The other eight songs (nine, if you count 'Murder By Numbers' that only appears on regular CD issues of Synchronicity) are pure Sting, and as is the usual custom, all of them rule. Some rule from the start, others on repeated listens. Contrary to initial rumours, Mr Sumner does not entirely slide into soft-rock territory; the two title tracks gotta rank among the best rockers the Police ever did, even if they're widely different from the earlier stuff - the punkish aesthetics has been swept away, replaced by a "clean-cut" New Wave punch and numerous artsy overtones, with atmospheric synthesizers and Andy's guitar assuming a totally otherworldly role. (Which reminds me - be sure to trace all the weird guitar effects that Andy uses throughout. It's Sting's album, for sure, but it also gotta rank as the peak of Summers' experimental tiddly-widdling with his six-string. No wonder the man easily found a common language with Robert Fripp).
… and that end track, 'Murder By Numbers', which, as Sting himself confessed on Frank Zappa's Broadway The Hard Way, was written by Satan, according to Jimmy Swaggart. Cool little jazzy tune that teaches you how to, well, murder by numbers.
[George Starostin]
The other eight songs (nine, if you count 'Murder By Numbers' that only appears on regular CD issues of Synchronicity) are pure Sting, and as is the usual custom, all of them rule. Some rule from the start, others on repeated listens. Contrary to initial rumours, Mr Sumner does not entirely slide into soft-rock territory; the two title tracks gotta rank among the best rockers the Police ever did, even if they're widely different from the earlier stuff - the punkish aesthetics has been swept away, replaced by a "clean-cut" New Wave punch and numerous artsy overtones, with atmospheric synthesizers and Andy's guitar assuming a totally otherworldly role. (Which reminds me - be sure to trace all the weird guitar effects that Andy uses throughout. It's Sting's album, for sure, but it also gotta rank as the peak of Summers' experimental tiddly-widdling with his six-string. No wonder the man easily found a common language with Robert Fripp).
… and that end track, 'Murder By Numbers', which, as Sting himself confessed on Frank Zappa's Broadway The Hard Way, was written by Satan, according to Jimmy Swaggart. Cool little jazzy tune that teaches you how to, well, murder by numbers. [George Starostin]