Various Artists - As Seen on TV: Songs From Commercials (CD)

All Music Guide

The dollar signs floating over the TV screen on the album's front cover tell the story from both ends of this release. Subtitled Songs from Commercials, these tunes have found either a new life, or long delayed initial popularity by providing the soundtracks to 30 second ads on television. Those who don't want, can't find or just won't have the patience to sit through entire albums from some of the more obscure artists here like Groove Armada, Badly Drawn Boy, the Red House Painters or Nick Drake can get a quick fix of the one song that was licensed for the spot and call it a day. For anyone else this is a bewildering assortment of wildly eclectic acts that range from 70's techno oddities like Trio's over-exposed ditty Da Da Da to Dusty Springfield's classic version of The Look of Love to the pure pop punk of the Buzzcocks' What Do I Get and even T.Rex's 20th Century Boy. Unfortunately there are no liner notes and legal problems prevented the compilers from indicating which a...ds these songs are used in. So unless the record store clerk is particularly savvy, finding this album for anyone but established music fans will be difficult. Interestingly both Sting (a Universal artist) and Moby, the two most obvious musicians who licensed their music for shilling products, are absent here. The packaging and art direction looks like it was tossed together in an hour, and although the tunes are relatively well sequenced, this is a blatantly money making project created to cash in on a quick buck from impulsive TV addicts who, because of the lack of information connecting the songs with the ads they are in, are unlikely to locate it. It's also probably the only compilation that features tracks from Sarah Vaughn, Fatboy Slim and Marvin Gaye, a dicey attribute at best. Any disc that includes both Styx's techno novelty Mr. Roboto and Nick Drake's gorgeous Pink Moon is bound to alienate some listeners. - Hal Horowitz, All Music Guide Read more Less