The Police- Synchronicity I & Walking in Your Footsteps (REACTION//DISCUSSION)
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- Опубликовано: 23 июл 2024
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"Walking in Your Footsteps, a children's tune sung in a third-world accent and brightly illustrated with African percussion and flute, contemplates nothing less than humanity's nuclear suicide." - Rolling Stone
That how I've always thought about this song, humans going down the path of self extinction with our childish wars and our raping of the planet.
I like every song on this album except for walking in your footsteps. The message doesn't make it a better song for me.
The flute sounds Andean and in a way is into the path of world genesis (something difficult to understand but was the key of our origin and to survive our extintion) on this song loved the guitar atmosphere from.master guitarist Andy Summers.
In reacting to "Walking in Your Footsteps" it's important to keep historical context in mind. The song was written and recorded in late 1982 and Ronald Reagan had just been elected in 1981. Reagan's strident anti-Soviet rhetoric, scrapping of arms reduction talks with the USSR and deployment of intermediate range nuclear missiles to Europe had raised the temperature of the Cold War to heights not seen since the Cuban Missile Crisis. There was genuine fear in Britain of an atomic holocaust. The song compares humanity to the dinosaurs, on a similar path toward doom and acting too stupidly to avoid it, and uses the "meek shall inherit the Earth" quote to convey that seeking peace instead aggression is necessary for our survival.
Sting has written many overtly political songs in his career. This is an early and somewhat allegorical example. He revisits the same theme much more blatantly in the track "Russians" from his 1985 "Dream of the Blue Turtles" album.
Good to see you revisiting the Police, Justin. I always enjoyed this album, particularly Synchronicity II. Synchronicity I was inspired by Carl Jung's theory of synchronicity. One of many powerhouse performances from Copeland. Walking In Your Footsteps builds a tribal groove, using the plight of the dinosaurs as an analogy about humanity’s own path towards extinction by our own means. Sting has always promoted environmental issues such as preservation of the rainforests. Thanks too for featuring The Jam and Gerry Rafferty CDs I sent you on the channel over the past week. I don't know if you saw my comments on those videos, but wanted to be sure you know I said thank you.
Ty Jeremy :) Yup, I saw some of those comments as well😁
"Synchronicity 2" is worth a shot as well, on this album.
I absolutely love "Synchronicity I". It's such a pulse raiser!
Great band the police, with 2 strong tracks here. An acceptable sound of the 80's. Vastly contrasting songs here, the frenetic Synchronicity, followed by the mellow, and reflective Walking in your Footsteps. It's worth finishing this album.
Thanks JP! I love the Police! My favorite album is Ghost in the Machine. You should definitely give it a listen.
My favorite Police album. Invisible Sun gets me every time.
@@johnmavroudis2054 Me too!
Worth a listen: the collaboration between Andy Summers and Robert Fripp, "I Advance Masked".
Yes, definitely! 😍
yes it is an incredible album one of my favorites of all time (and I love the cover of the second)
@@Sponiwolf
Or....... Andy Summers solo LP
"The Golden Age of Wire"
I see you Booty Juice! I see your 'I advance masked', and raise you a Stewart Copeland's The Rhythmatist
Paging Carl Jung..This morning, I put my iPod on while I showered, as I often do, and the first song that played was "Synchronicity 1", which I haven't heard in a good while. Then, I settle down at my desk to work, and pull up the RUclipss, looking for the daily JustJp video recommendation in my feed, where I usually see it, eager for today's song, but...no video recommendation...hmm...Ok, so I type in the channel directly, still eager to find out today's song, and...it's "Synchronicity 1".
"With one breath...with one flow...you will know...synchronicity..."
Nice!
Yep! That's it! Meaningful coincidence!
Cool!
;)
We're spirit animals now :)
@@Katehowe3010 I don't think you realize it, but your comment actually supports the whole concept of "synchronicity"!
@@JustJP "Spiritus mundi!"
‘Walking …’ is meant to be somber, as we humans slowly make our way to our own extinction. I would love to hear it as an instrumental.
"Syncronicity" is a fast 6/4. Re: "Walking in Your Footsteps", I see it as a companion to "Walking on the Moon" or "Tea in the Sahara" in terms of it being a more somber and moody Police song. I like it, and if it's cursed with having a memorable melody well so be it. The production is very much in keeping with the African world music vogue of the time (damn you, Peter Gabriel!)
The music videos for "Every Breath You Take" , "Wrapped Around Your Finger" and "Synchronicity II" were all directed by Godley and Creme.
Walking in your footsteps was a song about ancient and future extinctions. I thought it was quite obvious?
