Various Artists: Spiderman Soundtrack

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VARIOUS ARTISTS

"Spider-Man: Music From and Inspired By (Columbia/Roadrunner/Island Def Jam/Sony Music Soundtrax)

The soundtrack to the blockbuster film "Spider-Man" is a wide mix of various music styles that has a few cool surprises in it, a couple of duds and - once again - a couple tracks from a great background score by the amazing Danny Elfman.

As far as the surprises: the CD begins with the original theme from the classic animated "Spider-Man" television series. How cool is that? Bookending the CD are this original theme and a new cover by Aerosmith. Our only complaint here? The Ramones cover was way better; we would have used that instead of this admittedly not-bad cover by Aerosmith. Hey, there's always "Spider-Man 2."

But the biggest surprise has to be track 2, performed by Nickelback's Chad Kroeger (with Josey Scott). "Hero" is the film's ending theme, and it's a powerful, emotional ballad that really nails the film's overall feel and atmosphere. I'd say there's some Oscar potential here if the Academy weren't so hung up on Disney tunes.

Also worthy of notice is Jerry Cantrell's "She Was My Girl," which also appears on his "Degradation Trip" CD. Judging from this heavy, sharp-guitared track, "Degradation Trip" shows a lot of potential.

As for the flops - well, Sum 41's "What We're All About" is pretty dull stuff. We've heard it all before. Speaking of tracks that sound like we've heard them all before: This CD's biggest downfall is its abundance of what sounds like "filler" product. Nearly half the songs just lay there are you listen, doing not much more than simply drawing you slowly to the next track. This soundtrack clocks in at a full 65+ minutes. It would have been much better to cut out some of the crap and settle for 45 minutes or so. Also, the mix of genres is pretty eccentric and that doesn't make the CD as a whole so listenable either.

Finally, there's the music score by Danny Elfman. As usual, great stuff. For my money, Danny Elfman is one of the very best film composers in the business and his Spider-Man score is tremendous. There are only two tracks on this CD, however, so - if you're an Elfman fan, too - pick up the "original score" album instead.

There are many tracks on "Spider-Man" that make this CD worth picking up. There are also a bunch of tracks that may make you want to think twice. If you're a fan of most of the bands herein, check it out. If not, it might be best to take a pass.

Performing on "Spider-Man" are Chad Kroeger with Josey Scott; Sum 41; Black Lab; Bleu; Alien Ant Farm; Default; Corey Taylor; Greenwheel; The Strokes; The Hives; Theory of a Dead Man, Pete Yorn, Macy Gray, Injected, Jerry Cantrell, Danny Elfman and Aerosmith.

For more information, check out http://www.sony.com/spider-man.

Rating Guide:

A classic. This record will kick your ass.

Killer. Not a classic but it will rock your world.

So-so. You've heard better.

Pretty bad. Might make a nice coaster.

Self explanatory. Just the sight of the cover makes you wanna hurl.

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