VA - National Lampoon's Animal House - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1987)

Animal House is a classic frat-house comedy, full of low-brow humor and outrageously entertaining vulgarity. The soundtrack nearly captures that atmosphere on record, even though it has a couple of flaws. The meat of the soundtrack lies in a selection of great rock & roll and R&B oldies, including Chris Montez's "Let's Dance," and Bobby Lewis' "Tossin and Turnin'," Paul & Paula's "Hey Paula," and Sam Cooke's "Twistin' the Night Away" and "Wonderful World." No matter how good these tracks are -- and they are great -- their impact is lessened by the re-recorded oldies from Lloyd Williams ("Shout," "Shama Lama Ding Dong") and John Belushi ("Money," "Louie Louie"), as well as two light-weight Steven Bishop songs and Elmer Bernstein's instrumental "Faber College Theme." While those songs reflect the boozy pleasures of the movie, they don't sound quite as good when isolated on record. Nevertheless, the soundtrack remains a good party -- even if its momentum sags occasionally.~National Lampoon's Animal House [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine