AMERICAN television is increasingly proving to be a useful source of great compilation albums.

Grey’s Anatomy, Scrubs and The OC have all provided bands from the US and UK with tremendous platforms upon which to launch deservedly successful careers… and so too does Californication.

Admittedly, the songs inhabiting this particular compilation (a mighty 20 of them!) veer towards the more classic American rock in focus. Hence, the album kicks off with Rolling Stones’ somewhat seminal You Can’t Always Get What You Want, and further includes Bob Dylan’s If You See Her, Say Hello, a Paul Oakenfold remix of The Doors’ LA Woman and Elton John’s High Flying Bird (from a period when he was still good).

Even the new bands cover old tracks – with My Morning Jacket’s take on Rocket Man a brilliantly melancholic revisit, and Gus Black just about doing justice to Paranoid.

But then given the focus of the show, David Duchovny’s ladies man Hank, it’s little wonder that the songs are tailored towards his retro tastes. Hank is, after all, a man who values tradition. And his musical tastes very much reflect his outlook on life.

And yet Hank is cool in his own kind of way, too, so it’s little wonder that the song choices reflect that cool. Temptation therefore makes an excellent compilation choice for dinner party music, with its astute mix of old and new – fun, moody, frivolous, classic… it’s all there.

Of the new stuff, Mexican Institute of Sound’s Girl Like You and The Heavy’s That Kind of Man bring on the funk, while Tyler Bates and Tree Adams’ Hanks Theme is a brilliantly carefree piece of music that’s totally in keeping with the shambolic, yet fun way that Hank leads his life.

So, if you’ve seen and marvelled at Californication, or have yet to be seduced by its charms, Temptation remains a damn fine collection of songs to have in your record collection.

Download picks: You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Mojo, LA Woman, Girl Like You, High Flying Bird, Hank’s Theme, That Kind of Man

Track listing:

1. You Can’t Always Get What You Want – The Rolling Stones
2. Mojo – Peeping Tom
3. Rocket Man – My Morning Jacket
4. L.A. Woman [Paul Oakenfold Remix] – The Doors, Paul Oakenfold
5. Light of Day – Tommy Stinson
6. If You See Her, Say Hello – Bob Dylan
7. Little Round Mirrors – Harvey Danger
8. Don’t Let Us Get Sick – Madeleine Rose Martin
9. Paranoid – Gus Black
10. Girl Like You – Mexican Institute of Sound
11. Mohammed’s Radio – Warren Zevon
12. Surrender – Madeleine Rose Martin
13. That Kind of Man – The Heavy
14. Keep On – Champion
15. Reconsider Me – Steve Earle
16. Only Women Bleed – Madeleine Rose Martin
17. High Flying Bird – Elton John
18. You Can’t Always Get What You Want – Tommy Stinson & Friends for Done to Death
19. Hank’s Theme – Tree Adams, Tyler Bates
20. Main Title Theme [From Californication] – Tree Adams, Tyler Bates

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