Howard Shore again masters the mood with this foray into the seamy underworld of William Burroughs. In this story about a place called Interzone, full of sinister centipedes and slimy "mugwumps," there is nothing better at giving listeners the creepy-crawlies than the depressing styles of what many could instantly identify as "beatnik" jazz. This is the music Burroughs and cronies like Allen Ginsberg cultivated to forge an anti-white-bread counterculture that was Ozzie and Harriet's worst nightmare. Shore re-creates this music as Ward Cleaver might have heard it way back when. To be even more authentic to the period, he collaborates with Ornette Coleman and also incorporates the Thelonious Monk composition "Misterioso." This soundtrack's best moments, however, occur when Shore drops the beat pose and just shines darkly. --Joseph Lanza