AMG Review of Parenthood [Original Television Soundtrack]

James Christopher Monger
All Music Guide

The soundtrack for the first season of the NBC television comedy/drama Parenthood (based on the 1989 Ron Howard film of the same name) starts appropriately with Bob Dylan's “Forever Young” from 1974’s Planet Waves (not the remix from the 2009 Pepsi commercial featuring will.i.am). The collection leans heavily on stalwart adult alternative rock acts like the Avett Brothers (“Kick Drum Heart”), the Swell Season (“In These Arms”), and Wilco (“Solitaire”), as well as contributions from contemporary singer/songwriter/neo-soul artists such as Ray LaMontagne (“Let It Be Me”) and Corinne Bailey Rae (“Put Your Records On”), resulting in a solid, Starbucks-friendly collection of Sunday afternoon reveries that neither challenges nor disappoints.