Stealth has been an absolute disaster at the box office. No one wanted to go and see it; Top Gun pt. 2 it was not. The soundtrack listing is far more interesting than the box office one – with Epic recording artist Incubus leading it off by appearing on nothing short of four out of thirteen tracks.

The first three are the most revealing: they’re all new cuts, with the opening “Make a Move” big and punchy, while “Admiration” and “Neither of Us Can See” shows interesting development from the surprisingly good A Crow Left of the Murder album of 2004, the former containing interesting pace and clever use of strings, the latter a mid-tempo rocker with shared vocals from the Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde alongside those of Brandon Boyd – it really works. All three are produced by Brendan O’Brien so they sound bigger than a lorry backing over your house, and augur well for Incubus’ next album. The band also close out the album with “Aqueous Transmission” from 2001’s Morning View.

The other big surprise on the Stealth soundtrack is the inclusion of ‘the Mexican Radiohead’, Dredg, with their first new recording in three years. “Bug Eyes” comes from their new long player, Catch Without Arms. The pop-rock approach of The Fray is also. Undoubtedly the biggest name inclusion, other than Incubus, on the Stealth soundtrack is that of Institute, the new band for former Bush frontman (and Mr. Gwen Stefani) Gavin Rossdale. It’s crap, as you’d expect.

Fortunately, David Bowie teams with electronica producer BT for “(She Can) Do That” with interesting, although not entirely satisfying, results. Sly and the Family Stone are re-imagined by Black Eyed Peas mastermind Will.I.Am on “Dance to the Music”, while other new actus included are The Fray, Trading Yesterday and Acceptance, the latter of whom sound disturbingly like an American clone of Coldplay. Fomer Black Sabbath member Glenn Hughes also teams with Chad Smith and John Frusciante for an unnecessary, and poor, interpretation of Procol Harum’s “Nights in White Satin”. For a dog of a film, Stealth sure has produced a soundtrack worth paying attention to for the right reasons – it’s got a few big names contributing new things, and a host of newcomers giving a taste of their wares, with only one or two missteps along the way.