(FORTUNE Magazine) – Rushmore: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (London Recordings)

If you've been to a cocktail party lately, chances are you've heard the Creation's "Making Time," the second track on this album, stomping and stuttering away in the background. Somehow the Rushmore soundtrack has become chic, even though--or maybe because--director Wes Anderson's movie bobs along on a bunch of lost British Invasion romps that dropped out of vogue around the time Austin Powers went into deep freeze.

Like the flick it comes from, Rushmore captures the dog years of adolescence in all their whelp-eyed innocence and froth-mouthed frustration. Amazingly, it manages to do this by steering clear of every single '90s teen trend that a studio would normally stuff down a director's throat. Anderson has peppered his soundtrack with Parisian bistro balladry (Yves Montand's "Rue St. Vincent"), tender-as-tofu folk (Cat Stevens' "The Wind"), and even an 8 1/2-minute, lager-soaked operetta buffa (the Who's "A Quick One While He's Away"). It's all a blast, but there is a caveat: Unless you keep a finger perched next to the fast-forward button, you'll have to twiddle your thumbs through a lot of chirpy incidental music by Mark Mothersbaugh, the lead guy from Devo. We warned you.

--Jeff Gordinier