Search - Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Queen, Billy Squier :: Small Soldiers: Music From The Motion Picture

No matter how hard they try--and they put plenty into the effort--there's really no way the synthetic drum sounds and effects-laden guitars of Pat Benatar's "Love Is a Battlefield" can be bent into a hip-hop track, even in the days of Puff Daddy. The same can be said for even the best tracks on the Small Soldiers soundtrack: Bone Thugs-n-Harmony are silky smooth (as always) and make a fine single out of "War," but it doesn't add anything or update Edwin Starr's classic take. Similarly, Wyclef, Pras, and Free add nothing to "Another One Bites the Dust"; and who really needs dance-oriented remixes of Billy Squier's "The Stroke," Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll (Part 2)" or (gulp) Rush's "Tom Sawyer"? Only the Pretenders' "My City Was Gone" survives the addition of some extra beats and rapping by Kool Keith in the breaks. The highlight of the album, it's--in the grand scheme of things--completely unnecessary and plenty of fun. --Randy Silver