More than 40 years after the release of their final album, The Police will offer a massive expansion of their fifth studio effort, 1983's blockbuster Synchronicity.

Available July 26, the set will be available in multiple formats, each showcasing a wealth of rare studio and live bonus content. The centerpiece of the campaign is a 6 CD limited edition box set featuring B-sides and four discs of unreleased material, including demos, alternate mixes and takes, instrumentals, never-before-heard songs and a live concert from the Synchronicity tour. A 4LP box set will offer most of the B-sides and studio material on its bonus discs, and a D2C-exclusive colored vinyl set will include that set's first two LPs. A 2CD set will include the remastered album and all B-sides from the bigger CD box, and a limited edition picture disc will offer the original album with an alternate running order.

The set is billed in the official press announcement as being three years in the making, and it would appear it's worth the wait for hardcore Police fans and completists. The B-sides disc includes every original studio and live non-album track released on the singles "Every Breath You Take," "King of Pain" and "Synchronicity II," including a rare alternate slow recording of Outlandos d'Amour (1978) favorite "Truth Hits Everybody," the moody, Andy Summers-sung "Someone to Talk To," the dreamy, eerie Sting compositions "I Burn for You" and "Once Upon a Daydream," and even "Every Bomb You Make," a version of the album's signature hit rewritten and sung by Sting for the British comedy series Spitting Image. Making their CD debuts are six tracks from the band's live set at The Omni in Atlanta in the fall of 1983, captured on the video The Synchronicity Concert; the rest of the set was issued on the 1995 package Live! Two "derangements" - multi-track reimaginings by drummer Stewart Copeland - will close out the B-sides assortment.

On the two studio discs are a treasure trove for die-hards: at least one, but often more, version of every track on the original album (including B-side "Murder by Numbers," included on CD copies) in alternate form: Sting's lo-fi demos, different mixes, alternate studio versions and even instrumentals. If that weren't enough, there are seven songs and versions that never made the album: an early version of Summers' "Someone to Talk To" called "Goodbye Tomorrow," a Copeland demo called "I'm Blind" that later was reworked into a cue from the drummer's score to Francis Ford Coppola's Rumble Fish, and even covers of Chuck Berry ("Rock and Roll Music") and Eddie Cochran ("Three Steps to Heaven").

A newly-presented live set closes out the box, taken from the group's September 10, 1983 set at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, CA (the penultimate gig of the first leg of the Synchronicity tour). As with other shows on this tour, the trio (as ever, Sting on bass and vocals, Summers on guitar and Copeland on drums) were augmented by backing vocalists Tessa Niles, Dolette MacDonald and Michelle Cobb, performing nearly every song from the album alongside most of their hits from the previous five years. The deluxe package is rounded out with a 62-page booklet featuring new liner notes from Jason Draper and unseen images and memorabilia.

The writing may have been on the wall for The Police when they decamped to AIR Studios in Montserrat for their fifth LP - the same studio they'd recorded penultimate album Ghost in the Machine (1981), with the same producer, Hugh Padgham. Tensions never ran low in the band, but felt higher than before, with the group recording parts in separate rooms and sticking mostly to Sting's songwriting and arrangements. (Summers got one track on the album, the demented "Mother," and Copeland got the quirky "Miss Gradenko.") Sting, exhausted from a painful divorce and a burgeoning acting career (he'd starred in the British thriller Brimstone and Treacle and featured his first solo recording on the soundtrack alongside several songs by The Police), turned out some of his most intensely psychological songwriting, drawing from the writings of Carl Jung and Arther Koestler for some moody but exquisitely catchy tunes - far lighter on the group's original reggae influences, but still fitting in the trio's unique  post-punk and New Wave sound.

Beyond songs like the sequencer-driven "Synchronicity I," full-throated rocker "Synchronicity II," the driving "King of Pain" and contemplative fare like "Wrapped Around Your Finger" and "Tea in the Sahara," Synchronicity featured The Police's signature tune. "Every Breath You Take" was a deceptive number: lyrics of romantic pain and paranoia masquerading as sincerity under the same soulful chord progression that powered Ben E. King's "Stand by Me" and a hypnotic guitar lead by Summers. In the summer of '83, The Police were the biggest they'd ever been thanks to that song, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for eight straight weeks; Synchronicity became a juggernaut itself, even topping the Billboard 200 for an impressive 17 weeks in a year when Michael Jackson's Thriller reached the top of the same chart for 22 weeks. (Synchronicity replaced it during both of its staggering runs at the top.) When the dust had settled, "Every Breath You Take" won a Grammy for Song of the Year and earned Sting that year's Ivor Novello award for British songwriters, eventually becoming recognized by music publisher BMI as the single most-played song in radio history.

Synchronicity sold more than 8 million copies in America, was promoted by stylized music videos (including Godley & Creme's well-known short for "Every Breath") and gave The Police one last juggernaut tour, including a symbolic sell-out show at Shea Stadium, the same place The Beatles played nearly three decades prior. The trio used that highest of highs to essentially fade away at the height of fame (band tensions aside); they only recorded one more song (a controversial re-do of "Don't Stand So Close to Me" for a 1986 greatest hits album) and played a handful of gigs that same year for Amnesty International, symbolically passing their instruments to the members of U2 during the final performance. They stayed apart until a massive one-off reunion tour in 2007 and 2008, and Summers and Copeland have documented the band in memoirs, concert tours, retrospectives and documentaries. Sting maintained pop stardom for several decades since, but has made clear that, at 72 (Copeland in 71 and Summers is 81), the trio may never work together again, but maintain friendly terms with each other. That delicate, well-earned relationship informs the creation of this box, and hopefully will do so for additional releases from the band's archives!