This is the best album of the band IMO, where they found compositional maturity, "Wrapped Around Your Finger" is my favourite band & album song and sadly, it was the last one, but... the first Sting solo album is like a continuation of the band discography.
I think both tracks are quite good and sonically deliberately opposing fierce introduction followed by the cognitively simplistic. Walking in Your Footsteps IS a children's story for adults because adults have become so destructive and ignorant that the tale and warning aka moral behind has to be reduced to simplification in order for them to get it. And there is a synchronicity between the narrator and the brontosaurus over an eon. This connection comes to a full explosion in Synchronicity II. So it all works for me.
Ah, that's good! Now that you mention it, now I'm thinking of the dinosaurs in relation to "Synchronicity II", and the line "many miles away/something crawls to the surface/ of a dark, Scottish lock..." I always wondered why the Loch Ness monster was in those lyrics...
#themoreyouknow
My word, I haven't heard this in a long time... blast from the past. Actually just realised I haven't heard this at all, I thought it sounded a little different..... it's Synchronicity 1 lol. Cool track though. I'll leave the chart rundown up....may amuse a few people xx
The Police's Synchronicity II entered both the UK Top 40 and US Billboard Hot 100 in November 1983 and peaked respectively at no. 17 & 18.
The Top 10 in the UK this week was.
1 - Billy Joel - Uptown girl
2 - Lionel Richie - All night long
3 - Duran Duran - Union of the snake
4 - Culture Club - Karma chameleon
5 - Paul McCartney/Michael Jackson - Say, say, say
6 - Adam Ant - Puss n boots
7 - Men Without Hats - Safety dance
8 - Tracey Ullman - They don't know
9 - Shakin' Stevens - Cry just a little bit
10 - Howard Jones - New song
Other tracks in this week's Top 40:
The Cure - Love cats
Madness - Sun and the rain
Donna Summer/ Musical Youth - Unconditional love
The Police - Synchronicity II
ABC - That was then but this is now
Will Powers - Kissing with confidence
Limahl - Only for love
Eurythmics - Right by your side
ACDC - Guns for hire
..... the following week's new entries
Assembly - Never never
Rolling Stones - Undercover of the night
Style Council - A solid bond in your heart
Michael Jackson - Thriller
Aztec Camera - Oblivious
Thompson Twins - Hold me now
Genesis - That's all
Tina Turner - Let's stay together
Yes - Owner of a lonely heart
Smiths - This charming man
These two weeks in November were really vibrant for new music. The US had much of the same music at this time.
Hope folks enjoy this, have a super week y'all xx
The Police is fun music to play! In college, my band wanted to play Synchronicity I, and we wanted to do it right. Three of us could sing harmony, however, in the song, three part harmonies overlap one another so we invited three of our friends to join us giving us the six voices we needed to pull off the vocals correctly. (I was a music major so it wasn’t hard finding singers). We never performed it live but had a lot of fun learning and rehearsing it.
I think it’s interesting to see how Sting grew as a musician from 1978 through 1991. The first two Police albums feature Sting singing melodic lines with some supporting harmonies. The next two albums feature Sting singing 2-part harmonies throughout each song which I think is really cool and helped me learn about creative vocal harmony. In this album, he expands further by singing three part harmonies and overlapping them to create sounds of multiple pitches. He also sings really tight harmonies as well. In other words, rather than singing the basic harmonies of major and minor chords, he sings pitches that aren’t in the chord but still sound good. If you listen closely, each three part harmony is slightly different than the one before. The close harmonies create lots of tension. It’s very creative! 2:25
Masterpiece of an album!
For me this is a perfect album. Top to bottom.
To me it sounds like they were trying to give a bit of an African sound to Walking in Your Footsteps. So all of us, walking, walking, walking out of Africa in some cases (probably walking back into Africa several times too). Evolution, going round in circles, going back on the same tracks, and not building up to a wonderful Us at The End, maybe? (In which case it would be wrong to resolve the song. The theme is a circular kind of infinity.)
One aspect of the "African sound" theory that almost holds up is that the lyrics come in a call-and-response pattern. And maybe if he'd done different voices for each side of that it might've actually developed an African feel, and been interesting? So if they'd tried to make a sea shanty out of it, it might've worked, too. Walking in those footsteps. Again and again, walking in those footsteps. Path to the water hole; path back home. Round and round. But talking. Calling, responding, so a pulse instead of a dead and steady circle. (Conversation instead of echoes.)
If you like Synchronicity I, there's a very good chance you'll also like Synchronicity II, BTW.
A lot of bands were doing polyrhythms around this time. Big names were Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, some others. Stewart Copeland is of course a perfect drummer for this. Paul Simon's more direct African rhythms on Graceland came later (some would say cultural appropriation, since his playing with SA musicians during the Apartheid was quite unpopular in some circles).
