Iconic Albums The Police The Ghost in the Machine Era (1981)

A Track-by-Track Exploration of the album that took The Police into a bolder, electronic new era, Charted a global phenomenon and Captured a band at the height of their power

von Richard Ward

294 Seiten, Taschenbuch

Kurzbeschreibung des Verlags

In 1981, The Police were already one of the biggest bands in the world. Rather than repeat the sound that had made them famous, Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland chose to change it.Ghost in the Machine marked a turning point.Inspired partly by Arthur Koestler's writing on human behaviour, Sting began exploring darker themes of violence, dehumanisation, political division, information overload and humanity's struggle to control its most primitive instincts. At the same time, the music expanded far beyond the sparse guitar, bass and drums of the band's earlier records.Synthesizers moved to the foreground. Sting rediscovered the saxophone. Hugh Padgham replaced longtime producer Nigel Gray. Recording moved to AIR Studios in Montserrat, where The Police began building some of their most ambitious arrangements yet.The result was an album containing the darkness of "Invisible Sun," the rhythmic complexity of "Spirits in the Material World," the aggression of "Demolition Man," Andy Summers' atmospheric "Omegaman" and the extraordinary pop triumph of "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic."But behind the success, tensions were growing.Summers saw his role increasingly challenged by keyboards and horns. Copeland resisted Sting's growing desire to control arrangements. The dispute surrounding "Omegaman" revealed how much power had shifted towards the band's principal songwriter. The three musicians were still capable of creating remarkable music together, but they were beginning to pull in different directions.Iconic Albums: The Police - The Ghost in the Machine Era (1981) tells the complete story of this pivotal period: from the aftermath of Zenyatta Mondatta and Sting's writing in Ireland to the Montserrat sessions, the controversial "Invisible Sun" video, the number-one success of "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," the expanded world tour and the growing tensions that would eventually lead towards Synchronicity.It is the story of an album that took The Police to number one in Britain and number two in America while transforming what the band could sound like.The machine was getting bigger.And the three personalities inside it were becoming harder to contain.

• Reihe: Independently published
• ISBN: 9798174803411
• Sprache: Englisch
• Erscheinungsdatum: 16.09.2026
• Größe: 229 x 152 mm
• Verlag: Independently published