The full specs on Synchronicity are below, along with pre-order links. (As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.)

Synchronicity (Limited Edition) (Polydor/UMR, 2024)

6CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
4LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Official Store
1LP Picture Disc: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

CD 1: Remastered album (released as A&M Records AMLX 63735 (U.K.)/SP-3735 (U.S.), 1983)

1. Synchronicity I
2. Walking in Your Footsteps
3. O My God
4. Mother
5. Miss Gradenko
6. Synchronicity II
7. Every Breath You Take
8. King of Pain
9. Wrapped Around Your Finger
10. Tea in the Sahara
11. Murder by Numbers +

Track 11 was CD bonus track on A&M Records CD 3735 and B-side to "Every Breath You Take" - A&M Records AM 117, 1983

CD 2: Bonus Tracks (** previously unreleased on disc. Disc 1, Track 11 and Disc 2, Tracks 1-11 make up equivalent LP2 on 4LP and 2LP set)

1. Truth Hits Everybody (Remix)
2. Man in a Suitcase (Live @ The Variety Arts Theatre, Los Angeles, CA - 1/16/1981)
3. Someone to Talk To
4. Message in a Bottle (Live @ The Gusman Cultural Center, Miami, FL - 10/26/1979)
5. I Burn for You
6. Once Upon a Daydream
7. Tea in the Sahara (Live @ The Omni, Atlanta, GA - 11/3/1983)
8. Every Breath You Take (Backing Track)
9. Roxanne (Backing Track)
10. Wrapped Around Your Finger (Live @ The Omni, Atlanta, GA - 11/3/1983) **
11. Every Bomb You Make
12. Walking on the Moon (Live @ The Omni, Atlanta, GA - 11/3/1983) **
13. Hole in My Life (Live @ The Omni, Atlanta, GA - 11/3/1983) **
14. One World (Not Three) (Live @ The Omni, Atlanta, GA - 11/3/1983) **
15. Invisible Sun (Live @ The Omni, Atlanta, GA - 11/2/1983) **
16. Murder by Numbers (Live @ The Omni, Atlanta, GA - 11/2/1983) **
17. Walking in Your Footsteps (Derangement) **
18. Tea in the Sahara (Derangement) **

Tracks 1-2 from "Every Breath You Take" double 7" - A&M Records AM 117/AM*01, 1983
Tracks 3-5 from "Wrapped Around Your Finger" 12" - A&M Records AMX 127, 1983. Track 5 previously released on Brimstone and Treacle (Original Soundtrack Album) - A&M Records AMLH 64915 (U.K.)/SP-4915 (U.S.), 1982
Track 6 from "Synchronicity II" 7" - A&M Records AM 153, 1983
Track 7 from "King of Pain" 7" - A&M Records AM 176, 1984
Tracks 8-9 released as A&M Records Japanese single AMP 782, 1983
Tracks 10 and 12-16 released on The Synchronicity Concert video - I.R.S./A&M Video AMV 826, 1984
Track 11 from "Every Breath You Take" Record Store Day double 7" - A&M Records 487 142-2, 2023
Tracks 17-18 released on Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out DVD - Hip-O/A&M Records B0006178-09, 2006

CD 3-4 (previously unreleased. + denotes track on LP3 and LP4 of vinyl box)

1. Synchronicity I (Demo)
2. Synchronicity I (Alternate Mix) +
3. Synchronicity I (Instrumental) +
4. Walking in Your Footsteps (Alternate Version)
5. Walking in Your Footsteps (Alternate Mix) +
6. O My God (Demo)
7. O My God (Outtake)
8. O My God (OBX Version)
9. O My God (Alternate Mix) +
10. Mother (Alternate Version)
11. Mother (Instrumental) +
12. Miss Gradenko (Alternate Mix) +
13. Synchronicity II (Demo)
14. Synchronicity II (Outtake) +
15. Synchronicity II (Extended Version) +
16. Synchronicity II (Alternate Mix)
17. Synchronicity II (Instrumental) +

1. Every Breath You Take (Demo)
2. Every Breath You Take (Outtake)
3. Every Breath You Take (Alternate Mix) +
4. King of Pain (Demo)
5. King of Pain (Alternate Version) +
6. King of Pain (Alternate Mix)
7. Wrapped Around Your Finger (Demo)
8. Wrapped Around Your Finger (Alternate Mix) +
9. Wrapped Around Your Finger (Instrumental) +
10. Tea in the Sahara (Demo)
11. Tea in the Sahara (Alternate Mix) +
12. Murder by Numbers (Demo)
13. I'm Blind (Demo)
14. Loch +
15. Ragged Man +
16. Goodbye Tomorrow +
17. Truth Hits Everybody (Remix - Outtake) +
18. Three Steps to Heaven +
19. Rock and Roll Music +

CD 5-6: Live at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, CA - 9/10/1983 (previously unreleased)

1. Synchronicity I
2. Synchronicity II
3. Walking in Your Footsteps
4. Message in a Bottle
5. Walking on the Moon
6. O My God
7. De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
8. Wrapped Around Your Finger
9. Tea in the Sahara
10. Spirits in the Material World

1. Hole in My Life
2. Invisible Sun
3. One World (Not Three)
4. King of Pain
5. Don't Stand So Close to Me
6. Murder by Numbers
7. Every Breath You Take
8. Roxanne
9. Can't Stand Losing You