BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1979
“Message in a Bottle” is a song by English 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.
The song was the first of their five UK number one singles. Rolling Stone ranked it number 65 on its list of the “100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time”. The song also reached #1 in Spain and Ireland and top five in several other European countries and Australia. In the United States “Message In A Bottle” only peaked at #74 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
The “Edit” has yet to appear on CD.
SIDE A:
Message In A Bottle (Edit) 3:48
Producer – Nigel Gray, The Police
Written-By – Sting
SIDE B:
Landlord 3:08
Producer – The Police
Written-By – S. Copeland*, Sting
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
U.S. CHART HISTORY:
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Message In A Bottle | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | #74 |
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: A&M Records – 2190-S, A&M Records – AM-2190
Format: Vinyl, 7″, Single, Poster sleeve, Pitman pressing
Country: US
Released: 1979
Genre: Rock
Style: New Wave, Pop Rock
CREDITS:
Illustration [Cover], Design – David Allen Artrouble
NOTES:
Columbia Records Pressing Plant, Pitman pressing, in a fold-out 6 panel poster sleeve. Disk housed in a company sleeve within the poster sleeve.
A: From the A&M album “Reggatta De Blanc” SP-3713
B: From the A&M album “Propaganda” SP-4786
Printed in U.S.A.
The B-side is listed as being the live version from the ‘Propaganda’ album but the version that plays on the record is the studio version, originally released on the UK Message In A Bottle single.
Find the 7″ at DISCOGS
VINYL RESTORATION BY:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net
EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut Carbon (DC)
Cartridge: Ortofon 2M
Stylus: Ortofon 2M Bronze
Isolation: Auralex Acoustics ISO-Tone Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
Phono Pre-amp: Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Tube: Mullard 12AX7 Preamp Vacuum Tube Pins
Soundcard: Novation Audiohub 2×4 Audio Interface
Record Cleaning: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans: Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner
SOFTWARE USED:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling: iZotope RX Advanced 2, ocenaudio
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator
RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi
Andddd.its gone.
DjPaulT Plss Upload The Police Every Breath You Take
Thanks Paul!
Yeah! Yeah! So excited to see this one! Thank you DJPaul
A belated thanks for this, Paul. 🙂
Thank you very much for Message in a Bottle and your work on this fantastic blog in general.
Best regards,
Olaf
Hi Paul,
I would like to thank you for the great work you’re doing here. I’ll also take the chance to express my appreciation for the quality of your transfer process.
Through out the years, I’ve downloaded and listened to many vinyl rips from various sources: 24bit, 32bit, 192kHz, 384kHz, etc. Your work truly stand apart from the rest as I don’t have to equalize or even clean the clicks and pops. I’m completely blown away.
Have a wonderful day and take care,
hi paul, i discovered the police in 1983, so i didn’t know their early albums and singles. i became a big fan, and started following them for the next couple of albums before they broke up and sting went solo. there’s a few great hits from their early albums, and this is one of them. its great hearing those tracks again. once more, they were more a rock band, but did have some alternative leanings during the early days, but by the time synchronicity came out, they were a rock band. glad to see that the members are all still… Read more »
Yes! Thank you, this is really really nice!
Don’t remember on which 45’s they appeared but it would be amazing if one day you dropped Shambelle and Flexible Strategies. The former had never appeared in complete form in the digital era, it’s always missing the the first few seconds of music.
Thanks for these 7″ singles…will there be more? I think I would die and go to heaven if you did some of the Elton John early 80’s 7″ singles…those b-sides have never been on CD.
Paul, I hear some mistracking in the right channel. I hear distortion in the vocals on both rips. Could it be a worn or bad pressing?
I and alot of others appreciate the work you do here at BTG.
Keep on jammin’ my friend!
With so much radio play, I thought “Message In A Bottle” charted higher. I was surprised that it only hit #74. Thanks Paul for this single mix. It’s always curious what’s made available and what isn’t. You’ve been so gracious in sharing the rare stuff with us. I will always be grateful to the wonderful person you are.
Have a nice weekend!
Jeff
Let me be the first to say thank you. You can never go wrong to start a weekend with The Police. I so wish that A&M Records (and the three members of The Police…yes I’m talking about you Sting) would have released the “edits” and other missing tracks in the upcoming 40th Anniversary releases. Instead, we’ll get the same old standard albums again. No bonus tracks, no rarities; nothing!! Ugh!
Thank you, Jon. Have a great weekend 🙂
By the way, Paul: THANK YOU for scanning the poster that came free with the single! Very cool!
Thank you, dearest Paul. One of the greatest bands of all time, methinks. So diverse in their music, somewhere between reggae, ska and rock. Simply unbelievable. You have to listen to their albums to fully appreciate them. I only got to love those very very late indeed. The woman still by my side, who I met in 1991 (!) was a huge fan of The Police and really introduced me to them. I knew their successful singles, of course, but still they went under my radar. How could that happen? Still a mystery to me. I have all their CDs,… Read more »
Thank you so much Song And Dance 🙂
I always wondered what it would sound like played on a lute, on a nudist beach after dark.
Don’t we all Dirk? Don’t we all.