The Police - Ghost in the Machine (1981)

Dan:

I was convinced to buy Ghost in the Machine after reading a comment by Pat Metheny to the effect that this was the kind of rock music he enjoyed. Another Miami friend pointed out that Ghost in the Machine used reggae rhythms on certain songs. I heard each of these testimonials come to life when I played the album for the first time. It remains my favorite recording by The Police.

I'm unsure why the Police enjoyed almost universal popularity from the very beginning of their recording career. They seemed to offer a new take on New Wave by staying inside certain self-imposed guardrails of pop-rock while sounding completely unique. That's not an easy position to create and maintain, until they became acknowledged hit-makers and other bands began to copy them. I imagine that the charismatic Sting had a lot to do with the band's quick acceptance, as well as their undeniably memorable songs. 

The Police always seemed intent on sending social messages in their songs, for example, "Driven to Tears" and "When the World is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around." Those songs typically mingle with messages about love and loneliness ("So Lonely," "Message in a Bottle"). Romantic obsession is also a persistent theme, as in "Roxanne," "Don't Stand So Close to Me," and "Can't Stand Losing You." Regardless of message, The Police delivered a continuing run of hit songs beginning in 1978.

Ghost in the Machine is full of stunning songs. The condemnation of the material society, "Spirits in the Material World," is buoyed by the chugging reggae beat, but no answers to modern dilemmas are given. The mega-hit single "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" follows and is such a well-constructed tune, it's easy to forget (or ignore) what it's about:

I resolved to call her up

A thousand times a day

And ask her if she'll marry me

Some old-fashioned way

But my silent fears have gripped me

Long before I reach the phone

Long before my tongue has tripped me

Must I always be alone.

The album seemingly turns more hopeful with the thought of an "Invisible Sun," but in the end it's just a fantasy.

There has to be an invisible sun

It gives its heat to everyone

There has to be an invisible sun

That gives us hope when the whole day's done

Two of my favorite Police songs come at the end of Ghost in the Machine. "Secret Journey" is about meeting a holy man who offers wisdom to resolve the challenges of life in the material world. 

You will see light in the darkness

You will make some sense of this

And when you've made your secret journey

You will find the love you miss

The finale, "Darkness," is abjectly depressing. "I wish I never woke up this morning / life was easy when it was boring." It's a sobering end to the search for hope in a world out of control, at least for those who see no other way out. It's remarkable that any popular band could entertain such dark topics without spoiling it by offering a saccharine remedy (such as those offered by The Moody Blues). 

The follow up, Synchronicity (1983), was almost as grim. It featured perhaps the band's best single "Every Breath You Take," which took the obsession theme to an even higher level. I also love "Synchronicity II," with its frightening scenario of a dysfunctional family driven to madness while "many miles away" a mysterious creature crawls from a loch to threaten a cottage on the shore. I also had a single of "Murder by Numbers" which was the B-side of "Every Breath You Take" and was left off the Synchronicity LP but included on the CD and cassette version, and every released version since. Who would be so bold to sing about mass killings today?

You have to give The Police credit for scoring hits with material this far from the pop mainstream. 

Steve:

At the time of Ghost in the Machine, the Police were my favorite band in the world.  Before its release, I was vaguely familiar with "Don't Stand So Close to Me" from their prior album, but I had not heard a full album before. I remember hearing "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" on the radio and didn't know it was by the Police - I thought it was calypso music. Soon, the album was a huge part of my life (Dan bought it) and several of my friends were into the Police as well. Little did I know that the band's already considerable popularity would explode a couple of years later with Synchronicity.  

In retrospect, Ghost in the Machine stands out as The Police's most experimental album. Synthesizers and horns are everywhere. I believe Sting even plays saxophone here and there, taking after another early 80s experimental pop star, David Bowie. "Spirits in the Material World" was written on a cheap Casio keyboard, and the keyboard riff practically drowns out guitarist Andy Summers, which is unfortunate, but it is a unique sound.  

Summers, of course, was already expert at making unusual sounds with his guitar, and I definitely see a similarity between the synth-like chords in "Secret Journey" and some of the sounds on Summers' album with Robert Fripp from the following year, I Advance Masked (1982). I bought that album when it came out and was inadvertently introduced to the world of Robert Fripp and King Crimson through it. Many years later, I encountered Summers once again unexpectedly as a member of Eric Burdon and the Animals on their 1968 album Love Is. Quite a journeyman, that Andy Summers.

Back to Ghost in the Machine. My favorite tracks on the album include the minor hit "Invisible Sun" and the Stewart Copeland-penned closer "Darkness". Both songs sport a dark atmosphere and a resigned sadness that fits the cold and detached mood of the black album cover with its computerized display (which cleverly renders each of the band members' heads, a graphic concept common to each of their last three albums). The Police were clearly shooting for art-rock respectability here - the result was possibly their least pop-oriented album yet, which nonetheless became a huge commercial hit.