Gathering songs and dialogue excerpts from all three seasons of MTV's reality teen soap opera, Laguna Beach: Summer Can Last Forever captures the show's drama queen highs and lows. The way sunny, easygoing songs like Soulkid #1's "More Bounce in California,"
Ginger Sling's "Out of My Head," and
Sugarcult's "Bouncing Off the Walls" segue into
Dashboard Confessional's "Rooftops and Invitations,"
Alissa Moreno's "Next Time," and other angst-ridden ballads reflects how, in the artfully edited reality of the show, the Laguna kids go from frothy shopping and sunbathing to tearful fights and breakups, seemingly in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile, anthemic tracks such as
Angels & Airwaves' "The Adventure" and Atherton's "California" try to give some widescreen atmosphere to the decidedly small-screen antics of rich kids dating and hating each other. Laguna Beach's soundtrack isn't bad, but it is a little bland and unexciting on its own, especially in comparison to the wonderfully bitchy empty TV calories that the show delivers. [Interscope's 2006 edition featured one bonus track.] ~ Heather Phares