@@David-iv6je Any polyrhythm that doesn't come from somewhere East of the Danube comes from Africa. Is using it appropriation? I suppose so. We appropriate bits and pieces of the universal Human culture all the time, all over the place. So appropriation is probably a good thing, then? :D
(The People it is Impossible to Please - because they're so good at being impossible to please, more than anything else - would probably prefer a more closed-form open-and-shut two-legs-good way of framing it, but if you consider that it might be even be possible to make some of them angry by another approach, that almost makes it worth doing so, just for that effect. It's nice when the People Who Are IMPOSSIBLE to Please get angry; it provides the rest of the world with some free entertainment.)
If I was a gambler, I'd put my bets on Paul Simon's intentions vis a vis Ladysmith Black Mambaso as 1. musical - a collaboration between equals and new friends. 2. to GIVE them some exposure/ share some of the good publicity he had accumulated over his career (there are plenty of talented people who don't profit as much as they might, just because it's a big world, and too few people get to hear about them), and 3. (just to put a cap on it) to Take Nothing they weren't happy (and soundly so) to give. But don't tell that to those Impossibles; it'll make them pervert these truths, and then I'll get angry (which is never a good thing).
Oh hell, I've rambled so much you're probably not around to hear the little clarification of what I was trying to get at in this comment: The "call-and-response" I was talking about here (and thereby agreeing with Justin, really) was the repetition of "Walking in your footsteps".
Actually if you compare that to what Ladysmith Black Mambaso would've done with it, it makes the point. Think of them singing "Homeless" to each other. And then a third response appears adding something about moonlight. Do the same thing with "Walking in your footsteps", and you have a quite significantly better song.
OK, so the musicians out there now know how to do the best cover ever of this song!
@@sicko_the_ew Well, polyrhythms do NOT com only from Africa. Many indigenous cultures with drum-based instruments pursue polyrhythm as a pretty obvious path. Paul Simon himself went to Brazil for his next record, Rhythm of the Saints. King Crimson claims they got the inspiration for their interwoven guitars from Indonesian gamelan music, on yet another continent, and indeed it sounds like that. And one can even find some polyrhythms in various string-based traditional European music.
I wasn't casting aspersions at Paul Simon so much as noting that his album was very controversial at the time. Myself, I see both sides of the argument. You articulate the positive, but the negative went something like: hundreds of thousands of South Africans are begging the world to boycott their country to force political change but you think you and this particular group of musicians gets special dispensation. Well, apartheid was dismantled anyway, wasn't it? But maybe it wouldn't have been if more people had broken ranks.... We can't know.
Me, I always found Peter Gabriel's incorporation of African drumming to be a more authentic synthesis. Not appropriation, but rather making something new. With Paul Simon it always felt to me like nebbish New Yorker folk musician pasted on top of a different idiom, rather than synthseizing something new. Maybe that's unfair, since Simon can hardly escape his distinctive vocal qualities. But I always felt that the heaps of praise for Graceland were somehow missing the more authentic PG Security album. Just my two cents.
@@David-iv6je I should've specified "polyrhythm in Western popular music" maybe. There, one can trace a genealogy that goes back via Cuba to West Africa. But, yes, it's quite a natural evolution of any music that involves percussion, so it has independently emerged all over the place, too. (The other polyrythmic contribution to Western pop/ jazz/ blues was East European, I heard, hence the mention of that.)
To me, the beauty of Graceland is that Paul didn't tell Ladysmith Black Mambaso what to do. He followed much more than he led. He basically did just enough to bring his fan base on board, and let Ladysmith Black Mambaso be the star of the show. So no fusion imposed, but tons of totally authentic Zulu Church Music instead.
And as for what the final part of the specified happy-ending contributed to a better South Africa, I think the country is now far too nuanced for any outsider to waste that kind of consideration on foreigners. (For starters, the heros in the plot have turned villain. If you don't believe me, just study a certain Jacob Zuma.) Whatever. Little country, far, far away, with the job of proving someone less far away to be Right. Job done; story over.
And from here on I'll accept that it's TL;DR that follows. The idea that people who honestly thought that engaging with the South Africa of those times were badpeople, because they didn't follow the instructions to stay away is at best simplistic. At worst, it's worse, but be that as it may. South Africa changed the way it did, largely as a result of those South Africans who had some kind of a vote getting sick of the entire circumstance. For some people that was disgust at the remnants of the discriminatory laws, plain and simple; for others it was just a lack of willingness to go and kill or be killed under conscription. (And just to put the mythologizers straight, the chance of being killed was pretty slight; the bigger risk was of having to kill. So there are humans in there, more than there are "heroes".) Without the swing away from things like passive someone-elses-problem distaste for at least the worst of apartheid, down to things like faith-based guilt, there would've been no "New South Africa". There might have been a Tiannenmen Square; there might have been a Carnation Revolution where the guys operating the tanks tell the officers to go stuff themselves, but the negotiated settlement and all the wonderful hope that offered wasn't on without a change of heart.
