VA - The Banger Sisters - OST (2002)

The soundtrack to The Banger Sisters is a blend of new and old tracks by new and old rock artists. Upon first glance, the track listing looks kind of promising if only for the debut solo recording by the Black Crowes' frontman Chris Robinson. "The Red Road," with its electronic percussion, ham-handed guitar soloing and vague lyrics, sounds quite a bit like recent Bon Jovi, and also much like the Black Crowes, only with generic studio hacks instead of his brother and old bandmates. Hopefully Robinson's solo album won't be as by-the-numbers and boring. Other refugees from big-time rock acts also pop up: Tommy Lee delivers a weak version of David Bowie's "Fame" complete with some rapping that sounds like someone's dad trying to be cool, Richie Sambora shows why Jon is the lead singer of Bon Jovi on his non-powerful ballad "One Last Goodbye," and Roger Daltrey cranks up his venerable old pipes for "Child of Mine" which also features somebody named G. Tom Mac and some annoyingly repetitive and boring lyrics. The rest of the soundtrack features mostly uninspiring modern rock acts like Dishwalla, JP, Buckcherry, and Slack, pointless covers of classic rock gems (Ben Folds doing a sleepy version of "Doctor My Eyes," and Trevor Rabin doing a smooth and vapid cover of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"), and Steppenwolf's crummy attempt at being funky, "Rock Me," which comes with an obligatory and seemingly endless conga breakdown. The only decent songs on here are Talking Heads "Burning Down the House" and Peter Frampton's languid and gritty new song "Hour of Need." No disrespect to Frampton, but when he is the highlight of a collection, you've got trouble. Hopefully the movie is better than this train wreck of a soundtrack.~The Banger Sisters Review by Tim Sendra