|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CD
|
|
DR 107CD
|
The sixth album by the Hamburg drum ensemble Elbtonal Percussion pays tribute to the music of one of the world's most influential drummers. At the end of the 1970s, Stewart Copeland, Andy Summers and Sting developed their very own version of Jamaican reggae. Choosing to call themselves The Police, they went on to compose several dozen pop hits which melded Caribbean offbeats with the nervous energy of suburban punk. The rest is history. The musicians of Elbtonal Percussion have created a musical, tonal monument to one of these careers. Stewart Copeland was the conceptual father of The Police and, until the band split, he was their rhythmic architect. His beats floated freely above the backbeat, freer than was customary in rock music, largely due to their interpretation of the Jamaican one drop. Copeland's musical life after The Police began with the soundtrack for Francis Ford Coppola's film Rumble Fish. The soundtrack won him a Golden Globe nomination and he went on to collaborate on several film projects: from Oliver Stone's Wall Street to 9 1/2 Weeks and Highlander. In between, he found bass-sparring partners for a diverse range of band projects, including Animal Logic (with Stanley Clarke) or Oysterhead (with Les Claypool/Primus). Of all the solo albums which Copeland released -- initially under the modest name Klark Kent -- one stands out in particular: The Rhythmatist, a documentation of his pilgrimage through Africa. Copeland became interested in the possibilities of digital sound synthesis, and the combination of percussion and electronic sounds runs through his work like a leitmotif. All this makes his work ideally suited to be embraced and interpreted by Elbtonal Percussion, especially since the band uses around 150 different drums live and in the studio, ranging from African hand drums to giant Japanese drums. Following Elbtonal Percussion's highly-acclaimed collaboration with Stewart Copeland for the spectacular live show Ben Hur, the band has devoted their sixth album, Elbtonal Percussion Plays Stewart Copeland, in its entirety to the man and his music. The four musicians have chosen a representative selection of Copeland's different works and periods as the source of inspiration for the pieces featured on this album; the tracks range from rhythmically-complex Police hits, such as "Contact," to his soundtrack compositions for Wall Street and Rumble Fish, from the Rhythmatist album to the compositions for ensemble musicians featured on Orchestralli. The songs "Dog Dreams" and "Dance Ants" were specially written by Stewart Copeland for Elbtonal Percussion. The ensemble's expressive spectrum ranges from thumping, driving, floor-friendly numbers to the most delicate sound collages. And in every single piece, the drums -- with their incredible colors and facets, act as the beating heart of the music. Elbtonal Percussion are: Stephan Krause, Andrej Kauffmann, Jan-Frederick Behrend and Wolfgang Rummel.
|