''Greatest Hits'' is a compilation album of songs by

the Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Polic ...

, released in September 1992. It is the band's second compilation album following '' Every Breath You Take: The Singles''. In contrast with its predecessor, it features all 14 original UK top 20 chart singles and five UK number-ones released by the band from 1978 to 1984, including the two missing singles from the previous 1986 compilation, "

Synchronicity II "Synchronicity II" is a song by the Police, and the third single from their album ''Synchronicity (The Police album), Synchronicity''. Written by lead singer and bassist Sting (musician), Sting, it was released as a single in the UK and the U.S. ...

" and the original version of "

Don't Stand So Close to Me "Don't Stand So Close to Me" is a hit song by the rock band The Police, released in September 1980 as the lead single from their third album ''Zenyatta Mondatta''. It concerns a teacher who has a sexual relationship with a student, which in tu ...

" which had been replaced with the 1986 re-recording. The album also includes two bonus album tracks, " The Bed's Too Big Without You" and "

Tea in the Sahara "Tea in the Sahara" is a song by the British new wave band the Police. Written by Sting, the song appeared on the band's final album, ''Synchronicity''. It was written about the Paul Bowles novel ''The Sheltering Sky''. A live version of "Tea ...

". The cover photograph was by

Duane Michals Duane Michals ( "Michaels"; born February 18, 1932) is an American photographer. Michals's work makes innovative use of photo-sequences, often incorporating text to examine emotion and philosophy. Education and career Michals's interest in ar ...

and it was taken at the time of the ''

Synchronicity Synchronicity (german: Synchronizität) is a concept first introduced by analytical psychologist Carl G. Jung "to describe circumstances that appear meaningfully related yet lack a causal connection." In contemporary research, synchronicity e ...

'' album. The inner sleeve featured a collage of pictures of the band shot by different photographers during their career, including Miles Copeland, Peter Baylis, Adrian Boot, Akihiro Takayama, Anton Corbijn, Danny Quatrochi, Gabor Scott, Janette Beckman, Kim Turner, Michael Ross, Watal Asanuma and

Andy Summers Andrew James Summers (born 31 December 1942), is an English guitarist who was a member of the rock band The Police. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a band member in 2003. Summers has recorded solo albums, collaborated wi ...

. The album failed to chart in the US but spent 36 weeks on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

, where it peaked at number 10. It also peaked at number one on

Official New Zealand Music Chart The Official New Zealand Music Chart ( mi, Te Papa Tātai Waiata Matua o Aotearoa) is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The Musi ...

and at number four in Norway. In 2022, ''Greatest Hits'' was reissued for its 30th anniversary in a remastered double-LP vinyl version, resulting in its re-entry on several charts worldwide.

Critical reception

The album came out shortly after Sting's solo album ''

The Soul Cages ''The Soul Cages'' is the third full-length studio album released by English musician Sting. Released on 21 January 1991 it became Sting's second No. 1 album in the United Kingdom. This was Sting's first album to feature guitarist Dominic Mille ...

'', prompting David Sinclair to point out in his review in '' Q'' magazine that "Copeland and Summers were far more than a passive vehicle for Sting's songs. As powerful personalities and assertive musicians in their own right, they gingered up Sting's basic ideas while putting the brakes on his tendency to earnest excess."

Track listing

Personnel

The Police * Sting – lead and backing vocals, bass, keyboards, harmonica on "So Lonely", saxophone on "Spirits in the Material World", oboe on "Tea in the Sahara" *

– electric guitar, keyboards, backing vocals *

Stewart Copeland Stewart Armstrong Copeland (born July 16, 1952) is a Scottish-American musician and composer. He is best known for his work as the drummer of the English rock band the Police from 1977 to 1986, and again from 2007 to 2008. Before playing with th ...

– drums, miscellaneous percussion, keyboards, backing vocals Additional personnel *

Jean Roussel Jean Alain Roussel (born 1951 in Port Louis, Mauritius) is a Musician, Composer, Record Producer, Arranger, Educator and 'Music and Life Coach'. He is best known for keyboard work from the 1970s through today, playing regularly with Cat Stev ...

– piano on "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"

Charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greatest Hits (The Police Album) 1992 greatest hits albums Albums produced by Hugh Padgham The Police compilation albums A&M Records compilation albums Universal Music Group compilation albums Albums produced by Nigel Gray