuple platinum, was a cultural force:The New York Timeslikened it toSgt.
Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Bandfor pairing highbrow conceptualism (canyouexplain psychiatrist Carl Jungs 1960 theory of synchronicity?)
The Police, circa 1983.Showtime/Getty Images
with tunes you could hum (who cares!).
Meanwhile,Rolling Stonedubbed the album a work of dazzling surfaces and glacial shadows.
The demo of the same song is a big jazz jam like Stings later solo music.
The demo synths on Wrapped Around Your Finger sound even better than the album version.
Nevertheless, the message is there.
Also like the Heads, they never put on airs of being anything other than British and American musicians.
Listening to the originalSynchronicitynow, Stings ambition on the two title tracks still astounds.
The way hes able to reference W.B.
(The bonus track, Murder by Numbers is just good fun.)
