The first shot at compiling the hits didn't quite get the job done. With just a dozen tracks, 1986's Every Breath You Take- The Singles probably should have been called Every Breath You Take- Some Singles since it was missing such essential short players as "So Lonely", "The Bed's Too Big Without You", and "Synchronicity II". Replacing the lean, springy original version of "Don't Stand So Close to Me" with a busy, spongy remake was a crime that warranted a visit from the actual police.
1992's imaginatively titled Greatest Hits did a much more satisfying job of rounding up the essential suspects. While not every single was present (the inclusion of their genuinely punky debut "Fall Out" would have been nice), there are no glaring holes. Sure the decision to make the weightless "Tea in the Sahara" the only B-side on the comp is a head scratcher, but Greatest Hits is still just about the best single-disc intro to The Police you could ask for... though anyone who stops there is missing out on a hell of a lot.
For it's first stateside release on vinyl, that single-CD comp arrives as a double-LP. All sixteen tracks were crammed onto a single record when Greatest Hits was released on vinyl in Europe back in '92. The extra LP means extra fidelity in 2022. So does the half-speed remastering, a task Miles Showell had done a few years ago for the release of Every Move You Make: The Studio Recordings, which rounded up all five of The Police's original albums and a disc of non-LP sides (still no "Fall Out"!). Geoff Pesche did the job for Greatest Hits, though I find his work too bass heavy in comparison to Showell's (which was already pretty bass-heavy compared to the original vinyl releases) and a touch of distortion is sometimes audible through headphones. Detail is impressive. The spindle holes are sufficiently well centered. Vinyl is reasonably flat and quiet.
