The Faculty has a pretty uninspired plot, with the typical space-alien-take-over plot.  The soundtrack is equally uninspired, with the typical established-bands-doing-covers, and there is, in fact, a true lack of 100% original material on this soundtrack: out of the 13 tracks, 5 are cover songs, and 3 are previously released songs.  But just because something is mostly unoriginal doesn't mean its bad.

    The highlight of this album is, of course, the cover of the Pink Floyd classic "Another Brick In The Wall (part II)".  The all-star "Class Of '99", made up of Layne Staley (Alice In Chains), Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine), Martyn Le Noble, Stephen Jenkins (Third Eye Blind), and Matt Serletic, indeed do the song a great justice; not surprising, since this was the first "officially approved" Pink Floyd cover.  Staley's vocals combine with Morello's guitar to create an environment that is genuinely creepy.  As an added bonus, for those who aren't a fan of Staley (like me), an instrumental of the track is also included.

   There are two classic Alice Cooper covers, one of "School's Out", and one of "I'm Eighteen".  The cover of "School's Out" is definitely the better of the two.  Soul Asylum puts in a lot of energy, and manages to attain a hard sound, keeping true to the original; unfortunately, Creed's cover of "I'm Eighteen" loses some of the energy in the transition; it's a spot-on cover, but comparing it to the original I felt something was missing.  The final cover appearing on this CD is of David Bowie's "Changes", by Shawn Mullins.  It's a nice updated version (if I didn't know it was a cover I'd love it even more I'm sure), but Bowie is one of those "untouchable" artists.

   There isn't much to say about the already-released songs ("Medication", "Haunting Me", and "The Kids Aren't Alright").  "Haunting Me" goes nicely with "Another Brick In The Wall (part II)" and is one of the "eerier" songs which set the mood for this album (and, presumably, the movie).

   The original songs are the best (other than Class of '99s "ABITW2") part of the album, although most of them are lighter than they "should be".  Neve and Flik present the staple rock anti-romantic ballad (the kind of song one listens to after being dumped).  Oasis and Sheryl Crow, while seeming out of place (the latter especially), add a nice alternative/contemporary flavor; but the fact that these songs don't fit with the "rebellious teen rock" is still hard to shake (this also goes for Mullin's/Bowie's "Changes").

   To sum it up, an incredibly average soundtrack (gasp! songs that actually fit with the movie!), but one that still gets a fair amount of play in my CD-player and on my harddrive.