"Spirits in the Material World" | ||||
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Single by the Police | ||||
from the album Ghost in the Machine | ||||
B-side |
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Released | 4 December 1981 [1] | |||
Recorded | 1981 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 2:58 | |||
Label | A&M – AMS 8194 | |||
Songwriter(s) | Sting | |||
Producer(s) | ||||
The Police singles chronology | ||||
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Alternative cover | ||||
Music video | ||||
"Spirits in the Material World" on YouTube |
"Spirits in the Material World" is a song by the British rock trio the Police,written by Sting. It is the opening track for their 1981 album Ghost in the Machine . It was released as a single in 1981 and reached No. 12 in the United Kingdom [3] and No. 11 in the US in early 1982. [4]
"Spirits in the Material World" was written by Sting on a Casio keyboard while in a truck. [5] It was his first experience using a synthesizer. [5]
'Spirits in the Material World' was written on one of those Casio keyboards while I was riding in the back of a truck somewhere. I just tap, tap, tap and there it was, just by accident. That was the first time I'd ever touched a synthesizer, that album.
— Sting, Synchronicity Tour Program, 1983 [5]
Andy Summers' presence on the studio track is considerably less pronounced than on the vast majority of Police songs, and in fact, Sting wanted to record it without him entirely. Having written the song on a synthesizer, he wanted for it to use synthesizer instead of guitar, and to play the synthesizer part himself. Summers thought the synthesizer part should be replaced by guitar, and after considerable argument, they compromised by recording the part on both instruments, with a mix such that the synthesizer drowned out much of Summers's guitar. [6] In live performances this part was played on guitar only, with synthesizer used only for background chords. The bass part for the song is distinctively complex, with music producer and cognitive psychologist Daniel Levitin writing that it "takes this rhythmic play to such an extreme that it can be hard to tell where the downbeat even is." [7] The track was recorded at Air Studios Montserrat.
The lyrics comment on the nature of man's existence and the failure of his earthly institutions.
"Spirits in the Material World" eventually saw single release in 1981 as the follow-up to "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic", making it the third single from Ghost in the Machine in Britain and the second in America. Billboard called it "less mainstream yet more captivating" than "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" and said that "the repetitive rhythm creates a hypnotic effect." [8] Record World also compared it to "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," saying that it "[takes] reggae one step further into the pop world" and calling it a "hypnotic cut." [9] The single, while not as successful as its predecessors, peaked at No. 12 in Britain and No. 11 in America. It was followed up by "Secret Journey" in America.
The UK B-side of "Spirits in the Material World," "Low Life," was written by Sting around 1977 in the back of a German tour bus. [5] Although the band's drummer Stewart Copeland claimed to have "always loved the song," guitarist Andy Summers claimed that "Neither Stewart or I liked 'Low Life.' I thought the lyric was snobby and it had a kind of corny jazziness to it." [5] The American B-Side, an instrumental song titled "Flexible Strategies", was recorded in Canada while the band jammed for ten minutes while working on Ghost in the Machine, when word came for them to create a B-Side. According to Stewart Copeland, recording this particular song was a disgrace. [10] [11]
The band performed the song live during the Ghost in the Machine and Synchronicity tours (the latter of which was included on their Live! album) and it was also included on their first North American setlist during their reunion tour. Since the dissolution of the Police, Sting has often performed the song on solo tours.
In all live performances, the song is played in the key of D minor in contrast to the studio version’s A minor. In most cases, Sting plays a more simplified version of the original bassline to play while singing. [12]
Chart (1981–1982) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia (Kent Music Report) [15] | 50 |
Canadian RPM Top Singles | 13 |
Dutch Singles Chart | 6 |
French Singles Chart | 4 |
German Singles Chart | 44 |
Irish Singles Chart | 6 |
UK Singles Chart | 12 |
US Billboard Hot 100 [4] | 11 |
US Cashbox [16] | 15 |
US Billboard Top Rock Tracks | 7 |
The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. Within a few months of their first gig, the line-up settled as Sting, Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland, and remained unchanged for the rest of the band's history. The Police became globally popular in the late 1970s and early to mid 1980s. Emerging in the British new wave scene, they played a style of rock influenced by punk, reggae, and jazz.
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Ghost in the Machine is the fourth studio album by British 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.
Every Breath You Take: The Singles is the first compilation album by the Police, released in 1986. In 1990, the album was repackaged in New Zealand, Australia and Spain as Their Greatest Hits with a different cover.
Andrew James Summers is an English guitarist who was a founding member of the rock band the Police. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a band member in 2003. Summers has recorded solo albums, collaborated with other musicians, composed film scores, written fiction, and exhibited his photography in galleries.
Live! is a live album by The Police, released in 1995 on compact disc and cassette tape. It is the first live album of the band and one of only two covering the period when it was active, the other being Around The World (2022). A live album from the reunion tour, Certifiable: Live in Buenos Aires, was released in 2008.
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"Message in a Bottle" is a song by British rock band the Police. It was released as the lead single from their second studio album, Reggatta de Blanc (1979). Written by the band's lead singer and bassist Sting, the song is ostensibly about a story of a castaway on an island, who sends out a message in a bottle to seek love. A year later, he has not received any sort of response, and despairs, thinking he is destined to be alone. The next day, he sees "a hundred billion bottles" on the shore, finding out that there are more people like him out there. Over the course of the song, Sting mentions sending an S.O.S. 31 times.
"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" is a song by the British rock band the Police from their fourth studio album, Ghost in the Machine (1981). The song, notable for featuring a pianist, dates back to a demo recorded in the house of Mike Howlett in the autumn of 1976. It was a hit single that reached the top of the charts in the United Kingdom in November 1981 and hit No. 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart that same year.
"Invisible Sun" is a song by British rock band the Police, released as a single in Europe in September 1981. It was the first single to be released in the United Kingdom from the album Ghost in the Machine and it reached No. 2 on the official chart. The song also reached No. 5 in Ireland and No. 27 in the Netherlands. It was not released as a single in the United States. In most other territories, "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" was chosen as the lead single from the album.
"Synchronicity II" is a song by the Police, and the third single from their album Synchronicity. Written by lead singer and bassist Sting, it was released as a single in the UK and the US by A&M Records, reached No. 17 in the UK Singles Chart and No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1983. It features the non-album track "Once Upon a Daydream" on the B-side. The song was described by People Weekly as "aggressive" and "steely."
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"Wrapped Around Your Finger" is the second single in the UK from the Police's 1983 album Synchronicity. Written by Sting, it was released worldwide by A&M Records and featured the non-album track "Someone to Talk To" as the B-side in the UK, while a live version of "Tea in the Sahara" was the B-side in the US.
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