Ready, Aye, Ready

Presumably as part of the upcoming tour, all of the albums by the Police have gone on sale in their remastered form, and quite cheaply too -- about $5 a disc. I've taken the opportunity to upgrade the couple I already had and fill in the holes.

As I listen to "Synchronicity" again and enjoy the superb musicianship and song writing, I have to ask: why "Mother"? It has to rate as one of the least listenable pieces of music ever committed to tape. It mars the album and actually takes away from the whole. It serves no purpose. Why, oh why, was it put on there, and why was it kept? Surely someone in the mastering process could have stood up and told the band "Uh, you know, this really isn't very good."

The singles from the album every one knows: "Every Breath You Take", "King Of Pain", "Wrapped Around Your Fingers". Each one is a classic. "Walking In Your Footsteps", "Synchronicity I" and "II" are all superb. "Tea In The Sahara" should have been a single but it's too gorgeous to have worked well in that format. Even "O My God", "Miss Gradenko" and "Murder By Numbers" are good songs. Somehow though, that one appalling little song wrecks the entire album for me.

Thanks to the miracles of modern technology, I've now removed the awkward song from my MP3 version of the album. It's a better option than the old one of remastering a play-copy of the album without "Mother". It flows cleanly and well now. Ah, bliss.