Walking with Heroes

Is Paul Lovatt-Cooper the new Philip Sparke, or just a cleverly packaged consumer pleasing version of a Starbucks coffee and Pret a Manger sandwich?

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The Music of Paul Lovatt-Cooper
Black Dyke Band
Conductor: Dr Nicholas Childs
Soloists: Gareth Brindle, Sandy Smith
Doyen Recordings: CD245
Total Playing Time: 63.22 

We have waited a longtime for the next Philip Sparke, and now it seems he has finally arrived.

For Paul Lovatt-Cooper has made more of an impact than even he did as a composer 30 years ago, with a fast growing stable of output that has been enthusiastically gobbled up by bands in just about every corner of the brass band globe. It has been some arrival indeed.

Why the PLC phenomenon? 

Tastebuds

Musical tastes vary of course, but his blend of filmatic inspired accessibility has tickled tastebuds in the same way as Starbucks coffee and Prêt a Manger sandwiches. His is composition for the fast paced, easy listening consumer.

There is no trick to it though. It takes considerable skill and musical intellect to produce such immediate appeal, and it comes as little surprise that the filmatic inspiration even extends to the CD cover (and sleeve insert) which seems to mimic the opening credits of the film ‘Reservoir Dogs’, with Messrs Graham, Childs, Sparke, Wilby and Lovatt-Cooper as brass band’s Mr Blue, Mr Pink and Mr Brown etc.

Unfortunately the composer also appears to pay homage to Zaphod Beeblebrox from the film ‘The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy’, with what appears to be the growth of a second head appearing on  his left shoulder!

Buck substance

There is an argument to suggest that such compositional output lacks substance, but try telling that to the millions who sit back and enjoy the music of John Williams, Danny Elfman and friends, who now provide the backing tracks to today’s most eagerly awaited consumer led blockbuster films. They weigh their substance by the amount of bucks in the their bank balances.

The banding movement may crave to be taken seriously, but unashamedly high brow brass band music doesn’t sell. What does is music like this.

It wasn’t Philip Sparke who invented the recipe either. 100 years ago William Rimmer knew his market, and his customers knew what they wanted to hear and play too.

The inspiration may have changed from light opera and bombastic marches to Disney films and sci-fi computer games, but the end result is still the same. People buy what they like, and lots of people certainly like what Paul Lovatt-Cooper is writing.

‘Walking with Heroes’ tells you why.

Cinema billboard

The titles of the nine tracks may sound as if they have come off the nearest cinema billboard (or pop album in one case), but they sum up exactly what you can expect to listen out for before a note is blown.

Fast paced, rhythmically vibrant, lyrically accessible, the title track, concert finisher ‘Vitae Aeternum’ and ‘Where Eagles Sing’, (possibly the fastest selling ‘opener’ in banding history) are laid out in almost unashamed homage to those compositional giants of the silver screen.

They do veer towards the pastiche at times, but they are never counterfeit or mere plagiarised facsimiles. The impression is always left though that you think you may have heard something like this before. ‘It’s a bit like…’, you say to yourself as you smile and enjoy the sweeping melodies and the busy counterpoint foundations.

There is plenty of originality too, evidence of a febrile musical mind that can lock instinctively into players likes and dislikes as well as flick the magic Pavlovian switch of hard to please audiences.

Bulls-eye hits

’Dream Catchers’, ‘The Haunted Halls’ and ‘The Big Top’ are almost perfect examples - bulls-eye hits for eager minded players wanting to perform something upbeat and fun, challenging yet never dumbed down for mere cheap effect.

‘Dream Catchers’ in particular is a superbly crafted youth targeted test piece that links to jazz and funk elements that young players latch onto with an extraordinary degree of expertise and understanding. 

Meanwhile, the two solos also show that the composer can paint from an entirely different palette too, and the performances of Gareth Brindle and Sandy Smith showcase two wonderfully written lyrical pieces of original thinking.

Tremendously effective

It is test pieces though that form the foundation stones of compositional output, and ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ is a tremendously effective work that proved to be immensely popular when used for the Third Section at this year’s Regional Championships. 

It may well prove to be the first of a whole Opus filled CV of extended test pieces to come in the next few years – and those hard to please consumers will surely lap them all up.

Annoyed

It must be said however that even the most ardent fan will be a bit annoyed if they are faced again with having to part with their credit crunched cash twice in quick succession for the same items on the same label, as two of the tracks here appeared recently on the ‘Essential Dyke Volume VIII’ release.

It will of course be interesting to see if Paul Lovatt-Cooper can develop as a composer in much the same way as the heroes he walks with down Bolton High Street, but somehow you wouldn’t bet against him doing just that and more.

It’s been a long time coming, but it seems we may have found the new star composer of our time.

Iwan Fox

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