My plan (amended).
- One record per week (ish) & at least two complete listens.
- A blog post for each, highlighting the important details and, when possible, a background story that relates to the record.
- No rating scale - just an effort to expand my appreciation of diverse forms of music.
- Listen to Josh and his guest on The 500 podcast to gather additional information and insights.
It had to happen eventually: Writer's Block. Well, not so much writer's block as a sudden loss of motivation to write.
Interestingly, I experienced a similar malaise at this time last year when, fortunately, I came across The 500 Podcast which got me back to the keyboard.
Then, it struck me. I was still trying to process the passing of Rush drummer Neil Peart. I couldn't write about Synchronicity without writing about my favourite band of all time. Curiously, Rush didn't manage to get a record on the 500 list. So, I wrote about Neil, and now I'm ready to move on.
Album # 449
Album Title: Synchronicity
Artist: The Police
Released: June, 1983
My age at release: 17
How familiar was I with it before this week: Very familiar
Song I am putting on my Spotify Mix: Tea in the Sahara
Great Lyric: (So many to choose from)
"Another industrial ugly morning
The factory belches filth into the sky.
He walks unhindered through the picket lines today,
He doesn't think to wonder why.
The secretaries pout and preen like cheap tarts in a red light street,
But all he ever thinks to do is watch.
And every single meeting with his so-called superior
Is a humiliating kick in the crotch.
Many miles away something crawls to the surface
Of a dark Scottish loch" (Synchronicity II)
The Police were one of the first bands that excited my interest for music in the late 70s. The band has four records on The 500 list but, surprisingly, my favourite, Zenyatta Mondatta, is not one of them. The band only had five studio releases in total. So, four out of five making this list is awfully impressive and not surprising. They are exceptional talents.
With the release of Synchronicity in 1983, The Police were heralded by critics as "The Biggest Band in the World" and rightly so. They were headlining stadiums across the world, performing in front of 70,000 people at a time in some venues.
My friends and I were actually a little disgruntled by their commercial success. This was high school for us and the power of the clique was strong. We had loved The Police when they were an eclectic trio, playing a fusion of punk, reggae and jazz. We had been fans for five years (a lifetime when you are a teenager).
Now, seemingly suddenly, they were popular with everyone, even the nauseating Preppie Crowd who would have looked down their noses at us for wearing an Outlandos d'Amour T-shirt from a Police Picnic show at the CNE grounds in Toronto.
I have regretted missing that show for years. However, many of my friends were in attendance, some seeing the band for a second or third time. Consequently, we collectively bristled at their new-found celebrity among the great unwashed. Now, it is me who bristles when I reflect on the narrow-minded sensibilities of youth. What can I say? It was high school.
The most salient memory I have about this record involves a time when I angrily "stormed out of my home" over some small injustice involving my parents. I was in Grade 12, in the autumn of 1983, and I was determined ...NEVER TO RETURN.
My friend Stan convinced his mother that my situation was dire and she agreed to let me stay. She was a single mother who was putting herself through university and lived in a small apartment with her three children. I was given a spot on the floor in Stan's room (which he shared with his brother). In retrospect, I suspect she was too exhausted to argue with Stan about bringing home a stray.
Stan lived humbly and didn't have much of a music collection. Mine, mainly vinyl, was still at home...right beside a comfortable bed in which I should have been sleeping. However, Stan did have Synchronicity on cassette and I had brought my Walkman. I played on my headphones when I was falling asleep on the floor for nearly a week.
Eventually, I returned home to my comfortable middle-class life and my copy of the record on vinyl. However, the experience left its mark and, whenever I hear it, my back gets a little sore and I swear I can still feel rough, industrial strength carpet on my back.
Bonus Content
Stan also worked at a nearby Singles Bar called "Sweetwaters" as a busser. While the thirty-something crowd were romancing each other on the dance floor (or in their cars in the parking lot), Stan would "clean-up" packs of cigarettes and lighters from the temporarily abandoned cocktail tables. He didn't smoke, but I did and was elated. Eventually, we were so well stocked that we began selling half-packs on the smoking patios of our respective high schools for a discount price. Unfortunately, our get-rich-quick enterprise went up in smoke. Stan was caught (liberating a pack) by an eagle-eyed customer, who complained. The jig was up. Still, it was good while it lasted and certainly revealed Stan's entrepreneurial spirit that he would eventually leverage into his own successful business in his 20s.
Then, it struck me. I was still trying to process the passing of Rush drummer Neil Peart. I couldn't write about Synchronicity without writing about my favourite band of all time. Curiously, Rush didn't manage to get a record on the 500 list. So, I wrote about Neil, and now I'm ready to move on.
Album # 449
Album Title: Synchronicity
Artist: The Police
Released: June, 1983
My age at release: 17
How familiar was I with it before this week: Very familiar
Song I am putting on my Spotify Mix: Tea in the Sahara
Great Lyric: (So many to choose from)
"Another industrial ugly morning
The factory belches filth into the sky.
He walks unhindered through the picket lines today,
He doesn't think to wonder why.
The secretaries pout and preen like cheap tarts in a red light street,
But all he ever thinks to do is watch.
And every single meeting with his so-called superior
Is a humiliating kick in the crotch.
Many miles away something crawls to the surface
Of a dark Scottish loch" (Synchronicity II)
The Police were one of the first bands that excited my interest for music in the late 70s. The band has four records on The 500 list but, surprisingly, my favourite, Zenyatta Mondatta, is not one of them. The band only had five studio releases in total. So, four out of five making this list is awfully impressive and not surprising. They are exceptional talents.
Now, seemingly suddenly, they were popular with everyone, even the nauseating Preppie Crowd who would have looked down their noses at us for wearing an Outlandos d'Amour T-shirt from a Police Picnic show at the CNE grounds in Toronto.
The most salient memory I have about this record involves a time when I angrily "stormed out of my home" over some small injustice involving my parents. I was in Grade 12, in the autumn of 1983, and I was determined ...NEVER TO RETURN.
Stan lived humbly and didn't have much of a music collection. Mine, mainly vinyl, was still at home...right beside a comfortable bed in which I should have been sleeping. However, Stan did have Synchronicity on cassette and I had brought my Walkman. I played on my headphones when I was falling asleep on the floor for nearly a week.
Bonus Content
Stan also worked at a nearby Singles Bar called "Sweetwaters" as a busser. While the thirty-something crowd were romancing each other on the dance floor (or in their cars in the parking lot), Stan would "clean-up" packs of cigarettes and lighters from the temporarily abandoned cocktail tables. He didn't smoke, but I did and was elated. Eventually, we were so well stocked that we began selling half-packs on the smoking patios of our respective high schools for a discount price. Unfortunately, our get-rich-quick enterprise went up in smoke. Stan was caught (liberating a pack) by an eagle-eyed customer, who complained. The jig was up. Still, it was good while it lasted and certainly revealed Stan's entrepreneurial spirit that he would eventually leverage into his own successful business in his 20s.
