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. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine