Police

Ghost in the Machine

Rightly revered.

Review Score:

(10/10)
There must be a reason why this album is revered by Police fanatics.
I am one of those people.
"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" is on my short list of the greatest singles ever. I think it's a perfect song. It also is the oddball tune on this dark and somber album. It's also, unfortunately, the one with the poorest production quality. You can hear the engineers struggling, over the various iterations of the album (vinyl, half-speed master, CD, box, remaster after remaster), clean up this track...but honestly, I could listen to it through a tin can hooked to a string.
That said, the remainder of the album does evoke memories of "Who's Next"...in that Townshend expanded the Who's sound with a synthesizer to great effect. The Police add keyboards and a horn section to do the same. "Spirits In The Material World" and "Invisible Sun" demonstrate the former, while "Hungry For You" and "Too Much Information" show off the latter.
You can still hear their reggae-punk history in songs like "One World" and the song that foreshadows the world-conquering "Synchronicity" is probably "Secret Journey", a forgotten gem near the end of the album.
Objectively, it's not a perfect album..."Omegaman" is weak, "Darkness" is moody (better as a movie soundtrack) but just OK, "Demolition Man" is endless...
...but subjectively, this album is perfect. I am once again a teenager, cruising down PCH in a black 1979 Camaro Berlinetta with my high school girlfriend by my side. How can I give it anything BUT five stars?

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