Office Space: The Motion Picture Soundtrack

Ice Cube's "Down for Whatever" is the highlight on Office Space's soundtrack, a classy West Coast production with just the right proportions of laid-back groove and simmering tension. Scarface turns in a credible enough track ("No Tears"), and the Geto Boys' impersonation of Bill Clinton at the end of "Damn It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta" is funny, though not terribly accurate. But Canibus and Biz Markie's attempt to rework David Allan Coe's "Take This Job and Shove It" into a hip-hop novelty hit falls flat, as does a similar effort by Lisa Stone at revitalizing "9 to 5." Two ancient Perez Prado mambos tacked on at the end of the album throw its already shaky continuity even further off course, but they're such great tunes that only a fool would bemoan their presence. --Charley Gothic