**1/2 Various Artists

FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS

Like the Terry Gilliam film currently in release, the Fear and Loathing soundtrack presents itself as a flashback of sorts. Drug-related classics by Big Brother & the Holding Company ("Combination of the Two"), Brewer and Shipley ("One Toke over the Line"), Jefferson Airplane ("White Rabbit"), the Youngbloods ("Get Together"), and Bob Dylan ("Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again") are sequenced in a manner that more or less parallels the film's narrative, which itself is a fairly faithful interpretation of the Hunter S. Thompson book it's based on. Indeed, each track is preceded by a snippet of Johnny Depp's voiceover monologue from the film, just to add a bit of cinematic context. When you consider that more and more blockbuster rock soundtracks don't even pretend to have more than a tangential relationship with their host film (they're simply "inspired" by the movie), it's refreshing to find one featuring tunes you actually hear in the film. Of course, almost all of these are also familiar songs that you're likely to have elsewhere in your collections -- from the Dead Kennedys' cynical hoedown "Viva Las Vegas" to the cheesy Perry Como number "Magic Moments."

-- Matt Ashare