Remember the Superman movie, where little baby Clark Kent was found in a crater, and then, in the time it takes to boil an egg, he's a bespectacled journalist geek in Metropolis with the hots for Lois Lane?

Somewhere along the line, the bright sparks in the Warner 'new concept' department realised they'd missed a trick - after all, between being a super-strong baby and a nerd in NHS specs, our Clark had to have a tormented adolescence, right? So, in a nutshell, Smallville is essentially Superman's Wonder Years. Do pubescent superheroes have wet dreams? I don't think we get to find out.

Any how, this is the soundtrack to the "most watched show on the Warner Brothers US network", released in the UK to coincide with the start of the new series on UK terrestrial TV. And, for the most part, it's very good. The show's set in high school - so it's clearly a difficult time for many children, what with voices changing, strange hair appearing in strange places, the joy of acne… and what music would best convey the suffering and despair of teenage life? Step forward, "mildly alternative indie rock"!

It's jam-packed with radio-friendly "it's so hard to grow up" tunes, ensuring this compilation will sell like hot cakes or acne cream. As the chorus to Five For Fighting's 'Superman' has it, "It's not easy to be me." And no teenager in the world's going to argue with that, now, are they? Do I sound cynical? Well, come on. This is shameless manipulation of those troubled teenage chromosomes. It doesn't make it bad. Just ruthlessly cold and calculating.

Let's talk about the music. There's twelve tracks on the CD, and I would happily listen to ten of them over and over. The Flaming Lips already rule my world, and 'Fight Test' is a good example of why. Weezer are typically brusque but catchy, while VonRay and AM Radio ('I Just Wanna Be Loved' - another teenage theme, anyone?) are the future's bright sparks. Eva Cassidy's 'Time After Time' is as gorgeous as you'd hope it would be.

Of course, every compilation has its bad points. Sixpence None The Richer murder Crowded House's 'Don't Dream It's Over.' Why write your own songs when you can butcher other people's, huh? I've heckled buskers that sounded better than this. Ryan Adams has recorded some fantastic songs in his fledgling career, both with Whiskeytown and as a solo artist, but 'Nuclear' is not one of them.

Overall, it's a good, if slightly wet behind the ears, collection of tunes that will soundtrack many a teen romance, break-up, unwanted pregnancy and destructive outbreak of pent-up exam revision angst across our green and pleasant land.
(4/5)

Release Date: 10 March 2003

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Smallville