Discography Deep Dive: The Police
The Police is one of those bands that’s been a part of my life for nearly as long as I can remember. I can’t think of a time when I didn’t know the likes of “Every Breath You Take,” “Roxanne,” and “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.” Yet somehow I’d never listened to any of their albums all the way through. That is about to change.
Discography Notes
“Fall Out” (May 1977; Illegal Records)
Non-album single.
“Nothing Achieving” was the B-side.
This is really interesting. “Fall Out” is super scrappy.
I had to find “Nothing Achieving” on YouTube.
This is EASILY the punkest The Police ever got.
Also, they had a different guitar player on these songs. I always thought of The Police as the three blonde dudes Sting, Stewart Copeland, and Andy Summers. Learn somethin’ new every day.
Outlandos d'Amour (November 17, 1978; A&M Records)
I love the opening track “Next To You.”
Prior to this, I’d never heard “Fall Out” or “Nothing Achieving” and now I wonder if “Next To You” was written around the same time as those songs.
Track 2, “So Lonely,” jumps right into the reggae before hitting a rockin’ chorus.
In a lot of ways, the sequencing of “Next To You” into “So Lonely” heralds the evolution of the band’s sound from that first single to what they would do going forward.
This song was also a bit of a hit but I’m pretty sure that I’ve never heard it before.
All that having been said, this song rules!
It’s so wild that “Roxanne” was their breakout single.
There’s something about the rhythm of “Hold My Life” that is super familiar. Is it reminiscent of Queen? Later stage Beatles? Ugh this is going to bug me.
I don’t think I liked that one.
That said, “Peanuts” is great!
“Can’t Stand Losing You” has such a fun chorus!
“Truth Hurts Everybody” is one of the more punk songs on the record.
The opening riff of “Be My Girl - Sally” is awesome!
But what the fuck is this spoken word interlude?!?
This song would be 1,000 times better without it.
Or that yelling at the end.
Are those actual lyrics in “Masoko Tanga” or just a bunch of syllables?
Yeah…this song and the “Sally” part of “Be My Girl - Sally” are just way too artsy-fartsy.
This is annoying and pretentious as fuck.
Reggatta de Blanc (October 5, 1979; A&M)
“Message In A Bottle” is a hell of a way to open an album!
It’s pretty ballsy to make track two on your album an instrumental.
It’s on songs like this that you can hear Sting’s jazz fusion past.
Once this song gets going, it’s pretty dang good.
Damn, “It’s Alright For You” rules!
“Bring On The Night” is pretty much a full blown reggae song. I like it.
The opening of “Deathwish”!!
I’d never realized how much the opening of “Walking On The Moon” feels like a John Hughes film.
This song was an interesting choice for a single.
Jesus end already!
What is going on in “On Any Other Day”?
Well…the wokes won’t like that one.
“The Bed’s Too Big Without You” is also a weird choice for a single.
Seriously, this song is weird.
And our jazz fusion inspired number for this album is “Contact.”
This is so pretentious but it’s also silly as hell.
Speaking of pretentiousness…why is it that this band’s pretentious tendencies are more endearing than annoying?
Remember what I just said about their pretentiousness being endearing? Well…they really tested that theory with “Does Everyone Stare.” Yikes!
The piano on this song reminds me of that piano song in Ghostbusters.
The closing track “No Time This Time” is one of the most urgent songs they have done up to this point.
So far, two albums in and The Police have produced nothing except notebook quality records.
Zenyatta Mondatta (October 3, 1980; A&M)
Okay, so “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” is an undeniably great song, but it is so weird how society in the 70s and 80s (and 90s) was seemingly okay with adults banging high school students.