And it was those who engaged in things that amount to discussion in times like that that made the big impact. I mean how do you deal with someone who specializes in being impossible to please? You ignore them, right? The Paul Simons of this world changed minds; the others created fixed trench lines, where they could be proved Right in an entertainingly bloody way.
Ah, it was great for a moment or two, though ... Even longer for those of us who more stubbornly ignored reality. And now? The end of social apartheid has made things better, but that happened under the previous government already. Getting new rulers? Well they misgovern even worse than the last ones did. No happy ending, I'm afraid. And the hope of one appearing has pretty much vanished. My idea of hope is hope for a slow, rather than fast decay. If it goes to hell slowly, I'll be dead when it all goes up in smoke, so no problem.
Well, I looooove the singing of Walking in your footsteps. I love the whole album. To me a master piece that can't be listened (as The Lamb, but of course it is more short in time) only once in a raw...
Great review, as always.
Synchronicity II is my favorite ever Police song.
This whole album is a Stewart Copeland masterpiece.
Welcome to this great and delightful album! Except for "Mother", every song on it is good or fantastic.
And yes, the opener "Synchronicity 1" is a powerful firework, with excellent drumming by Stewart Copeland (which is my favourite drummer beside Bill Bruford, Terry bozzio and Jaki Liebezeit). The harmonies are fresh and overwhelming, just great.
"Walking in your footsteps" is definitely the opposite of the opener, I think it's well placed there. I also feel the jungle-ish approach of it, and I really hope that you get used to the singing ... some day :D
As Jaybird said in the comments: be prepared for a ride!
I used to work in a Mall and the audio store would always play this album on CD to sell stereo equipment. There was no getting away from the album, over and over for days on end. After you hear "Walking in Your Footsteps" that many times it sort of grow on you. JP maybe you are getting "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" vibes from your childhood LOL.
I suspect the time since Justin was born is not nearly as long as the time from when "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" was first recorded , in 1939, till he was born. Even the time from the first English language recording in 1951 was further distant from his birth than the length of his life. Still, it is a great old song and it is possible he has heard it.
@@maruad7577 I think I heard him sing it in one of his uploads. I could be mistaken though. However, you are right, when you think something is common knowledge to you, might not be as common to others.
@@JeromeDukes You could very well be correct. I haven't watched all his videos and I don't remember most of the openings. I am the one who made assumptions.
We used to play Syncronicity II. Drummers favorite song, but I enjoyed playing the guitar parts as well. We also learned "Fields of Gold" from the Police for our singer, one of his favorites and I liked our version (I played keyboards on that one).
"Fields of Gold" isn't The Police-Sting solo album.
My favorite on this side is definitely Synchronicity 1. Side 2 of this album is incredible.
Whole album is awesome!
Not a comment on the songs, just a humorous anecdote. One day at work in early 1989 while sitting in my cubicle I popped this CD into my portable stereo (hey, we were a small software company, we were pretty relaxed) put my headphones on and hit play. I could hear the music, but only faintly, so I kept bumping up the volume but suddenly I had a few coworkers staring at me over the partition. Curious as to why I took my headphones off to hear "Synchronicity I" blaring over the main speakers. I hadn't noticed that the headphones weren't connected.
Ouch! Now that must have been awkward! I don't suppose you were high, if you were at work, so.....
🤣
I love that you also talked about Walking in Your Footsteps - in college I did a modern dance course and we were asked to create and preform a dance just solo. The prof said we could do whatever we wanted - then promptly gave me less of a grade because I used a mask. The entire point was that the focus would then be put on my body (because masks do not move) telling a story which was the entire point. I almost forgot about it until hearing this track again. Love the opening track- and how it opens up and flies in certain parts, pulling the listener along. with it. I would've said it's double time because it's just how I would've described that count in layman's terms, but yeah - 6/8 time would be 3/4 time doubled. LOL.
I was never a big Police fan years ago, but I really enjoyed this album and it made me revisit some of their earlier works. Being a progressive rock fan, I always thought their material as simplistic and I didn't enjoy it. I think on this album, Sting's lyrics were becoming stronger and I just liked the musicality of this album. The one person who I seriously under-rated at the time was Stewart Copeland. I remember seeing a documentary years ago where he was demonstrating all sorts of things percussion-wise. I was blown away by his knowledge and skill. Listening to all their works, I can now really hear the 'simple' complexity of his drumming. It sounds so simple, and it is really very intricate. I had the chance to see the Police twice. Once was in 1983 on their last tour together, and once again a few years ago when they did a reunion tour. The thing I remember most about the concert was the intensity of Copeland's drumming. It felt like he played 2 hours without stopping.
