'(500) Days of Summer' has the best soundtrack I've heard in a long time

I love soundtracks, always have. Purple Rain, The Graduate, Electric Horseman. In fact just last night, I played both Vision Quest and Butch Cassidy on vinyl for my daughters (and no, they did not run sobbing). Unfortunately, my desk these days is littered with crap 'tracks from, say, Transformers 2, crass marketing ploys featuring loud Nickelbacky sludge that has little to do with the flick. 

That's why the soundtrack for romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer -- which hits theaters July 17 -- is so good, so refreshing. I have no idea if the movie works (although you gotta admit, that trailer is brilliant). But I can say for certain that the accompanying album is a smartly, bittersweetly nuanced mixtape featuring old weepers (Simon & Garfunkel, the Smiths, Hall & Oates) and new jobs (Regina Spektor, Doves, Wolfmother). All the cuts you hear in the trailer are also on the album, available July 14. 

By the way, for fans of our Stuck in the '80s podcast, (500) Days of Summer might as well be called The Steve Spears Story. Proceed with caution, my sobby brethren.

Fowl Play: Best of the Bird Bands!

With supergroup Chickenfoot squawking up a storm, our hungry minds developed a taste for other poultry-inspired bands. Here’s our controversial cluckdown, from Chicks to Eagles...to Wings.

10) The Partridge Family I think I love you, Shirley Jones.

9) The Ravyns Charm City rockers “raised on the radio.”

8) A Flock of Seagulls Definitive band — and ’do — of the ’80s.

7) The Black Crowes Robinson bros think they should be higher.

6) The Yardbirds Clapton, Beck and Page — ’nuff said.

5) Dixie Chicks Liked ’em better killing Earl than drilling Bush.

4) Counting Crows Definitive band — and dreads — of the ’90s.

3) The Byrds Jingle-jangle Dylan thieves still sound great.

2) The Eagles Definitive band — and Don Henley gigantic ’fro — of the ’70s.

1) Wings Paul’s post-Beatles bird calling is criminally underrated. “Well, the rain exploded with a mighty crash as we fell into the sun.” Total bliss.

Others that just miss the cut: The Orioles, Eagles of Death Metal, the Jawhawks, the O'Jays, the Housemartins