TWEET:š„ The Police - Miss Gradenko
Is anybody alive in here? Is anybody at all in here? Nobody but us in here. Nobody but us.
Bold statement time.
āMiss Gradenkoā is the best song on The Policeā 1983 album, Synchronicity.
Iām not just saying that to be controversial. Okay, I am. A little.
Stewart Copeland has always been my favorite officer in the band. I will always acknowledge the brilliance of Sting and Andy Summers, and the band would never have succeeded without all three of them, but Stewart was the fire in the belly of the beast. He was the professor. He was the comedian. He was the instigator and the agitator.
And he was a fine, fine songwriter and composer as well.
I posit that it was Copelandās sense of humor that kept The Police from becoming dull and self-serious. He was the perfect foil for Sting. Until he wasnāt.
Letās take a look at the bandās final album, Synchronicity.
āWrapped Around Your Finger,ā āKing of Pain,ā āEvery Breath You Take.ā Good songs, deserved hit songs, but a little too precious. They sound more like precursors to Stingās solo debut, The Dream of the Blue Turtles.
Itās interesting that those three songs all appear on side two of the album. Itās almost as if the sides had accidentally gotten flipped and the band just said, āItās fine, letās go with it.ā
The order of songs on side one in particular creates a bit of intriguing sonic whiplash.
After starting off with the propulsively energized āSynchronicity 1,ā the pace suddenly drops down like 100bpms with the gentle āWalking in Your Footsteps,ā an oddly entrancing blend of African percussion and a melody that sounds like a childrenās tune. But lyrically itās about the extinction of dinosaurs and if we donāt watch out, man. For me, what makes the track work is Andyās elephant-like guitar squawks.
Track 3, āO My Godā is the first song that calls back to The Police of previous albums, like Zenyatta Mondatta and Ghost in the Machine. The funky groove, embellished with sax and a fat bass line, is excellent ā itās one of my favorite Police tracks ā but I feel like it would fit better on side two. Maybe between āEvery Breath You Takeā and āKing of Pain.ā
Track 4, āMother,ā is an Andy Summers composition in every facet. He even āsingsā the song. If you can call his caterwauling singing. Some people hate this song. I am not one of them, but I can understand the reaction.
But the result of all the āMotherā hate is that the last track on side A, āMiss Gradenkoā (written by and sung by Stewart Copeland), was often overlooked, as many people simply turned the record over in the middle of āMother.ā Itās unfortunate, but one saving grace is that the year this album was released was the same year CDs became available for purchase in record stores.
So it became easier to skip past āMotherā with the press of a button and go straight to āMiss Gradenko.ā However, I think most people back then bought Synchronicity as a record or cassette tape and simply played side two. The side with all the hit singles.
Well, their loss. Side A is the better side.
As for āMiss Gradenko,ā this was one of many songs Stewart Copeland wrote (and sang on, like this one) for The Police. He also released a super fun EP in 1980 under the name Klark Kent. Itās very much in the vein of āMiss Gradenko.ā Short, high-energy, power-poppy songs that make you pogo around the room. One of the songs on the EP, āDonāt Care,ā reached the top-50 in the UK Billboard charts. Below is an awesome live version from Copelandās appearance on Top of the Pops. Heās even got Sting and Andy playing on this!
Other Police songs Copeland wrote:
Bombs Away
Contact
Darkness
Does Everyone Stare
Fall Out
Itās Alright For You (with Sting)
Landlord (with Sting)
Nothing Achieving
On Any Other Day
Rehumanize Yourself (with Sting)
Iām probably missing a couple. My point is, Stewart Copeland was the true multi-hyphenate rock star in The Police. Heās scored countless films and TV shows, and was nominated for a Grammy for his work on the Rumble Fish soundtrack. His credits are massive. Check out his Wiki to see how extensive.
As for the earworm part? Itās the subtitle of this piece.
I no longer think I was being controversial. āMiss Gradenkoā is definitely the best song on Synchronicity.
And am I alone in finding the tracking order on the album odd?
Do you have a favorite Stewart Copeland song/soundtrack/project/score?
Had you heard Klark Kent before?
My favorite policeman (though Andy is a close 2nd, followed by several million steps to that 3rd guy).
:)
One of my favorite tracks from this album is Tea in the Sahara. I love a good āstory songā although listening to it right now it doesnāt feel quite as mystical as it did when I was 12 years old. Go figure! Itās certainly a preview of whatās to come on the Blue Turtles album.