Ghost In The Machine - The Police (1981)

Discog-ology: a systematic approach to an impossible task.

In my mind there are two complete Police albums that have everything the best Police music has all the way through: This one and its successor. The fact that Synchronicity contains the god-awful Mother might make me pick this one over that one, but we’ll see how I feel when I spin that one again.

Solid end-to-end, packed with recognizable classic rock, excellently played as always, and less time-locked than some of their earlier records. This was a giant heavy-booted stomp into the “best bands in the world” conversation.

Discog-ology

Next: Synchronicity

Previous: Zenyatta Mondatta

Tracks I Liked

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - Some people will tell you that songs which are not this song are the best Police song. Those people are wrong, and should be ignored.

Demolition Man - A great Police song, a great Grace Jones song, and a grossly underrated 90s action film

Re-Humanise Yourself - a lost classic with non-stop weapons-grade lyric.

Omagaman - a thoroughly modernist stab at imitating Summers’ friend Robert Fripp and King Crimson