Outlandos d’Americas: A Rock en Espanol Tribute to the Police
(Ark 21)
The Police may seem like an unlikely influence in Latin America — why not Santana or Los Lobos? — but the (mostly) British trio penetrated the continent fairly well because, in part, their musical influences, including reggae and ska, were complementary to Latin styles. On “Outlandos d’Americas,” pretty much the whole continent shows up to pay homage: artists from Brazil (Skank), Columbia (Ekhymosis), Mexico (Saul Hernandez, among several), Chile (Lucybell), Venezuela (Desorden Publico and others), and Argentina (Los Pericos and others). Enrique Bunbury represents Spain, the mother country, and everybody takes on a Police song, sometimes playing it pretty much by the numbers, like Soraya does with her breathy “Every Little Thing He Does,” and sometimes turning it on its head, like Plastilina Mosh’s dark little rap/jam on “The Bed’s Too Big Without You” (the enclosed Spanish lyrics have absolutely nothing to do with what’s actually sung). Rhythmically, each one of these versions is more complicated than the original, considerably faster in some cases and surprisingly political when transformed (as opposed to translated, which is rarely the case here, no matter what the lyric sheet says) into Spanish. Also eerie is how many of these singers actually sound like Sting, though the biggest mimic of all in the Latin world — Mana’s Fehr — is missing in action. Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers sit in on a couple of tracks to negligible effect.
More Top Picks Best Rolling Kitchen Islands