Izdavač: Ostalo
Žanr: Pop, Rege, Ska i Dab, Rok
Poreklo: Strani izvođač

Original, made in West Germany

Knjizica od 8 str.


knjizica 4 Cd 4

Studio album by the Police
Released 2 October 1981[1]
Recorded June–July 1981[2]
Studio
AIR (Salem, Montserrat)
Le Studio (Morin-Heights, Canada)
Genre
New wave[3]avant-pop[4]
Length 41:03
Language
EnglishFrench (`Hungry for You`)
Label A&M
Producer
The PoliceHugh Padgham
The Police chronology
Zenyatta Mondatta
(1980) Ghost in the Machine
(1981) Synchronicity
(1983)

Ghost in the Machine is the fourth studio album by the English rock band the Police. The album was released on 2 October 1981 by A&M Records. The songs were recorded between January and September 1981 during sessions that took place at AIR Studios in Montserrat and Le Studio in Quebec, assisted by record producer Hugh Padgham.

Ghost in the Machine topped the UK Albums Chart and peaked at number two on the US Billboard 200. The album produced the highly successful singles `Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic`, `Invisible Sun`, and `Spirits in the Material World`, with a fourth single, `Secret Journey`, also being released in the US. Ghost in the Machine was listed at number 322 on Rolling Stone`s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album was reissued in 1983 on CD.

Production and recording
After having produced the previous album Zenyatta Mondatta within a tight deadline of four weeks under pressure from the record company to deliver an album to the market, the Police had decided to loosen up more for a change when it came around to recording Ghost in the Machine. This time, they spent six weeks recording at AIR Studios in Montserrat, which was, according to drummer Stewart Copeland, `a 12 hour flight from the nearest record company`.[8]

This album marked a change in engineer/co-producer, from Nigel Gray—who did the band`s albums up to that point—to Hugh Padgham, best known for the drum sound he achieved on records by Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins. In fact, for this album, Padgham initiated a technique in which the band were recording together in separate rooms of the AIR Studios facility: Andy Summers in the main studio with all his guitars and amplifiers, Sting in the control room with his bass directly plugged into the desk and Copeland in the dining room with his drums to get a `live` feel.[9] This method would be repeated for the next album.[10]

Ghost in the Machine was the first Police album to feature heavy use of keyboards and saxophone. Besides keyboards, the twenty minute section comprising “Hungry for You (J`aurais toujours faim de toi)` through `One World (Not Three)` includes many saxophone harmonies, while the opening to `Secret Journey` showcases the Roland GR-300 Guitar Synthesizer.[11]

The band`s frontman, Sting, brought in Jean Roussel to record the piano parts on the demo of `Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic`. However, the group could not better it with the equipment available at AIR Studios; they ended up using the demo as the backing track for the official recording, with drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers dubbing their parts on. Sting also played all the saxophone parts on the album. Summers recollected:

I have to say I was getting disappointed with the musical direction around the time of Ghost in the Machine. With the horns and synth coming in, the fantastic raw-trio feel—all the really creative and dynamic stuff—was being lost. We were ending up backing a singer doing his pop songs.

The album opens with `Spirits in the Material World`, featuring keyboards dubbed over Summers` reggae-inspired guitar licks. `Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic` features piano, a Caribbean vibe, and an extended non-verbal vocal solo at the end. `Invisible Sun` is a mixture of slow, steady verses, a bombastic chorus, and several guitar solos. `Hungry for You (J`aurais toujours faim de toi)` is sung mostly in French, with the bass and saxophones both repeating a single 8-note melody for the length of the song, while the guitar maintains a steady beat. `Demolition Man`, the band`s longest song—almost six minutes in length—features a prominent bass line and saxophone, and was written by Sting while staying at Peter O`Toole`s Irish mansion. The song was originally given to Jamaican singer Grace Jones, who released her rendition on Nightclubbing earlier in 1981; the Police then recorded a hard rock version for Ghost in the Machine due to their dissatisfaction with Jones` performance.[12] A solo recording by Sting became a belated hit in 1993 as the theme song for the action film of the same title, starring Sandra Bullock, Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes. Manfred Mann`s Earth Band also recorded a version—rearranged and with extensive use of synthesizers—in 1982 for their Somewhere in Afrika album.

`Too Much Information`, `Rehumanize Yourself`, and `One World (Not Three)` are centered around multiple saxophone riffs. As with `Landlord` and `Dead End Job`, Copeland had written both music and lyrics for `Rehumanize Yourself`, but Sting rejected the lyrics and replaced them with those he composed himself.[13] The final three songs, `Omegaman`, `Secret Journey`, and `Darkness`, return to the darker sound which opens the album.

Artwork and titling
Much of the material on the album was inspired by Arthur Koestler`s The Ghost in the Machine, which also provided the title. It was the first Police album to bear an English-language title. In his younger days Sting was an avid reader of Koestler. Koestler said he was `slightly tickled` by the homage.[14] In the 2012 Can`t Stand Losing You: Surviving the Police documentary, Summers commented that the title felt fitting as he was going through a divorce at the time and the band was not getting along during production. The subsequent Police album Synchronicity was inspired by Koestler`s The Roots of Coincidence, which mentions Carl Jung`s theory of synchronicity.[15]

The cover art for Ghost in the Machine features a sixteen-segment display-inspired graphic that depicts the heads of the three band members, each with a distinctive hairstyle. The album`s cover is ranked at number 45 on VH1`s `50 Greatest Album Covers`.

All tracks are written by Sting, except where noted

Side one
No. Title Length
1. `Spirits in the Material World` 2:59
2. `Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic` 4:22
3. `Invisible Sun` 3:44
4. `Hungry for You (J`aurais toujours faim de toi)` 2:52
5. `Demolition Man` 5:57
Side two
No. Title Writer(s) Length
6. `Too Much Information` 3:43
7. `Rehumanize Yourself`
StingStewart Copeland
3:10
8. `One World (Not Three)` 4:47
9. `Omegaman` (stylised as `Ωmegaman`) Andy Summers 2:48
10. `Secret Journey` 3:34
11. `Darkness` Copeland 3:14
Total length: 41:03
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album`s liner notes.[40]

The Police (all instrumentation uncredited)

Sting – lead and backing vocals, bass (all but 5), keyboards, saxophone
Andy Summers – guitars, guitar synthesiser, keyboards[11]
Stewart Copeland – drums, keyboards,[41] percussion
Additional musicians

Jean Roussel – keyboards (2)
Danny Quatrochi – bass (5), additional bass (uncredited) [42]
Production

Hugh Padgham – production, engineering
The Police – production
Nick Blagona – engineering (2) (uncredited) [43]
Ted Jensen – mastering
Jeff Ayeroff – art direction
Mick Haggerty – art direction, artwork, design