Love the image of James Spader admiring himself in the mirror with Synchronicity playing. I imagine him with a Spandau Ballet record playing, personally.
I find Synchronicity lyrically dark - it wouldn’t surprise me if Sting was clinically depressed at the time. I think “Walking In Your Footsteps,” “King Of Pain,” “Wrapped Around Your Finger,” and “Tea In The Sahara” to be standout tracks. I think Summers’ playing is amazing - he is using a lot of guitar synths on the record which makes it very atmospheric.
You’re right–“Darkness” in particular is a favourite of mine, and Side 2 sounds more like the product of a band than a solo artist. But still, I find the album kind of dull overall.
Synchronicity, OTOH, while on paper seems as much if not more Sting-centric, has a feel where Copeland and Summers seem more present and engaged, IMHO. And it feels more cohesive as a statement as well.
In my opinion R.E.M. definitely deserve a mention. Every album they released from Murmur in 1983 to Reveal in 2001 got very good (and in some cases great) reviews. Admittedly, Up was a somewhat controversial album in that it was considerably more experimental than its predecessors, and critical consensus was divided accordingly, but the balance of reviews were still quite positive. In fact, it wasn’t until 2004’s Around The Sun that they released an album that failed to garner critical praise from a majority of reviewers, and even then the reviews weren’t that bad, for the most part. So yeah,
Murmur (1983)
Reckoning (1984)
Fables of the Reconstruction (1985)
Lifes Rich Pageant (1986)
Document (1987)
Green (1988)
Out of Time (1991)
Automatic for the People (1992)
Monster (1994)
New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996)
Up (1998)
Reveal (2001)
And then they came back with Accelerate (2008) and Collapse into Now (2011) which, again, got a great reception.
1973 - Closing Time
1974 - The Heart of Saturday Night
1975 - Nighthawks at the Diner
1976 - Small Change
1977 - Foreign Affairs
1978 - Blue Valentine
1980 - Heart Attack and Vine
1982 - One from the Heart
1983 - Swordfishtrombones
1985 - Rain Dogs
1987 - Frank’s Wild Years
1988 - Big Time
1992 - Bone Machine
1992 - Night on Earth
1993 - Black Rider
1999 - Mule Variations
2002 - Blood Money
2003 - Alice
That’s where my collection peters off, but even the weakest of those, in my view, One From the Heart is a gem in its own way.
Don’t know what it is with Synchronicity - I guess it’s where I thought Sting finally turned into an irredeemable asshole. The fact that it’s right when I was getting into punk/alternative probably didn’t help the album’s standing in my mind. I’ve always appreciated Summers and Copeland, but this one didn’t work for me (though I do admit that overall it’s got more hooks than Ghost in the Machine).
Personally, as a huge fan from the first album on, I’d have a hard time defending Green, Monster, Up and (especially) Reveal as “great” albums. Most contained some great songs, but were pretty uneven.
Oh, I’m with you. Personally, I don’t really like Green much at all (although I think Monster might be my absolute fave). I was just going by the critical consensus, at least as I understand it.
Green is one of my favorites. The only track I don’t like is “Turn You Inside Out”. (Yes, I even like “Stand”.)
IMO, the one that’s hard to defend as great is Out of Time. “Country Feedback” is a stone classic, I almost love “Me in Honey”, and “Losing My Religion” is so ubiquitous that it’s hard to judge objectively. On the other hand, “Shiny Happy People” is dreadful and “Radio Song” is even worse, and the rest is pretty meh. I hate to say this because it was the album that brought me into the band, but it’s true–it just hasn’t held up. It’s easier to make a case for Monster, though I’m not sure I would.
Up and Reveal have their moments but I wouldn’t defend them as essential. Murmur through Document are, of course, unimpeachable.
It’s a short streak, but I always thought The Hold Steady’s run from 2004 to 2006 with Almost Killed Me, Separation Sunday, and Boys and Girls in America was an impressive stretch for a new band.
I think “Near Wild Heaven”, “Endgame” and “Half A World Away” are worthy songs, too. Like all right-thinking people, I can’t stand “Radio Song” or “Shiny Happy People”.
I saw them on the Green tour. The audience got way more excited by the older songs than anything off that album.
Really? I love Let it Be.. one after 909.. for you blue.. Get back.. Long and winding road..
Okay my add is Steely dan all the way until Gaucho.. not a huge fan of that one.. the first six… absolutely money..
One of my favorite bands, AC/DC put out 12 extremely good albums in 15 years and that’s not including stuff like the awesome “Live” double CD set from Castle Donnington.
1975 - High Voltage and TNT
1976 - High Voltage (intl) and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
1977 - Let There Be Rock
1978 - Powerage
1979 - Highway To Hell
1980 - Back In Black (just the other day I read that’s still the #2 selling LP of all time, 50M+ sold)
1981 - For Those About To Rock We Salute You
1983 - Flick Of The Switch (some folks don’t care for it but I think it’s quite good)
1985 - Fly On The Wall
1988 - Blow Up Your Video
1990 - The Razor’s Edge
Ballbreaker (1995) and Stiff Upper Lip (2000) were not so good, a couple of good songs but overall “meh”.
Then in 2008 they came back with Black Ice which shows they’ve still got it.
The summer of 1973 I was working in a lab where the guy who had the radio turned it to a Boston Top 40 station. The Long and Winding Road was played every ten minutes. (Kodachrome played in the other slot.) So I went right off that album.
“Let it Be Naked” is much better - and I had a bootleg of much of that material, but it doesn’t exactly count. Anyhow, I might be biased.
A lot of bands I would have mentioned have already been mentioned, though I probably would have set the quality dropoff earlier, especially with REM, but that’s just me. If they were mentioned, I didn’t see it, but I’ll nominate the Pixies for every full length album they released. I also don’t recall The Mekons or Thin White Rope ever releasing an album that was unexceptional.
1974: Rush
1975: Fly by Night
1975: Caress of Steel
1976: 2112
1977: All The World’s a Stage (live)
1978: A Farewell to Kings
1979: Hemispheres
1980: Permanent Waves
1981: Moving Pictures 1981: Exit…Stage Left (live)
1982: Signals
1984: Grace Under Pressure
1985: Power Windows
1987: Hold Your Fire
1988: A Show of Hands (live)
1989: Presto
After that, things get a bit dodgy. Their latest, Clockwork Angels, does kick ass though.