The great variety of songs here means two things: there is something for everyone here, but every individual will also undoubtedly have a few tracks he/she doesn't particularly care for. Sheryl Crow's On the Outside is a perfectly good song, but it doesn't seem to fit here in my opinion. Elvis Costello's My Dark Life has potential but never succeeds in grabbing my attention. Star Me Kitten from William S. Burroughs & R.E.M. is just strange and almost unexplainable (it also is the primary reason for the Explicit Lyrics sticker on the cover). The big mystery here for me, though, is P.M. Dawn. Not only does their song If You Never Say Goodbye seem out of place, their remix of Mark Snow's excellent X-Files Theme is quite unnecessary given the greatness of Mark Snow's original version that starts this CD off with a bang.

You don't have to be an X-Files fan to enjoy this CD, but fans will have much more appreciation of the ingenuity and creative track selection that went into this album. The liner notes feature some perfectly odd artist drawings of X-Files characters and scenes as well as statements about the album from X-Files bigwigs Chris Carter and David Was. One should not think this album was released just to make money off of the hot X-Files name; there is a lot of quality music here that one might not ever have the chance to discover on one's own.


Soundtrack For The Unknown, Misunderstood, & Beyond   May 25, 2000
 7 out of 7 found this review helpful

I love this album because it is so very artistic and musically moody, where shades of paranoia, loneliness, misunderstood expression, dark prophecies, and sadness rage throughout. It was this album that got me into alternative music in the first place, and now I am a fan of most of the artists. After Mark Snow wonderfully covers the show's trademark creepy anthem, beat poetry band Soul Coughing starts talking of complex conspiracy while the mixture of off-beat music takes a hold of you. ("Unmarked Helicopters" is an in-reference to the 'Duane Barry' show, in which they are the U.F.O.s that abduct people.) Sheryl Crow gives a sense of loneliness and depression with "On The Outside", which can also relate to anyone who has ever been looked down upon or been referred to as an outcast. Foo Fighters cover "Down In The Park", a great rock song about dark men & alien world domination. William Burroughs recorded a shoddy remake of R.E.M.'s "Star Me Kitten" about a year before he died, and is a great place to get into the spoken-word absurdities that make his writing great. The always gothic Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds continue their walk of solemn decay portraits with the eerie lyrics and sound of "Red Right Hand". It is about Satan. Filter take a leave of absence from their hardcore sound with the largely acoustical "Thanks Bro", a great mellow song for the album. If you like their new hit "Take A Picture", you will like this one. Aw, now to Frank Black, one of my favorite artists. His words aren't as profound and mind-bending as usual here, but "Man Of Steel" is still one of his best because of its "lonely, on the road, looking for life in space" mood. Sounds like he's talking right through the eyes of Mulder and his guitar is great here. Meat Puppets philosophize about the paranormal with the hard-rocking "Unexplained", right before self-loathing devil worshipper Danzig haunts you with the disturbing "Deep", but not as disturbing as the dark duet of Alice Cooper & Rob Zombie on the hardcore "Hands Of Death(Burn Baby Burn)". Elvis Costello & ambient explorer Brian Eno drift off into artistically formed sadness with "My Dark Life", fantastic songwriter Costello telling a story of wicked mankind. P.M. Dawn tell a pop rock filled story of the apocalypse which was written by Chris Carter. Carter's words go right along with Dawn's semi-psychadelic rock, and the result is beautiful. A sense of hope or a loss of hope? Hmm. They also do a great reworking of the X-Files theme. So if you are a big fan of "The X Files", can relate to Mulder's sense of rejection, loneliness, paranoia, and misunderstood genius, and have wierd theories on life, than this is the album for you.


Brilliant CD!! Great music which takes a back seat.   October 12, 1999
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

I've had this CD for about 3 years and it's still one of my faves, simply because it's unusual and expresses the mood of the X files so perfectly. I love the artistic lyrics especially, as well as the wide variety of music styles. It goes from slow rock stuff like William S. Burroughs "Star Me Kitten" to heavy stuff like Rob Zombie & Alice Coopers "Hands of Death". Personally I like the in between stuff best, and my faves would have to be Foo Fighters "Down in the Park", Filter "Thanks Bro", Meat Puppets "Unexplained", and PM Dawn "If you Never Say Goodbye". I think probably the best track to play during an episode of the x-files would be Nick Caves "Red Right Hand", as it has a groovy paranormal conspiracy like mood to it, but then again all of them do which is why they're on this CD. But it's all great music which is lesser known than the more popular radio hits which people listen to all the time. I think if you listened to the X files CD, you'd appreciate the alternative music more. So give it a chance and make up your own mind, but remember, everyone is entitled to my opinion. hehe.


It just doesn't fit.   October 9, 2002
 3 out of 5 found this review helpful

I'm an enormous fan of the "late" X-Files. I purchased this CD some years ago hoping it would evoke the same eerie mood of the show. It just doesn't. The Nick Cave track is almost worth the price of the CD - it sets a creepy mood. And I like the inclusion of "Frenzy" a great deal. The Soul Coughing and Costello tracks are OK. The rest of them just don't belong. I don't know what Sheryl Crow and PM Dawn are doing on this CD. There are simply too many songs that don't properly represent The X-Files for me to give more than 3 stars.