MobTunes

The Sopranos is not only the finest show on the tube; the modern saga of New Jersey mafiosi boasts some of the coolest music ever transmitted via the boob tube. This inaugural Sopranos soundtrack album collects 14 first-rate tracks heard on the program, and the result is unusually cohesive for a compilation album. The leadoff cut by England's idiosyncratic roots-funk-electronica band {|A3|}, "Woke Up This Morning (Chosen One Mix)" -- otherwise known as the intoxicating theme song of The Sopranos -- sets the tone for the rest of the album. It's an undulating, ominous combo of synthetic blues and gospel, underlaid with a menacing bass line and topped by the Reverend D. Wayne Love's equally menacing vocals. What follows is satisfyingly varied but still of a piece -- and in the spirit of the show as well -- the emphasis being tough, stark, blues-edged material. Septuagenarian Delta bluesman {|R. L. Burnside|} turns in a spooky, harmonica-laced, highly atmospheric "It's Bad You Know," propelled by the seductively off-kilter sound of tropical gourd percussion. Bruce Springsteen's grimly compelling "State Trooper," from his album {|Nebraska|}, sounds great here, as does Wyclef Jean's "Blood Is Thicker Than Water," entwined as it is with ironic snippets of Sly Stone's "Family Affair." Springsteen guitarist Little Steven (Steve Van Zandt, who has a role in The Sopranos as a loyal Mob lieutenant) and his Disciples of Soul check in with "Inside of Me." Also on hand are Los Lobos, Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, Bob Dylan, the Eurythmics (with a sad, gorgeous "I've Tried Everything"), some muscular oldies (Cream's "I Feel Free" and "Mystic Eyes" by Them featuring Van Morrison), and, of course, Francis Albert Sinatra, whose masterpiece of nostalgia, "It Was a Very Good Year," ushers in season two of The Sopranos. All that's missing is the sinuous, hipster-cool "Buena" from the late, lamented {|Morphine|} -- the next soundtrack album, maybe?