In Praise of.... Small Soldiers: Music from the Motion Picture

Spurred on by its discussion on my recent Rush thread. I know this isn't the usual type of album I type In Praise Ofs about, but when the DJ Z-Trip remix of Rush's "Tom Sawyer" was invoked, it hit me how damn inspired this collection of music.

For a start, forget about the film. Personally speaking, I never saw it. It just looked like a testosterone-fueled ripoff of Toy Story, as far as I can tell. In any case, someone at Dreamworks mailed me the soundtrack in 1998....dubiously convinced that I was in a position to write about it somewhere (I wasn't and I didn't.) I was about to chuck it on the "to sell" pile when I stopped to look at the track listing...

1. War [Remix] - Bone Thugs-N-Harmony featuring Flesh'n'Bone with Henry Rollins, Tom Morello and Flea
2. Another One Bites the Dust [Wyclef Jean Remix] - Queen with additional vocals by Wyclef Jean
3. The Stroke [Dallas Austin Remix] by Billy Squier
4. Love Is a Battlefield [KayGee Remix] by Pat Benatar with additional vocals by Queen Latifah
5. Rock & Roll, Pt. 2 [Dutch Remix] by Gary Glitter
6. Love Removal Machine [Mickey Petralia Remix] by the Cult
7. My City Was Gone - by the Pretender, remixed by the Butcher Bros. featuring additional vocals by Kook Keith
8. Surrender [Rich Costey Remix] by Cheap Trick
9. Tom Sawyer [DJ Z-Trip Remix] by Rush
10. War by Edwin Starr

It's like those ambitious soundtracks to Judgement Night and Spawn...only this time it's listenable and actually enjoyable (though "Freak Mama" with Sir Mix-a-Lot and Mudhoney on Judgement Night remains a classic).

I kept it intially based on the inclusion of the Cult track (being a big Cult fan, after all), but said remix is honestly one of the weakest things on the disc. The Rush remix is AMAZING, utilizing Neil Peart's signature drum battery in a Hip Hop context that not only works, but that fuckin' cooks. "The Stroke" has new life breathed into it and is summarily rocktastic, and the track with Benatar/Latifah (both of whom I'd normally let drown if their ship had sprung a leak) is positively INSPIRED!

Every so often, someone pulls this disc out of my shelf and says, "Alex, what the fuck are you doing with this?" and I instantly shut them up with the "Tom Sawyer" remix.

So salute Small Soldiers, or be a terrorist against fun.