Unpopular Opinion: The Police’s ‘Ghost in the Machine’ > ‘Synchronicity’
For much of the MTV generation, mention of The Police arguably brings on memories of the period in 1983 when “Every Breath You Take” sat atop the charts seemingly forever. This was a peak era for one of the few bands of its time that united pop music enthusiasts of all sorts. Fans of everything from Van Halen to The Human League could relate to the band’s infectious sound and its uniquely talented players. But now, with the benefit of hindsight, listening back to the group’s entire output, I’m more convinced than ever of something that I remember asserting at the time, even as a kid — that, in spite of its sales and popularity, Synchronicity, while still an incredible record by any metric, is eclipsed by The Police’s penultimate effort, Ghost in the Machine.
>> I Want My (Old) MTV! Looking Back At The Heyday Of Music Television
Make no mistake: Both records are a bit uneven in their offerings. For all of its hits, Synchronicity still puts you through a few arguable filler cuts, including Andy Summers’ wailing litany of complaint, “Mother.” (I happen to love that track, but I still remember all sorts of people complaining about it on the playground when the album was released.) Ghost puts three of the band’s best up front, with “Spirits in the Material World,” the effervescent “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” and the harrowing “Invisible Sun” before delving into lesser known terrain, dragging a bit on side B with the coupling of “Rehumanize Yourself” and the dub-reggae-ish “One World (Not Three).”
But here’s where, for me, Ghost edges out its successor — in the deep cuts. “Demolition Man,” which closes side A of the LP, shows the group at its most jamming, with Sting doubling up on sax parts that evoke images of careening traffic as Steward Copeland throws down some of his most frenetic and dynamic work, and Summers solos for nearly the entire six minutes of the song. Side B lags a bit until it kicks back into high gear for the Andy Summers-penned “Ωmegaman” — as close as The Police have been to faking punk rock since they opened their debut LP with “Next to You,” but with more originality, earnest energy and genuine expressiveness. As urgent as The Police have ever sounded, with a deceptively simple and effective solo from Summers and an array of soaring vocal layers, “Ωmegaman” doesn’t let up until it rather bleeds right into one of the most sublime compositions of the band’s career, “Secret Journey.” Here, Sting rather foreshadows “Wrapped Around Your Finger” with a familiar quasi-mystical theme of a protagonist who seeks out wisdom from a blind shaman and earns his own transformation in the process. From there, we’re led into “Darkness,” a low-key number written by Copeland that thoughtfully closes the LP with a meditation of sorts on the brooding complexities of living.
It’s this corner of the album to which I find myself returning over and over, rather than the A-side hits — it’s the sound of a great band stretching its wings and exploring its sound, seeking and finding truth in the process. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me on this, but as great as Synchronicity is, with its abundant hits and now-gilded memories, when compared to its immediate predecessor, it’s easy to hear that this is when The Police started to give up the ghost in a very real sense.
Remind 
’80s Where Are They Now
March 2023
Who can forget all the great TV shows, movies and music of the ‘80s? See what your favs are up to now!
Buy This Issue