**1/2 Various Artists

AUSTIN POWERS

(Hollywood)

Just as Ace Ventura would have been nothing without his rubbery facial spasms, Austin Powers wouldn't be the same without his own personal soundtrack of '60s, or at least '60s-inspired, pop music. So we get here a mix of the genuine -- from Sergio Mendes and Quincy Jones hipster classics to pop nuggets like Strawberry Alarm Clock's "Incense and Peppermints" -- with retro-leaning contemporary material. Sweden's Cardigans offer "Carnival," Space supply a remix of their crafty "Female of the Species," and the Lightning Seeds cover the Byrds' "You Showed Me."

Aside from Edwyn Collins's swingingly fab "The Magic Piper (Of Love)," the newer tracks are what prevents the soundtrack from becoming the kitsch classic it so desperately wants to be. The Mike Myers/Matthew Sweet/Susanna Hoffs supergroup Ming Tea get a bit silly on the faux British Invasion rocker "BBC." And the title track by underground power-pop kings the Wondermints features amusing lyrics like "In a jet or in a jag, in a pinch, he's ready to shag." But like the limp Burt Bacharach covers delivered by Hoffs and the Posies, it's too much novelty and not enough of what made the classics classic.

-- Ben Heller