Review: (500) Days of Summer Soundtrack mp3s and videos

ABOVE: When the trailer kicks off with a Smiths-related pick-up line, you know you’re in for a quirky indie flick. Love it? Hate it?

(500) Days of Summer is shaping up to be this year’s quirky film hit along the lines of Juno and Garden State. Like those films, music plays a big part in the movie-including the fact that star/indie-rock heartbreaker Zooey Deschanel is a real-life musician (her band, She & Him, performs a Smiths song on the soundtrack).

What else is on this hot movie soundtrack? Find out what’s good-and what we never, ever want to hear again.

We’re handing out the soundtrack tunes and videos below, so sit back and enjoy.

What do you think?

Does a good soundtrack make you want to see a movie more?
Would a bad soundtrack make you want to skip a movie?

(500) Days of Summer Soundtrack downloads and videos:

1. 1
   “A Story of Boy Meets Girl” by Mychael Danna and Rob Simonsen
   Song by guys known for soundtrack orchestration and stuff like that. Yeah, we’d probably skip it, too. (Actually, it’s just a voiceover track setting up the premise of the movie…y’know, in case you forget what the movie is about while you’re listening to the soundtrack.)
2. 2
   “Us” by Regina Spektor
   Check out this free song from Spektor’s breakthrough album, Soviet Kitsch. Often compared to Tori Amos, this quirky singer/songwriter/pianist is making a name for herself now, but her big break came as the opening act for the Strokes in 2003: they even recorded a song together “Modern Girls and Old Fashioned Men.”
   Download: Regina Spektor-”Us” (mp3)
3. 3
   “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out” by The Smiths
4. 4
   “Bad Kids” by Black Lips
   We’re not sure how a fun song found it’s way onto this mopey soundtrack, but we’re glad it did! If you like this track, grab another free Black Lips cut from the same album (Good Bad Not Evil):
   Download: Black Lips-”Cold Hands” (mp3)
   
   
   
5. 5
   “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” by The Smiths
   Icons of romantic gloom, the Smiths are even featured in the movie’s trailer–which is either cute, or an indication that this movie is trying way too hard to be cool. A love story, with Smiths jokes? Hm.
6. 6
   “There Goes The Fear” by  Doves
7. 7
   “You Make My Dreams Come True” by Hall & Oates
   Filling the ironic ’80s hit portion of the soundtrack, it’s Hall & Oates. Yes it’s awful, but it is catchy like swine flu (too soon?). And, if you can’t get enough of Hall & Oates (well, Hall, anyway), check out the new online series “J-Stache,” all about the singer’s crime-fighting mustache. No joke.
8. 8
   “Sweet Disposition” by The Temper Trap
   Acoustic guitars and knit hats. Kinda like Jack Johnson, for people who are too cool for Jack Johnson. (PS EVERYONE is too cool for Jack Johnson.)
9. 9
   “Quelqu’un M’a Dit” by Carla Bruni
   A song by the Italian wife of the French President. Novelty? Yeah. But it’s actually not awful (well, maybe it is, if you speak French…non sappiamo parlare francese).
10. 10
    “Mushaboom” by Feist
    This whimsical song from Broken Social Scene-ster Leslie Feist probably won’t make you want to buy an iPod as much as her other song did.
11. 11
    “Hero” by Regina Spektor
    More from Spektor, although one of her tracks would’ve probably been enough.
12. 12
    “Bookends (Old Friends)” by Simon & Garfunkel
    What sensitive soundtrack is complete without S&G? Not our style, but, y’know, if you’re a boy in a cardigan: enjoy.
13. 13
    “Vagabond” byWolfmother
    You might remember this band’s Led Zep-ish hit from a few years back, “Woman.”
    Download: Wolfmother-”Woman” (mp3)

14. 14
    “She’s Got You High”  by Mumm-Ra
    For fans of the Stereophonics and jangly Brit-rock like that.
15. 15
    “Here Comes Your Man” by Meaghan Smith
    We hate this so much, we can’t even describe it. It’s like the Pixies via some horrible MIDI program. Download it if you want it. We don’t want it. Maybe the producers couldn’t affor the Pixies’ original version?
16. 16
    “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” by She & Him
    Really? Two versions of the same song on one soundtrack? We get it, Zooey’s cute. This is Smiths cover is still unnecessary. Seriously. And…it…is…so…slow…And guitarist M. Ward is overrated. There, we said it.
    Download:“Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” by She & Him
    Download: “The Fabric of our Lives” by Zooey Deschanel