Various
Artists: Music from The O.C. Mix 5 (Warner)
Does The O.C. have a spy at Under The Radar? Because
they’re definitely cribbing off of our Table of Contents. This latest
mix of mostly upbeat music featured on the teen/family soap may reflect
many a youngster’s best-of mix for the past year, and includes Subways,
Kasabian, Shout Out Louds, LCD Soundsystem (the indefatigable “Daft
Punk Is Playing at My House”), Rogue Wave, Of Montreal, Gorillaz,
Kaiser Chiefs, Stars (“Your Ex-Lover Is Dead”—it’s
not that bad, Seth!), and Imogen Heap, whose creepy “Hide and Seek”
somewhat mitigated the cheesy excess of last season’s overly tragedy-ridden
final episode. The Chris Walla-produced cover of Alphaville’s “Forever
Young” was recorded by Youth Group to serve as Ryan and Marissa’s
song, and Phantom Planet provide a wistful acoustic version of their song
(and the show’s theme song), “California.” The O.C.
writers should ease up on all the plot convolutions, stop the stupid quick
cuts at the Bait Shop, and take a cue from the music department, whose
selection and use of music to promote character, story, and theme just
keeps getting tighter—provided they don’t bow too much to
demands for corporate synergy. And for all you haters out there, come
on…there are worse things than your secret favorite band getting
more exposure (and more record sales).
7 Blips out of 10 By Zee Burns