Regarding these two songs, I really like the energy of Synchronicity I. 'Walking in your Footsteps' isn't a favorite but its not bad either.
This was beautiful. You're helping me out of a bad patch of mental health at the moment; thank you, JP. I have started to collect their albums; my favourite at the moment "Regatta De Blanc" [1979] which has "Walking on the Moon", Message in a Bottle", "Bring on the Night" - where Stevie Nicks got her idea for "Edge of Seventeen" which later became a hit for her in 1981 and "The Bed's Too Big Without You". So that is quite an inspirational album in itself before this one.
Perhaps you’ll recognize the hit Wrapped around your finger, when you hear it.
Great album but my favorite album is Ghost in the machine.
Walking In Your Footsteps takes a while to sink in, so no worries. You'll come back to it in a while and it might hit differently.
Always a chance!
I had every Police album but this one. I was kinda over them by this point. If I never hear Every Breath You Take ever again, I'd be happy with it. That being said, I've never heard Walking In Your Footsteps.I actually found it refreshing, I really like it. It's all subjective. This wouldn't be out of place on Sting's first solo album. Thanks!
With 'Walking in your Footsteps' I keep waiting for the song to begin, it just lies there. Just my Humble Opinion. But Synchronicity ROCKS!👍
Such an intense early 80s vibe! Owned the album, played it often.
Hi Justin ! A lot of good vibrations is this album ! Good choice ! One year earlier, Andy Summers just recorded " I Advanced Masked" with R. Fripp ! Some new feelings in the guitars !
As impressive as this is on the studio version, the live version from the Synchronicity Tour video is at an even faster tempo. It flat rips along! It is practically is 6/8 triplets. It is truly impressive to see Copeland working that fast ... and he is WORKING!
The Police borrowed a bit, or a lot, from Talking Heads' Remain In [not the] Light in Walking in Your Footsteps.
Stewart Copeland is one of best Drummers in music history. Very Very complicated drum playing like he was influenced by jazz and classical music. Walking in your footsteps is an African rhythmic segment that is leads to a trance dance....when one heard African music especially west African music .....it sound like this......very repetitive...just vibing....
Synchronicity is in 6/4. 6/8 has a triplet feel.
I know this album well. My sister (many years older) gave this to me as a birthday gift way back in 1983, when the album came out. I don't remember if I had ever paid that much attention to The Police on the radio, but this album piqued my interest in the band, which I energetically explored more of several years later.
Obviously, "Synchronicity I" is a hat tip to Carl Jung. I never for the life of me, however, understood where in the hell they were coming from with "Synchronicity II."
Next, I recommend you do "King of Pain" and "Wrapped Around Your Finger." The latter shows a degree of erudition rarely seen in pop or rock music.
Love it. Part of that 80's "zietgeist" of musical experimentation and reinvention that gave us the shared innovations of the likes of Adrian Belew, The Talking Heads, and DISCIPLINE-era King Crimson.
Live versions of both Synchros from their ‘83 tour…👍🏻
kids love dinosaurs... this lyric is kind of a talking to kids about industrial life through the story of dinosaurs. I would call it child-like as opposed to child-ish. I think the whole album is about human life in the industrial age... and comparing it to our human origins, who we are as animals. This is something Carl Jung wrote about in his book "synchronicity," and Sting gets deeper into it during the lyric to Synchronicity II. Love this record!
This is just a great album. I understand that you offer ‘reaction’ based on what you hear. If I may offer, ‘We hear what we are listening for’. Just like we see what we are looking for. Before this album I heard from those who said Sting can’t sing. Given, he has limited range. But all I would ask is that you listen to the entire album to see the variety of what is being offered before deciding that Walking in Your Footsteps is too childish. This album and every song on it, for me, is just a great blend of musicianship and heady lyrics ansd Footsteps is no exception. I know you get to the lyrics later but sometimes that separation puts your evaluation too soon. Know what I’m saying? Just an observation.
I always wondered what people did with the farmers they bought at those markets.
Listening to this and reflecting on what I have heard from Copeland's latter work, it feels like Copeland had a major influence on both these songs. I also wonder how much the reputed acrimony within the group affected the music on this album. Sting and Copeland recorded from separate rooms, I don't know if it was before or after their reported dustup.
Dinosaurs had an message. Don't live on a planet that gets hit by a huge meteor.
