The soundtrack album to the Canadian-produced Cartoon Network series Atomic Betty is a mixture of both versions of Josie and the Pussycats, the original '70s bubblegum and the
Kay Hanley-led punk-pop of the underrated 2001 film remake. Although these songs have flashes of the giddy energy of modern-day power pop, particularly on the genuinely catchy theme song, they're as bland and watered down as the sort of inoffensive bubblegum that's been the mainstay of similar cartoons since the days of Scooby-Doo. The one thing the album has going for it, besides some snazzy graphics in the show's appealing retro-futuristic style, is voice actress Tajja Isen's lead vocals as Atomic Betty herself. Only 13 when the album was recorded, Isen has a real teenager's voice (in much the same way the similarly young
Lesley Gore did in the early '60s) that puts across the songs in a more believably wide-eyed way than an adult actress mimicking an adolescent's voice could ever manage. (Go back and listen to future
Luna bassist
Britta Philips' records as '80s cartoon rock star Jem for an example of how wrong that sort of thing can go.) Although it will be a guilty pleasure at best for anyone over the age of 14,
Atomic Betty is still considerably more entertaining than a lot of other pop music aimed at the tween market, and the parents of these kids can take heart in the fact that it's not much of a leap from this to, say,
the Apples in Stereo. ~ Stewart Mason