Friends With Benefits (Original Soundtrack)

Though the soundtrack to the 2011 romantic comedy Friends With Benefits is compiled with variety in artists and genres, it flows with a cohesiveness in mood — though of course it can be enjoyed piecemeal just as well. Consolidated's Philip Steir gives Steppenwolf’s 1968 hit “Magic Carpet Ride” a tasteful remix reminiscent of DJ Andy Smith’s 1998 reworking of James Gang’s 1970 hit “Funk #49.” Fitz and The Tantrums kitschy go-go jam “L.O.V.” would do just as well on an Austin Powers soundtrack, and G. Love and Special Sauce’s “Booty Call” fits the film’s theme perfectly. Grant Lee Phillips does for the Cure’s “Boys Don’t Cry” what Counting Crows did for the Psychedelic Furs’ “The Ghost In You,” while Dyke & The Blazers’ late-‘60s jam “Let a Woman Be a Woman (And a Man Be a Man)” proves to be a breath of fresh funk. Visions of backwards worn clothing are sure to surface after revisiting Kris Kross’ “Jump.”