We gotta find these Meeks…
@@-davidolivares I just woke up from a nap and I cannot figure out what you are referring to (the dangers of waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to get back to sleep for several hours). Maybe it will make more sense when I am not so much of a dunderhead.
@@maruad7577
Nope, it’s not you…
They say the meek shall inherit the earth.
Definitely one of my favorite albums of the 80s. Synchronicity 2 is a highlight but I love the whole album. I saw them live for this tour at Shea Stadium in the pouring rain with this new band called REM opening, followed by Joan Jett, if you can believe it, and then these guys just killed it. Never stopped raining but no-one cared.
And the next track on that album is my favorite one
Nice catch of the 6/8 time, but it may be 6/4. Again, a great driving album. The dichotomy between this and Walking in your Footsteps is perfect. Then followed up by the bluesy/funk of O my God…. This album is one I have to play in its entirety.
Here's an awesome live version of Synchronicity: ruclips.net/video/0A154OavghI/видео.html
Somehow, it makes you appreciate Copeland even more.
I met Sting at a BBQ in the Hampton's while he was on his Mercury Falling Tour.. He was so nice. I didn't have tix to the show that night. He said whoever doesn't show you'll get tickets. He was right. Got great seats. And it was a sold out show. I love his voice. He can sing anything.
What a peak experience that must have been! Thanks for sharing the story!
@@MissAstorDancer One woman to another.. He is gorgeous. I was mesmerized! I wanted him to take me with him. He said to me once I meet you I consider you my friend. So I'd say to my daughter "look its my friend Sting" lol so funny. Like I said so nice and very charming. I guess it's the British in him.
@@dana_brooke_27 Yes, Sting has always been so beautiful! He's certainly done some things right regarding his looks and health! He's almost 2 years older than me! I've been a faithful fan since the beginning with "Roxanne"!
I envy (in a good way) your amazing experience of meeting him and getting tickets to his show as a result of that meeting!
@@MissAstorDancer I've seen him many times since. If you haven't seen him.. You must. He's very photogenic. I have great pictures I've taken. I've met quite a few rock stars not all are nice. The one from Jersey not nice. Nice family though.
@@dana_brooke_27 Which Jersey boy are we talking about, the younger one or the older one?
Be sure to check out the song, "Synchronicity II" too.
Synch II. Peace.
Talk about going out on top...
you need to do synchronity 2.got the brilliant lyric...we have to shout above the din of our rice krispies.brilliant
🤙🏻
Yep synchronicity is a blast I skip WIYF as I do with Mother too good luck with that one lol!
Hey Justin! I think it's time for some more YES.
Will you settle for ABWH? :)
@@JustJP For now. Lol!🤣
I always thought the music and lyrics of "Footsteps" was perfectly matched, because it's combination of a soundscape that can be associated with a prehistoric rainforest where dinosaurs might have dwelled, and the story of the dinosaurs as a doomed species.
Love the Police - got to see them live once. Even though they disbanded after only 5 albums, they went on to do a lot of great solo work, and not just Sting : Stewart Copeland has released a dozen or so studio albums, including one on the short-lived I.R.S. "No Speak" imprint. Nice album: includes the theme he composed for the original "Equalizer" series. Several movie soundtracks and TV shows as well - ( music for the original pilot for the first incarnation of Babylon 5 - it would be nice if they get him to do the new series. Side note - he was replaced by Christopher Franke of Tangerine Dream for the B5 series itself.)
Nice one JP...re: possible African rhythms..Stewart Copeland had travelled (and still does i believe) to Africa( apologies,i dont know which country/countries) and studied various different rhythmic structures....As did Neil Peart from Rush
Sync I and Wrap music are both good to me, don’t agree with you on Wrapped.
Almost every Police album, to me has some weaker tracks but, what’s good is often great. Those whom dislike the next two tracks, while not their best, they are interesting especially Mother. Now that I rehear it, it reminds me of Exposure, Fripp’s album and Peter Hammill’s contributions. I was thinking you’d hate it but maybe not.
Busy day today, these two songs helped make it better, appreciate that.
Message In A Box, is one of my favorite box sets, along with Steely Dan’s Citizen. Lucky dog.
Peace and exposed Music
I have Citizen but I don't like the packaging or the format. 7 albums spread over 4 CD's with ugly covers. The music makes it worth it though.
David, did Justin say something about "Wrapped Around Your Finger"?
????
@@MissAstorDancer
Ha ha, I messed up again, you always catch me. I meant Walking In Your Footsteps… they both started with W? :/
@@-davidolivares I'm a terrible know-it-all - but I really DO pay attention and catch stuff!?? If only that were a hedge against senility!!!
You are a fine and gracious person, Sir!
@@MissAstorDancer
I appreciate the catch, me, I had the senior moment.
One of the first albums I got when I was a teen on one of those mail in record clubs, along with Duran Duran, David Bowie Lets Dance, Spandau Ballet, Thompson Twins, and a bunch of others and I still have back at my parents. Havent heard this album in ages. I think one of my favorites from this album is "King of Pain" and of course "Every Breath you Take". I liked "Wrap around your finger" too, but was never a big fan of the album.
The effects in the background of Walking in Your Footsteps are all guitar. I think it’s one of Andy Summer’s most creative performances.
Synchronicity I is in 6/4 not 6/8. 6/8 feels like 2 but is subdivided into 3’s. Misunderstanding by Genesis is a good example of 6/8. It would be hard to tap the six beats of that song with your foot but tapping beats one and four is easy and comfortable. ONE two three FOUR five six (spoken quickly).
Excellent analyses, although I love both songs -- the entire album is brilliant, IMO.
The previous year, 1982, Peter Gabriel's fourth solo album opened with "The Rhythm of the Heat", which musically retells Carl Jung's story of his travels through Africa, and what he learned there. So of course, half the world's Pop musicians were influenced by Gabriel's lyrics and by his new manner of building a song up by the its beat, as though the rhythm is the spine off which the rest of the song hangs. The Police were equally thus influenced, thus the Jungian concept of Synchronicity. They were also taken by Gabriel's use of the new digital sampling technology and his dense layering of found sounds.
It is no surprise that after 1982, everybody was singing bland, trite songs about Africa or that half a dozen songs were suddenly calling to "Lay Your Hands On Me". What I really hated was that suddenly, singers of every genre were throwing themselves back onto their audiences, with zero reason or context. This was Gabriel's move since he left Genesis, but in 1982 he wrote about a failed Second Coming. Gabriel's "Lay Your Hands On Me" thus gave meaning to his audience crucifixion scene, in his concerts.
At least The Police had the talent, intelligence and imagination to be influenced without plagiarizing anybody. Rather, they created an album destined to be a classic.
Stewart Copeland is one of the most underrated drummers ever
Maybe amongst listeners, but he is well respected in the drumming community. Very good indeed.
His brother Miles being manager of Wishbone Ash for a time, it's reported that their drummer, Steve Upton, gave SC some early tuition.
@@georgedavis-stewart4225 Paul Myers, who is also the brother of a well-known person, recently did a podcast interview with Miles Copeland. Great stuff.
Stewart Copeland is a very highly rated and influential drummer.
He's quite handy with the sticks for sure :)
Very good album. Synchronicity I & II are my favorites. I agree with most here that Walking... & Mother are the weakest tracks. I like Murder By Numbers a lot too. Holy moly the Amber alert scared the he🏒🏒 outta me too😳
You should listen to Synchronicity II, that song rocks.
I think Walking In Your Footsteps has always breathed the same air as contemporary Peter Gabriel and Paul Simon. Childish ..?
Yes maybe it is, but for me it is not something negative, I think the combination of naive melody, the lyrics and the odd soundscape makes this song timeless.
-Synchronicity an incredibly good record, but I rank the darker predecessor -Ghost In The Machine slightly higher
This is the only 1 of their studio albums I own. The group released 5 songs from this album as singles including 'Synchronicity I' and 'Synchronicity II'. It's for the latter song that I bought the album because that single was not on their 1st compilation "Every Breath You Take: The Singles". I also have a 2-disc live set and my own compilation to complement the "Singles" collection.
I hope you'll get around to some other British bands of the era such as Love and Rockets and Roby Hitchcock as a solo artist or with The Soft Boys (try their album "Underwater Moonlight" which has been called a classic by Rolling Stone) or The Egyptians. 'So You Think You're in Love' was a bit of a hit; 2 years ago he released 'Planet England' with Andy Partridge of XTC fame, you might want to give that a listen. Robyn is also a long-time friend of Peter Buck of R.E.M. Jonathan Demme made a film in 1998 "Storefront Hitchcock" which documents a concert of Hitchcock's. Introducing 'The Yip! Song': And while we're on this kind of a roll, this is the most upbeat song I've ever written. It's about death from cancer.
Oh.
Oh. Oh. Oh!
Speaking of "Every Breath You Take..."
Have you heard Chase Holdfelder's version in minor key? It totally makes the tune fit the stalker lyrics. So much so, for the Halloween show of Dancing With the Stars in 2017, Whitney choreographed a spectacular routine for her partner, Frankie Muñoz. So much so, it is still one of my favorite performances on the show.
Definitely worth considering reacting to for Halloween, even if you're not a fan of ballroom dancing. It's that good!
m.ruclips.net/video/6IfT89h_WSg/видео.html
My least favorite Police album. I am not saying it's bad. I just love early Police. So Loney and Can't Stand Losing You are the type of Police songs I like.
Are you gonna reaction to the rest of the album?
Isn't the percussion from "Walking in Your Footsteps" reminiscent of "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts"?
This album was a great follow up to Ghost in the Machine which I didn't much care for, they put Andy Summers too much in the background. This album he's back to being in front, and really it's his guitar work that defines the Police sound for the most part IMHO.
Firsties!!
Synchorinicity I is actually in 12/8, quite very different to 6/8.
Have you done any reactions to Argent other than Hold Your Head Up? I recommend you listen to Anything on Nexus or Circus. You don't need to do a reaction video, just listen to it sometime. It's well worth it. Completely underrated band.
Something for your off hours...
Stewart Copland.
The Rythumtist
Murder by numbers
Stewart Copeland is outstanding
Is this the only album in the building?
The second half of the album is a lot stronger than the first half imo.
I agree for the most part. I do think the two parts of Synchronicity are excellent along with Miss Gradenko. I wish the b-sides of that time, Someone to Talk To and Once Upon a Time had taken the place of some of the lesser tracks on side one.
How strange, was just listening to Sting this morning for the first time in years……spooky
😉
it's in 6/4😅
Synchronicity I & II are both excellent songs. What time signature is Synchronicity I in? Some say 5/4, some say 3/4, some say 6/8.... What's the verdict??
Not sure what month it was released but either I was a senior in high school or a freshman in college. Heard it a lot in the dorms. Have always liked this album. Didn't realize it was their last studio album, but I know when they broke up it was acrimonious. Not just a parting of ways.
For me, Synchronicity is more creative. Walking in Your Footsteps is a tired idea: dinosaurs were eventually wiped out and people may destroy themselves. The singing is fine to me, the problem is with the lyrics.
It's a great album, one of the songs l love is Wrapped Around Your Finger, one l hate though is Mother, spoils a fantastic album, but hey! that's just my opinion 😉
‘Mother’ took me by surprise when I first went through the album, then I saw that Andy wrote it and it explained a lot.
I always took it as a Mother/Sting metaphor, or Andy tossing a Freudian theme into Sting’s Jung based writings, but I’m just an armchair music critic. What do I know? 😬
Always skipped that one
JP might have enjoyed "Who Dunnit?", but I think even he would have difficulty with "Mother"
Justin I believe the song is in 6/4 not 6/8. 6/8 has a count of 123 456. Songs like "Lights" by Journey or "Misunderstanding" by Genesis are in 6/8
This is a good album, however Ghost in the Machine is my favorite police album.
Love this album as a whole but you're correct about Walking - rather throwaway and underwhelming for sure. The opening track is magnificent though and powers through in a very satisfying way. There are some other great tracks on the album so persist!
'I' not as good as 'II' but still OK.
6/4 but in simple time...
I tend to agree with you about Walking in Your Footsteps, the song has awkward, trite rhymes like "brontosaurus" with "for us" and "atom bomb" and "dumb". I understand the message, but it's not at all original. The Police are far from the first to come up with the idea that nuclear war isn't good. I like the Police a lot, but to me, this album is their weakest. I don't dislike the album, but it isn't their best. It feels like the band wasn't as involved as in previous albums, it's like they knew this was going to be their final effort as a band.
Yes, I think they knew the band was coming to an end. The tensions between the three musicians were already present on the previous album (Ghost in the Machine) but here they were at a peak ! (the band members recording simultaneously in separate rooms to avoid frictions).
For me too, of The Police's five studio albums, Synchronicity is the one I like the least and yet it remains quite good. We can feel the ascendancy of Sting over Andy & Stewart (it was already the case from the start, but it is felt all the more on this album which begins to sound like Sting in solo).
Footsteps has sophomoric lyrics and is the weakest song on the album. Thank goodness they cut the line, “They live in a museum, it’s the only place you’ll see ‘em” 😂 Only They Might Be Giants can get away with corny songs like this. Other than that (and Mother), this album is impeccable, keep listening 🙂 I was a huge Police fan and I bought Synchronicity the day it was released and saw them on their last tour in Syracuse.
The best Drummer STEWARD COPELAND and ANDY SUMMERS the best guitarist ever
Synchronicity is a good album but i prefer Zenyatta Mondatta and Ghost in the machine
Same opinion ! However, I don't think there are any of their albums that are fully successful through and through (alongside some great songs there is still a handful of average tracks on those five albums).
Something of a mixture of jamming around World Music and programmed sounds, all quite fashionable in its day. Not terribly engaging to me now.