The Wonder Years: Music From the Emmy Award-Winning Show & Its Era

The cuddly, sepia-warm tones of the hit TV series spill over into this soundtrack, which is redolent with memories of childhood summers, walking in the park, barbecues out back, and all the other good stuff that the show waxed nostalgic about. Of the 13 tracks here, a full seven are covers. These include act 's take on 's 's soulman exertions on ' and two peace-and-love chestnuts -- ' version of and doing There's also , sounding rather like on Most of the covers are faithful, if unremarkable; the oddest of the lot is little-known Brit 's funked-up version of (would that be a plug for the studio, now?). Speaking of , there are two tracks by '80s teen queen . Schmaltz is represented by And there's as well. All things considered, this record may have a fair bit of MOR hokum and not an especially inspired selection of songs. And the 1994 release may be a more comprehensive document of the era capsuled in the show. Still, if you're in the mood for some quick-fix nostalgia, it fits the bill. ~ Leslie Mathew