Songs in the Key of X

April 4 - 11, 1 9 9 6

**1/2 Various Artists

SONGS IN THE KEY OF X: MUSIC FROM AND INSPIRED BY THE X-FILES

(Warner Bros)

Fox Mulder and Dana Sculley were already practically household names by the time The X-Files produced its coolest episode: a murder mystery in a trailer park for aging circus freaks, with none other than Jim Rose and his sideshow sidekick, the Enigma, as guest stars. It was the episode where a deformed Siamese twin detached itself and murdered a carny in his basement while Screamin' Jay Hawkins's hobgoblin rockabilly shout "Frenzy" played in the background -- one of the most surreal sequences to appear on TV since Twin Peaks.

Moments like this have earned The X-Files its hip credibility -- not to mention Nick Cave's stately gothic "Red Right Hand" oozing spookily as alien-abductee Duane Barry stuffed agent Sculley in his trunk, or Danzig's metal-laced S&M track "Deep" blaring in a diner as two teenage witches burst into the joint. But Songs in the Key of X is just a cute tie-in with the lure of a few wacky collaborations that don't add up to much (save for an R.E.M.-backed William S. Burroughs crooning "Fuck me kitten," which is truly frightening). It's a given that Frank Black would be here (though his "Men in Black" would've been more appropriate than the included "Man of Steel"). And you sorta knew Dave Grohl -- who did a walk-on -- and the Foo Fighters wouldn't be able to resist. But if the truth is really out there, it's got nothing to do with Sheryl Crow or Filter.

-- Carly Carioli