Spirits in the Material World: A Reggae Tribute to The Police (Shanachie, 2008)

Of all the pop and rock artists who've had reggae tribute albums -- The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, The Rolling Stones, Jimmy Buffet -- The Police make the most sense. Their hip brand of New Wave pop already incorporated a significant amount of reggae -- their second album was even titled Reggatta de Blanc (White Reggae) -- so Spirits in the Material World's coming up with reggae versions of Police songs is pretty much a no-brainer. It's such a no-brainer, in fact, that it's not a unique idea, having been done a decade earlier in 1997's Reggatta Mondatta and 1998's Reggatta Mondatta II. Does Spirits bring anything new to the table? Well, yes and no. Except for "Synchronicity I" and "Invisible Sun," the songs were all done on the Reggatta Mondatta albums, but of course, using different artists and different producers leads to different interpretations. Most work well -- particularly Junior Reid's "Synchronocity I," Toots & The Maytals' rousing ska rendition of "De Do Do Do De Da Da Da," Inner Circle's lovers jam "The Bed's Too Big Without You," and Cyril Neville of the Neville Brothers lending surprisingly adept reggae vocals to "Wrapped Around Your Finger" -- while a few falter -- notably, diappointing takes on "King of Pain" and "Spirits in the Material World," as well as The Wailing Souls' "One World (Not Three)" (to their credit, though, it's better than the corny original) and why-is-she-even-here Joan Osborne's "Every Breath You Take." (Oddly, Reggatta Mondatta also chose to have "Every Breath You Take" performed by a non-reggae female singer, Betty Wright. WTF?) Produced by Inner Circle, Spirits has a slick pop veneer that might turn some people off but is pretty much expected with any reggae tribute album -- and frankly, it's nowhere as sugary as the second Reggatta Mondatta album. It's a fun time to be had, and the light, accessible reggae sound is more than compatible with acts like The Wailing Souls, Ali Campbell (of UB40), Gregory Isaacs, Horace Andy, and Toots. Rather than including a generic dub from Lee "Scratch" Perry, though, I'd rather have heard a rendition of "Roxanne" -- which I'm shocked didn't find its way on here -- or the not-quite-reggaefied-yet-still-hits "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and "Message in a Bottle"