Side note. Has anyone else noticed the phenomenon of bands that have more compilations and collections than albums? In The case of The Police, they released five studio albums, one EP, and one non-album single. They have also released seven compilations and three box sets. So, not counting their three live albums, they have released twice as many compilations as studio albums. Now let's compare that to another artist from around that same time, The Smiths. The Smiths released four studio albums, three EPs, and 24 singles (a number of which were non-album singles). They have also released 11 compilations. Eleven. That is wild. Now I'm curious what other artists had a low number of albums and a high number of compilations. Hmmm…
Again with an interesting pick for track two. In this case it is “Driven To Tears” which nearly kills the momentum from “Don’t Stand So Close To Me.”
The opening of “When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around” feels so easy listening / adult contemporary.
I know that we’re only on track three, but so far this is the weakest album in the band’s catalog.
Okay, this is wild. This “song reached No. 3 on the Billboard Dance Music/Club Play Singles chart in 1981.” WTF?!?
Well, “Canary in a Coalmine” certainly is peppy.
Apparently the band wasn’t happy with this record and felt like it was a rush job. I’m five tracks in and agree with their opinion on it.
Speaking of, “Voices Inside My Head” might be my least favorite Police song up to this point in their discography.
Yeah…Sting’s jazz tendencies are showing again.
“Bombs Away” is a step up.
It’s very dancey.
There were only two songs released as singles for this album and I can see why.
“De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da” is another stone cold classic.
Thinking of this album as either a vinyl LP or a cassette, the singles and two best songs were the first track on each side. That was smart.
I would like to retract my previous statement about “When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around” being the weakest song on the record. That distinction goes to “Behind My Camel.” Woof.
Seriously, this song sucks.
So far, The Police have the decency of following up the bad songs with something up beat and fun. See “Man In A Suitcase.”
So far, all of these songs have ended on a fadeout. Huh.
Oh wow…the urge to skip “Shadows In The Rain” is strong.
This is another way too artsy-fartsy number.
This band is best when their (okay it’s probably Sting’s) pretentiousness is held in check.
Jesus, this song is five minutes long?!?
This might be tied with “Behind My Camel” for the worst Police song.
Oh Jesus, the first 10 seconds of “The Other Way of Stopping”...
And it doesn’t get that much better as it goes on.
So, I’d originally intended on rating this the good old gentlemen’s 3 stars, but it’s not a 3 star album.
I gave it a 2.
Ghost in the Machine (October 2, 1981; A&M)
“Spirits in the Material World” is an interesting album opener. It’s a good song, it’s just a weird choice.
Goddamn “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” is such a great song.
Recently the YouTube channel Drumeo dropped one of their “So-and-so Hears <blank> for the First Time” videos about this song. I love those videos and this one was a lot of fun.
The first three songs on the album were also the first three singles (though the singles came out in a different order than they appeared on the record).
“Invisible Sun” was the first single. That was a bold move.
Man the album cuts are just so…
What in the world is going on with “Hungry For You”?
This reminds me of that disco song…oh shit what’s it called?!?
“Lady Marmalade”! That’s it!
When did this band get a horn section?
“Demolition Man” is the second song in a row that is obviously disco influenced.
So Sting wrote this song but it was originally recorded by Grace Jones. Wild.
I keep forgetting that this band that I so completely associate with the 80s was, in a lot of ways, more of a 70s band.
It’s also interesting that this was a band that mixed such different elements. Obviously all three of these guys are crazy good musicians, but the fact that Stewart Copeland wanted to move from playing progressive rock to punk and to do this, he started a band with a guy who played jazz fusion. This shouldn’t work but somehow it did.
“Too Much Information” has some serious wah-chicka-wah action going on in there. Tom Servo would approve.
What did “Too much information running through my brain” look like in 1981? I was like 6 for most of that year, so I’ve got no clue. Was CNN even a thing yet?
Turns out, CNN was a thing. It launched June 1, 1980.
“Re-Humanize Yourself” is a fun ditty.
That said, the lyrics are dark as hell.
“One World (Not Three)” is basically a ska song.
Like “Re-Humanize Yourself”, this is a political song.
This song rules!!!
You know, for three extremely white guys, they did a really good job incorporating reggae and ska into their music and make it work.
