JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS

Music from the Motion Picture
(Playtone/Riverdale/Epic/Sony)


RATING: three and a half

“Even if we’re playing in our garage/ soon we’ll have a massive entourage/ Goin’ triple-platinum/ You’ll just see us climbing up the Billboard charts/ Breaking records, breaking hearts,” sings the band in the updated version of the Josie and the Pussycats theme song. While the boast proved prophetic for the fictional teen band in the new Josie and the Pussycats movie, it didn’t really come true for Letters to Cleo, one of my favorite bands from the late 90s. Despite earning some measure of success with their three albums and a star turn appearing in 1999’s 10 Things I Hate About You, the band has reportedly broken up, without ever seeing what it was like to be major rock stars.

I mention Letters to Cleo because the soundtrack to Josie and the Pussycats plays like a radio-friendly LtC concept album. And, in a way, it really is. Though the songs are credited to “Josie and the Pussycats,” with the vocals presumably belonging to Josie (played by Rachel Leigh Cook), the winsomely edgy voice is instantly recognizable to fans as belonging to Kay Hanley, the erstwhile Letters to Cleo lead singer.

While none of the other LtC members appear on the album credits, a closer look will reveal Hanley is not the only star working behind the scenes to lend claws to Josie. Babyface, who is also the album’s executive producer, produces a number of the tracks, while Jane Wiedlin and the Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz’s names appear in the songwriting credits. The songs’ star-studded team of songwriters have somehow managed to recreate the high-energy staccato punk/rock/pop that used to be Letters to Cleo’s trademark sound. And, oh, how I miss that sound.

The CD opens with “3 Small Words,” the single released in advance of the movie. With a drum roll and crunchy guitars kick-starting the track, the song wastes no time in laying out its charms. It rocks out so wonderfully that you’d hardly believe that you’re listening to the soundtrack for a teen flick; when you get the refrain, a delightfully pun-laden countdown (“It took six short hours/ and five long days/ for all your lies to come undone/ And those three small words/ were way too late/ ‘cause you can’t see that I’m the one”), you’re irretrievably hooked.

Amazingly, the high energy levels are maintained all throughout the album, with Hanley ripping through the equally energetic and charming “Pretend to be Nice,” “Spin Around,” You’re a Star,” and “Shapeshifter”—this last one being especially close to Hanley, who shares songwriting credits on the track. “Come On” deserves special mention for its edgy verve, and while “I Wish You Well” is a tad bit slower than the rest, it loses none of its punky appeal in the slight change in speed.

There is, of course, one ballad—this is essentially a girl movie, after all—but even the drippy acoustic number “You Don’t See Me,” is surprisingly likable, even mature for the genre. Rounding out the collection are punked-up covers of the rock n’ roll classic “Real Wild Child (Wild One)” and the Motown standard “Money (That’s What I Want).”

This being a teen movie, you can imagine how things could have easily gone the other, cliché-ridden way, with inane pop and boy bands setting the tone. There are, in fact, two songs by the similarly fictional pop/R&B boy band DuJour (with real-life vocals provided by John Stephan and J’son Thomas) included in the album, but while the songs are not staggeringly incompetent, it surely says something that they’re the bad guys in the movie. Anyone familiar with the old Josie and the Pussycats cartoons and comic books know that the band were always a couple of degrees cooler than the other guys in the Riverdale universe, but this 21st century remake is still a greatly pleasant surprise. Thanks to some smart choices in musical direction, these hot, sweet, supercool kitties rule.—Kristine Fonacier