As for the Police's Sting, he's been popping up in some weird places the past year or so: on movie sets, on Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing' cooing "I want my MTV' in the background, and reciting French lyrics on Miles Davis' "You're Under Arrest.' In the meantime, he also found time to record his solo debut, "The Dream of the Blue Turtles' on A&M, with some of the best jazz musicians in the world. Ever since John McLaughlin formed the Mahavishnu Orchestra and started playing everything at the speed of light, rock musicians have longed for the artistic credibility of jazz, the last "real music.' To me, the whole concept has always reeked of condescension, and so does this; Sting's angst-ridden pop sensibility and icily proficient jazz improvisation make an awkward mixture. Toss in preachy lyrics like "I hope the Russians love their children too' (set to a melody borrowed from Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev) or "I had to stop in my tracks for fear of walking on the mines I'd laid,' and you've got some serious pretentiousness on your hands. Sting is still writing poison-pen letters to his shadow ("Consider Me Gone' and "Set Them Free' are just rewrites of "Every Breath You Take'), and still has a way with a hook, but it all gets lost amidst ruthless competence. The remake of "Shadows in the Rain' (from "Zenyatta Mondatta'), with someone asking what key it's in as they start jamming on it, is as messy as this gets, but it's still ice cold. "Children's Crusade' starts out promisingly enough with one of Sting's trademark lilting melodies, but by the time all the hired jazz guns have gotten their interminably boring solos in, it's gone from pleasant to excruciating. Just goes to show what a true deadend raw technique is.
Discounting guitarist Andy Summer's two collaborations with Robert Fripp as eccentric indulgences, the real diamond of this batch is Police drummer Stewart Copeland's "The Rhythmatist,' an A&M import. Copeland takes a truly arrogant premise (a documentary film and soundtrack of a white rock drummer traveling around Africa "in search of his rhythmic roots'), but somehow manages to turn it into a surprisingly warm, inspired record. Using his brilliant 1983 score to Francis Ford Coppola's "Rumblefish' as a takeoff point, Copeland adds tribal chants, percussion and vocals. The result is decidedly refreshing and low-key, not unlike "Rumblefish' with King Sunny Ade sitting in. Copeland can't sing to save his life, but his deadpan monologue on "Serengetti Long Walk' ("The jungle is full of animals the size of donkeys, eating and being eaten; it's a barnyard sound') is funny enough to make up for it. I'd never have bet on Stewart Copeland's post-Police output to top Sting's, but he's one-up for now.
You are visitor
since this page was designed on January 26, 1999.
Index 
The Web's Too Big Without You! Items For Sale Who
Am I? What's New?
Again, thanks for visiting my homepage. I hope you will come back and visit soon.
For questions, comments or information on this home page, please send e-mail to blueturtles01@hotmail.com.
This page hosted by 
. Get your own Free Home Page.
Copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 , 2001 by blueturtles01@hotmail.com. All rights reserved.