Apparently, A&M Records wanted “Omegaman” to be the first single but Sting said no.
I wonder if Kenny Omega ever used this song as entrance music?
I can see why the label wanted this song to be a single. I wonder why Sting didn’t?
How did this band have these great songs that also had bits that sounded like smooth jazz?
The opening of “Secret Journey” has some serious Art Bell vibes.
It also feels like something you’d hear on an NPR member station’s jazz show.
The closing track “Darkness” starts off with all of these sounds that shouldn’t work together but somehow they do.
That said, it does have a big time easy listening / smooth jazz vibe to it. It would go perfectly next to Spyro Gyra.
Despite all the weird jazz and easy listening moments, Ghost in the Machine is a significantly better record than Zenyatta Mondatta.
Synchronicity (June 17, 1983; A&M)
Here we go…this is the big one. The band’s final album.
“Synchronicity I” is one heck of an opener!
I love Sting’s vocals on “Walking in Your Footsteps.”
This song reminds me of what Peter Gabriel would do with the live version of “In Your Eyes.”
“O My God” brings back the smooth jazz vibe but this time it’s more successful.
WTF is going on with “Mother”? Yikes.
We may have a new contender for worst song by The Police.
Holy fuck this song is awful.
“Miss Gradenko” is…I don’t know.
Finally! “Synchronicity II” is EASILY my favorite song by this band!
I love the lyric "Another industrial ugly morning, The factory belches filth into the sky"!
Truthfully, if The Police had more songs like this, they’d be one of my all-time favorites.
Check out this side two – “Every Breath You Take” into “King of Pain” into “Wrapped Around Your Finger.” JFC, what a murderers row!
“Every Breath You Take” was the album’s lead single. I’d never made this connection until now, but the first single from U2’s The Joshua Tree was also a ballad, “With or Without You.” I wonder if they were following The Police’s lead on that?
The lyrics of this song are so creepy but the way Sting delivers them, it’s no wonder people have thought it's a love song. I mean come on, look at the guy! That sexy dude singing that song with that sexy voice. Of course no one's first reaction was, “wow that is a dark song about a stalker,” because we were all turned on too much to notice!
I wonder how much Sting and company made for “I’ll Be Missing You” and in hindsight if they regret it.
“King Of Pain” is one of the band’s most underrated singles IMHO.
This might be my second favorite Police song.
I have very vivid memories of watching the “Wrapped Around Your Finger” music video on MTV in the 80s. It was visually captivating.
It also doesn’t hurt that this song is incredible.
Goddamn I love this song’s crescendo!
I am completely unfamiliar with these last two songs.
Hmmm… “Tea in the Sahara” is something. It’s good but it’s…I don’t know what.
Wait a minute. Has every song on all of these albums ended in a fadeout? Dammit, I should have paid closer attention to that.
“Muder By Numbers” was a cassette and CD bonus track.
This song has a loungey vibe. If they’d made a music video for this, it could have followed noir film tropes and Sting could have been a lounge singer.
Holy shit, no fadeout!
Synchronicity is easily the band’s best album, despite having one of the band’s worst songs on it. 4.5 stars.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Police are legends for a reason. They showed up, knocked out five albums in about six years and exited stage right at the top of their game. Three of the five albums are legitimately great, one is really good, and one is fine. That’s one hell of a track record!
References
mattbeatgoeson. [Username]. (2025, January 9). How The Police Changed Music [Video]. YouTube.
The Police. (2025, May 30). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Police&oldid=1293069448
The Police discography. (2025, April 24). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Police_discography&oldid=1287109791
The Smiths discography. (2025, May 7). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Smiths_discography&oldid=1289290617
When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around. (2025, February 8). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=When_the_World_Is_Running_Down,_You_Make_the_Best_of_What%27s_Still_Around&oldid=1274627746
I agree that Synchronicity is their best album.
Gotta disagree on “When the world is running down.” 😆. I have a remix of that from about 2000 that’s meaningful for me. Like the original also 👍