Let's hear it for girl-positive soundtracks! This one treads ground familiar to fans of Freaky Friday, though it skews younger, going easier on the rock. Most of the tracks are new, which is refreshing, and the best of the bunch hop and bounce with absolutely infectious verve. In fact, the first five are pretty unimpeachable slices of energetic pop, with Liz Phair reminding everybody that she can craft some of the best choruses in town, Joanna delivering classic "whoo-hoo"s on "Pretty Much Amazing," and the Donnas and Katie Melua bringing it all home with covers of Kim Wilde's "Kids in America" and Robert Palmer's "Looking for Clues," respectively. Newcomers Price and Persephone's Bees play groovy 1960s songs, while J-Kwon and Cupid deliver light, party-happy hip-hop tracks. The sensitive, female-voiced side of things is represented by Corinne Bailey Rae's familiar "Like a Star" and Norwegian band Flunk's Björkish, acoustic-flavored cover of New Order's "Blue Monday," which is so mellow that it takes off the song's pained edge--although it wouldn't be entirely surprising if it turned into a surprise hit, as with Frente's cover of "Bizarre Love Triangle." --Elisabeth Vincentelli

 

 

1. Come To California/Matthew Sweet   12. Party Tonight/Bizarre