March 26, 2004

By MANUEL MENDOZA / The Dallas Morning News

Junior Senior's "Move Your Feet" is one of the few highlights on the Queer Eye soundtrack.

When all is said and done over, the beauty of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy lies outside its gimmick. The experts are gay, yes, and the men they repair are heterosexual. But what finally counts is the expertise and how it's used, regardless of sexual orientation, to help the style-challenged become better versions of themselves.

The offshoots, including the various metrosexual advice books flooding the market, are a different story. As they seek to impose rules of dress and behavior – "do this, never under any circumstances do that" – they're like your mom with a better fashion sense.

The latest such product is the Queer Eye soundtrack, which promises to "take your ears from drab to fab." The problem is that most of the songs represent a narrow slice of pop: kitschy if catchy club tunes that may appeal to a theatrical gay-disco sensibility without being good music. Carson and Co. may know what they're doing in your closet but they can't be trusted at the turntable.

The Chemical Brothers' remix of Kylie Minogue's "Slow" and the Danish duo Junior Senior's "Move Your Feet" are exceptions, the former a deep groove that avoids the relentless thump of so much dance music, the latter a paean to '70s disco with an unforgettable hook.

Otherwise, the soundtrack is filled with take-it-or-leave-it house/trance/punk garage from Basement Jaxx, Jamelia, Fischerspooner (which mashes up its "Emerge" with Billy Squier's "Everybody Wants You") and the lo-fi one-man-Brooklyn band Prophet Omega, along with lukewarm pop from Elton John and OK Go.

The same issue of niche for niche's sake swirls around the soundtrack to the hit, hip Fox soap The O.C., which could be subtitled Music to Jump Off a Bridge By.

Jet's "Move On" made the O.C. soundtrack.

Packed with atmospheric emo-pop that reflects the sensitivity of the show's teen characters, it's more accomplished, starting with Jet's harmony-filled, slightly twangy (think Jayhawks) "Move On." Other one-named acts also prevail: Welsh singer-songwriter Jem's gem "Just a Ride," an entrancing, funkier version of Dido, and Doves' "Caught by the River," which builds on layers of techno and guitar-rock.

Less successful are similar attempts by South, Austin's Spoon, The 88 and Turin Brakes at music for teenagers with deep feelings.