One of the new songs, "Buggin'" by the Flaming Lips, totally tripped me out. Weird sounds, crunchy drums, peace-and-love vocals — it really took me back, and in a good way. But a lot of the other tracks just didn't cut it, love. I mean, when Tommy James did "Draggin' the Line," at least it was fun — R.E.M.'s rendition sounds like the lads need to catch up on lost sleep. The same is true of the other remakes: Big Blue Missile's (with Scott Weiland) recording of the Zombies' "Time of the Season" violates the cardinal rule of covers: If it's perfect the first time around, don't even bother to redo it! Like repainting the Mona Lisa in an orange dress, the new version is kind of weird, yeah, but it's no improvement on the original. Even Lenny Kravitz's relatively soulful vocals can't hide the sad truth that the Guess Who's "American Woman" kicks his version's behind.
Dmitri From Paris remixed Quincy Jones' immensely cool — and nowadays ubiquitous — "Soul Bossa Nova" without messing it up, and "Beautiful Stranger" is kind of cute (even if the bird singing it, Madonna, sounds like someone's shaking her whenever she holds a note). Ultimately, the best part of this album is the back cover art. Reminds me of the time I chose Bachelorette No. 2 on The Dating Game back in '69. Or was it '99? With the shagadelic overload, my brain gets fried sometimes.
— Bob Remstein (Wall Of Sound)
ave you ever been shag-sperienced? Well I have, and it ain't all it's cracked up to be, baby. I mean, when I heard that some bloke named Austin Powers was going to have psychedelic pop hits from the '60s redone by today's best artists, then add some happenin' new tunes, man, I just had to leave my secret lair and pick up this album.