**1/2 Various Artists

REGATTA MONDATTA: A REGGAE TRIBUTE TO THE POLICE

(Ark 21)

The Police didn't play reggae so much as play with reggae, a point that Regatta Mondatta helps to illustrate. Steel Pulse's "Can't Stand Losing You," with its prominent bass and horns, female back-up singers, and new-age keyboards, casts the Police's melody amid a more authentic reggae than the British trio's standard regatta de blanc ("white reggae"). And Shinehead snazzes up Sting's "Englishman in New York" with hip-hop beats, record scratches, and authentic patois; he fittingly retitles it "Jamaican in New York."

The Police's split from pure reggae becomes most evident when Sting duets with Ziggy Marley on "One World (Not Three)." With a gruff voice and faux Jamaican accent, Sting adds the very pop-rock elements Regatta Mondatta is otherwise careful to avoid. The rest of the album is spotty -- Los Pericos boldly set "Darkness" to a jungle beat, but Jazz Jamaica turns "Wrapped Around Your Finger" into Caribbean muzak. Still, in wake of Puff Daddy's plundering of "Every Breath You Take," this Police tribute seems especially respectful.

-- Dan Tobin