Now here's a "soundtrack" LP that's not a lame marketing tie-in, and is also worth owning owing to an abundance of live recordings. This collection can't tell the story as completely as the surprisingly accurate movie, but its 22 selections nevertheless form a reliable document of the second Pacific Northwest rock explosion (the first was the Raiders, Sonics, Wailers, Trashmen, etc.), though it concentrates mostly on Washington State bands. Though Hype! boasts such megastars as Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Soundgarden, and indie kings Mudhoney, 7 Year Bitch, and Screaming Trees leader Mark Lanegan, it's the lesser-knowns that steal the show, after a garrison of gruesome grungers garrote the early going (after two openers by the true pioneers here, first the Fastbacks' zippy "K Street" and then the stunning early Wipers, with 1980's Is This Real? kicker "Return of the Rat," which Nirvana covered in 1991). Anyone who likes spirited youth music will pick up immediately on the genuine buzz of live and ripping renditions by the super-cool Young Fresh Fellows, popsters the Posies and Flop, the raucous Supersuckers, the country-punk Gas Huffer, and one more farewell to the late Mia Zapata and her band the Gits. A riotous, raw racket from such a pretty city/area, and some of the profits benefit S.O.S., a local drug rehab organization. ~ Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover, All Music Guide