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Various Artists
Sound of Superman
(East West/Rhino)
First Appeared in The Music Box, June 2006, Volume 13, #6
Written by John Metzger
Boys will be boys, and rock ’n‘ roll is their playground — hence the stream
of comic book characters that dot its musical landscape, not the least of which
is DC Comics’ action hero Superman. Artists as diverse as AC/DC (What’s Next
to the Moon), Genesis (Land of Confusion), XTC (That’s Really
Super, Supergirl), Eminem (Superman), and Jim Croce (You Don’t
Mess Around with Jim) have drawn The Man of Steel’s world into their own.
Coinciding with this summer’s return of Superman to the silver screen, Rhino
compiled the 14-song set Sound of Superman, but instead of emphasizing
artists with a proven track record, the collection takes a significantly less
costly approach of featuring a slew of relatively unknown power-pop ensembles.
Although Sound of Superman begins in a promising fashion as The
Academy Is... takes a page from Matthew Sweet’s playbook and cranks up the
volume on a cover of The Clique’s bubblegum pop hit Superman — a tune
that younger fans likely will attribute to R.E.M — the album quickly devolves
into mediocrity, or worse. Part of the problem is that the newly written
selections are vastly inferior to the better known fare, though equally
troubling is the fact that most of the performances are indistinct and dull. Not
to pick on Motion City Soundtrack — there’s plenty of blame to go around — but
its meshing of Coldplay with The Outfield creates an amalgamation that is best
left alone. There’s little doubt that the collection’s weaker moments serve to
uplift its more interesting tracks, but in the end, The Sun’s disco-meets-punk
rendition of The Kinks’ (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman, The Films’
angst-filled version of Donovan’s Sunshine Superman, and Royal’s equally
goofy (though largely faithful) interpretation of The Dukes of Stratosphear’s
Braniac’s Daughter are little more than disposable curiosities. 
Sound of Superman is available from Amazon.com.
To order, Click Here!
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2006 The Music Box
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