Blast From The Past: Music From The Original Motion Picture
The masterminds behind this feel-good collection of swing and modern-rock staples must have gained much inspiration from this movie's main character (portrayed by the amicable Brendan Fraser), a twentysomething male who's just entered '90s aboveground society for the first time after being raised in his parents' bomb shelter. Nearly all of the tracks here, though culled from established chart-topping albums from radio darlings like theSquirrel Nut ZippersandEverclear, are on the stale side, as if chosen by someone who hasn't watched MTV for the past year. Pop offerings likeDishwalla's risk-free "Pretty Babies" is from the band's 1995 glory days (remember "Counting Blue Cars"?), while the abundant inclusion of swing was probably influenced by a high-level exec's viewing of a Gap khakis ad. All in all, the soundtrack aims for Gen-X soft spots--harmless, saccharine pop vocals and party faves likeR.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World As We Know It"--but there's little here that hasn't already been mined by commercial radio.--Kristy Ojala