The Police “Ghost in the Machine” released on this date, October 2nd, 1981. Today is also Sting’s birthday (b. Gordon Sumner 1951). I’m admittedly ambivalent about The Police, and even more so about Sting, but Ghost in the Machine has some really excellent and intelligent pop songs that instantly transport me back to elementary school (oddly, to the art room – I think the art teacher played the radio during class and the ominous “Invisible Sun” distinctly conjures up the smells of clay and ink; “Invisible Sun” was the first single released from the LP, though only in the UK so maybe the teacher had a tape player). I’m also fond of two other singles released: “Spirits in the Material World” has an weirdly syncopated reggae beat, little ghosts hopping upon string synths (a similar flavor appears on “Rehumanize Yourself” and “One World”) and “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” its romantically sweet verses bursting into an infectiously gleeful chorus, is a superbly crafted pop song. “Secret Journey” was the fourth and final single released only in North America and is a bit more ethereal and lofty. Other tracks veer even more toward the self-conscious making of “art” (insert my subtle eye-roll here) and portend the more irritating aspects of Sting as artiste: “Demolition Man” goes off on a noodly jazz run and the employment of layered vocals combined with synth on “Darkness” makes the song claustrophobic (OK, so Stewart Copeland wrote “Darkness”).

Ghost in the Machine was The Police’s fourth studio release, reaching #1 in the UK and #2 in the US. Its title is from Arthur Koestler’s The Ghost in the Machine, a book about mind-body dualism published in 1967, and the album drew inspiration from the dichotomy and the resulting tendency toward self-destruction. It is listed on many best-of and greatest-ever lists and certainly deserves many of its accolades for its cohesive sound and use of newish synthesizer technology in its creation.