In his autobiography One Train Later, former Police guitarist Andy Summers recalls that by 1981’s Ghost In The Machine the band’s success was such that those around them were “[telling] us what we want[ed] to hear”, and by Synchronicity (1983) had escalated to the point that they “could record Mary Had A Little Lamb, and it… would go to Number One”.
While there’s no arguing with Synchronicity’s classic status, Summers’s observations regarding objectivity appear especially pertinent in the light of this new six-CD expanded edition, which adds unreleased, arguably superior, versions of weaker tracks that made the final cut.
New remastering bolsters the album’s strengths, adding warmth and definition to King Of Pain, Wrapped Around Your Finger and Every Breath You Take, career-high examples of Sting’s craft as a songwriter, of Summers’s ability to strengthen the material with melodic counterpoints, and of the centrality of Stewart Copeland’s inventive rhythmic drive to the Police’s appeal.
With an album’s worth of period B-sides and bonus tracks, the set’s two discs of unreleased material strike gold with Sting’s brisk, electro-pop demo of Murder By Numbers, and a slinkier, horn-driven funk arrangement of O My God from the Synchronicity sessions, both infinitely more enjoyable than the bland album versions.
Finally, a scorching 19-song live set finds Summers and Copeland’s post-studio arrangement modifications transforming Walking In Your Footsteps from clunker to contender, and supports Sting’s claim (in the expansive accompanying book) that the band “finished at the top”.
