STEWART COPELAND

Stewart Copeland is ranked in the Top Five of all-time drummers; I might place him right at the top. In this respect I prefer The Police over Rush, despite the brilliance of Neil Peart. Copeland had debuted as a solo artist in 1980 under the pseudonym Klark Kent, the first proof of his multi-instrumental capacity which is evident here, too. The Police was still active when Copeland was asked to make the soundtrack to Francis Ford Coppola's "Rumble Fish", the movie based on the 1975 book by S. E. Hinton. At first Coppola himself began to work on a percussion-oriented soundtrack but soon realized he needed help from a professional musician. Originally Coppola asked Copeland to improvise a rhythm track but soon gave him the whole soundtrack job.

The otherwise instrumental album starts with a funky, single-released song 'Don't Box Me In', sung and co-written by sharp-voiced Stan Ridgway, featuring also harmonica. 'Tulsa Tango', or the soundtrack as a whole, centres on brilliant percussion provoking the images of hectic life on the streets. The third track's saxophone brings a stronger jazz flavour resembling that on Sting's solo debut (1984). As the album continues, it's interesting to concentrate, among other details, on the way Copeland plays piano and synths: quite percussively!

What the Rumble Fish soundtrack lacks are strong, memorable melodies and deeper introspective emotions -- the relatively slow-tempo final piece 'Motorboy's Fate' is a bit moodier --, but its soundscape is so colourful and personal in its percussive orientation that one doesn't necessarily expect more melodic approach. How come I have no memories of this music, having seen the film long ago? I can imagine that as film music this is really effective, unless it starts to feel too noisy and restless. And understandably it's less suitable for repeated listenings on its own. Worth checking out if you're fond of percussive diversity and funk. Furthermore, this music reminds you how essential Stewart Copeland was in creating the disctinctive Police sound.

Side one is highlighted by Grandelinquent, a quirky instrumental that shows off Copeland's... err, excuse me, Kent's odd finesse at all of the standard rock instruments. Guerilla starts the second side in a similar vein. Almost prog, but not quite.

It's a very silly album, but also endearing.