Kick-Ass as a comic book works on so many different levels as it turns a treasure trove of “What Ifs”; and answers the questions with quipping dialog, violence, and a disregard for one’s private areas. Kick-Ass as a soundtrack looks like it has a steeper hill to climb as the movie’s accompanying album is filled with great beats, but is generally hit & miss.
The two biggest tracks are aptly named “Stand Up,”; from The Prodigy, and “Kick-Ass“; from Mika vs. RedOne with the former being a great instrumental opening to the disc, and the latter hitting you over the head and keeping up the energy.
The first half of the disc generally maintains the high energy framework laid down here with Primal Scream chiming in with some old school guitar riffs in “Can’t Go Back“; and The Prodigy coming back with the catchy, danceable “Omen.”;
However, the big promotional push is for Pretty Reckless’ “Make Me Wanna Die“;. You don’t see many female rockers this side of Lacuna Coil, Flyleaf, and Halestorm so it’s great to hear a female fronted band rocking out. While its touch to say how the band’s freshman release will sound, from what is shown here, it should definitely sell some discs.
Other notable standouts are The Hit Girls’ cover of Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation“;, and the out-of-place, but still good “Starry Eyed“; by Ellie Goulding.
Then there’s the rest of the album where the tracks aren’t necessarily bad, sans The Dickies’ “Banana Splits“;, but just don’t seem like they fit in with the rest of the album. Tracks from The Sparks, New York Dolls, and even the great Elvis Presley who shows up in the album’s closing live track just range from the obscure to the odd and ask the question, “Thematically, why is this here?”;
Granted the songs may fit in the movie like a glove, but with the album release coinciding with the film’s UK premiere and not is US premiere, its hard to wholly recommend the soundtrack until you’ve had a listen either in the movie or a sampling online.