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Since part of the well-oiled genius of The OC is its blatant appropriation of familiar teen-soap source material, it makes sense that the hit Fox series’s latest mix CD collects covers of tunes most of the show’s viewers likely already know. In a way, The OC itself is a high-gloss cover of Beverly Hills 90210, so there’s a neat formal symmetry at work here. Sometimes, like the show’s production squad, the covering bands apply new shine to their chosen text: LA’s Goldspot put some pep into the step of Modest Mouse’s “Float On,” draining the tune of Isaac Brock’s cosmic gravitas but selling its don’t-worry-be-happy optimism, whereas Tally Hall, from Michigan, replace the Killers’ scene-guy cynicism with Flaming Lips–style whimsy in “Smile like You Mean It.” Other acts fare less well, sacrificing what made a song worth hearing in the first place: Mates of State’s drowsy version of Phantom Planet’s “California,” for example, has none of the original’s young-person drama — kind of a bummer when you remember that “California” serves as The OC’s main theme.
