Album Review: The Sopranos: Music from the HBO Original Series

The Sopranos: Music from the HBO Original Series

(Sony Music Soundtracks)

(Sony Music Soundtracks)

The soundtrack release featuring music from the hit television series "The Sopranos" is like a friend's mix tape. Similar to those perfect-for-driving staples, the album is a hodgepodge of tracks assembled for their self-conscious hipness or relevance to the show. Where else would you find Van Morrison buddying up to Los Lobos or Bo Diddley rubbing elbows with Bruce Springsteen? In the quirky gangster world created by producer David Chase, baby.

As with any of your buddy's selections, there are bound to be some agreements and disappointments. Diddley doing his classic blues tune "I'm a Man" really can't fail under any circumstances, and Eric Clapton's blistering guitar work on Cream's "I Feel Free" succeeds in any decade, while Frank Sinatra could croon names from the phone book and still make it sound mellifluous. Unfortunately, the producers have tried to put cast member Little Steven onto one selection, "Inside of Me", and he sounds like a poor man's Bob Dylan (who incidentally appears on "Gotta Serve Somebody," but is crushed by the weight of excessive percussion). Similarly, the Eurythmic's "I've Tried Everything," from their post-reunion days, seems entirely out of place. The good seems to cancel out the bad, and the result is middling success. B