Soundtrack
Spider-Man 2
Columbia

A collection of songs from Dashboard Confessional, Train, Midtown and Smile Empty Soul sounds like a bad mix tape, but it’s the soundtrack to this summer’s most anticipated film, Spider-Man 2.

The soundtrack doesn’t have many decent tunes and it seems as if the album was just thrown together in an effort to capitalize on the hype surrounding the film. The CD has 13 modern/alternative rock bands delivering watered-down b-sides and bland originals.

With a market ready to devour anything with the web-slinger’s name or likeness on it, the soundtrack is almost a guaranteed success.

The soundtrack’s first single, “Vindicated,” the latest offering from emo poster band Dashboard Confessional, is whiny and irritating. Dashboard Confessional scored a minor hit with “Screaming Infidelities,” and has since adorned the walls of emotional teenage girls everywhere. “Vindicated” boasts a chorus that’s as lyrically profound as a shallow puddle and sounds very undecided: “I am selfish/I am wrong/I am right/I swear I’m right/I swear I knew it all along.”

Meanwhile, Train has been known for crafting radio-friendly pop-ditties such as “Meet Virginia” and “Drops of Jupiter,” but hit a foul ball with “Ordinary,” which is plain and lifeless. This is one track even the most die-hard Train fan will gleefully skip..

Newcomers Jet and Maroon 5 deliver the set’s most enjoyable tunes. Jet has risen to fame due to their mixture of classic rock riffs and modern rock attitude, spawning instant radio hits with “Are You Gonna Be My Girl?” and “Cold Hard Bitch.”

On “Hold On,” the band doesn’t tamper with the proven formula, echoing the basic theme that drives the song’s theatrical counterpart. “You tried so hard to be someone/That you forgot who you are/You tried to fill some emptiness/Till all you had spilled over.”

Maroon 5 have had a successful year, landing a platinum album that spawned three hit singles — “Harder To Breath,” “This Love” and “She Will Be Loved.” Why not top off a great year by taking part in the biggest cinematic event of the summer? Maroon 5’s contribution, “Woman,” is a fun pop song about a mysteriously attractive woman.

The rest of the soundtrack is filled with a bunch of mundane tracks, from Yellowcard’s “Gifts and Curses” to Midtown’s “Give It Up.”

The Spider-Man 2 soundtrack is far less impressive than that of the original and it fails miserably at capturing the feeling of the film itself.

This warning won’t do any good for those Spidey freaks out there, but the Spider-Man 2 soundtrack is a joyless package with the wall-crawler’s signature pose on the front cover being as its only selling point.

Contact Pablo Saldana atoraclepablo@yahoo.com