True Blood (Music from the HBO Original Series, Vol. 2)

iTunes Review

The second series’ soundtrack continues to reflect the gripping shorelines of HBO’s True Blood series with a mostly mature music selection that you’d be hard pressed to find at Hot Topic. M. Ward, Jordan Hudson and Mike Coykendall open with “Howlin for My Baby,” a rockabilly/garage-folk hybrid boasting bass-fuzz and some of that warm vocal reverb found on old CCR recordings. Beck also delivers with “Bad Blood,” a tune recorded exclusively for the series that harks back to his early ‘90s flirtation with Delta blues. Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “Frenzy” and the 13th Floor Elevators’ “You’re Gonna Miss Me” both sound great here — peppering the playlist with vintage recordings makes for a compilation with more depth. At the same time, it’s cool that they chose Robbie Robertson’s eerie “How to Become Clairvoyant” rather than one of his older tunes from his tenure with the Band. By adding flourishes of electronica to an Americana structure, Chuck Prophet may have invented Americanica with “You Did (Bomp Shooby Dooby Bomp).” Out of the four bonus cuts, Jakob Dylan’s rootsy “Ain’t No Invisible Man” fits here best.