By By Billy Florio

Anyone who’s seen a Cameron Crowe movie knows music is important to him. Some of his most memorable scenes are based around music: the boom-box over John Cusak’s head blasting “In Your Eyes” in Say Anything…, or the “Tiny Dancer” sing-a-long bus ride in Almost Famous. His music-drenched movies reflect his early career as a rock critic with Lester Bangs’ Creem Magazine and Rolling Stone in the ’70s. For someone who worked with the always-interesting, blast-the-music-if-it’s-boring Bangs, one would think Crowe could never compile a collection of dull music.

Unfortunately, the soundtrack of his new movie Elizabethtown is just that-boring.

It’s odd that a soundtrack that has so many talented artists (Tom Petty, Nancy Wilson, My Morning Jacket), could be ridiculously dreary. If it weren’t for the sprinkling of some amazing music in between the boredom, it would be hard to get through the album without falling asleep.

The first song on the album is a nice, short instrumental from Crowe’s wife and the guitarist of Heart, Nancy Wilson. The only reason why “60B” works is because of its length-something that doesn’t benefit Joni Mitchell sound-a-like Patty Griffin with her “Long Ride Home.”

There are two Tom Petty songs on the soundtrack-both equally lackluster and unneeded. “Shut Us Down” by Lindsey Buckingham would be pretty good if taken alone, but placing it after a barrage of slow and tedious songs like Wheat’s “Don’t I Hold You” and Jeff Finlin’s “Sugar Blue” completely strips the song of its uniqueness.

The only songs that pick Elizabethtown up are four that have already earned their rock respect: Elton John’s “My Father’s Gun” (from his classic Tumbleweed Connection), Ryan Adams’ “Come Pick Me Up” (from solo debut Heartbreaker), The Hollies cover of Judee Sill’s “Jesus Was A Cross Maker” and The Hombres amazing ’60s anthem “Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out).”

That just goes to show that Crowe succeeds when he sticks with the principles Lester Bangs taught him-if the music is boring, don’t bother with it.

Maybe if he following this advice, this soundtrack would sound more like classic Crowe and less like the playlist from some adult alternative radio station.