At Least Music in ‘Rushmore’ Is Easy to Like

It’s not surprising that this soundtrack from director Wes Anderson’s dark, inventive comedy is making a belated entry onto the national Top 200 pop chart, almost a month after its release.

Most viewers probably spent so much time straining to find at least one likable character in the offbeat movie that it took a while to realize that the most sympathetic element in the film was the music itself--a weird but delightful mix of mostly ‘60s British pop-rock recordings by some major artists (John Lennon, the Kinks, the Who) and some decidedly minor ones (Chad & Jeremy, Unit 4+2).

Instead of easily recognizable songs, “Rushmore” concentrates on tracks that, when placed around Mark Mothersbaugh’s score, establish just the right emotional tone of innocence and yearning.

On its own, Chad & Jeremy’s “A Summer Song” might sound too lightweight: “Soft kisses / On a summer’s day / Laughing all our cares away.” Similarly, Unit 4+2’s “Concrete & Clay” is also unflinchingly upbeat.

But the fact that someone as demanding as Lennon can come up with music equally optimistic--”Oh Yoko”--enables us to succumb to the album’s sweetness and fall under its spell.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four stars (excellent).

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* Excerpts from these and other recent releases are available on The Times’ World Wide Web site. Point your browser to: https://www.latimes.com/soundclips