American Beauty: Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Various Artists - Soundtracks - 1999

What's the soundtrack for suburbia gone awry? Perhaps it's American Beauty--the music for the dark Sam Mendes-directed flick starring Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening. With its mix of classic and inside rock, the disc seems to reflect something for everyone (or at least those found in middle America). Bobby Darin's "Don't Rain on My Parade" is the epitome of unhip, Free's "All Right Now" is a classic rock anthem we've heard way too many times, and Peggy Lee's "Bali Ha'i" is vintage exotica at its best. But then there are some surprises: Elliott Smith's harmonizing "Because" is pure Brian Wilson, Folk Implosion's "Free to Go" is one of the group's best tracks, and Eels' "Cancer for the Cure" is a gritty but infectious taste of alt-rock. Thomas Newman's percussive "Dead Already" creates a tense mood to start things off.

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