Strange Weirdos: Music From And Inspired By The Film Knocked Up

*40 Year Old Virgin* director Judd Apatow asked Loudon Wainwright to write a few songs for the soundtrack to his follow-up film *Knocked Up*. Wainwright obliged with this collection, a collaboration with album co-producer Joe Henry that’s pretty much Wainwright working as usual. Comic and sad, smart-assed and sincere, Wainwright can turn on a single line. He even tries shutting his mouth for the instrumentals. The pedal-steel led “Naomi,” in particular, purrs with affection. Wainwright attacks Peter Blegvad’s “Daughter” with the verve and cheek of one of his own and interpolates cabaret for “Final Frontier,” soft-show for Mose Allison’s ”Feel So Good” and ragtime for “So Much to Do.” But while Wainwright has no trouble skipping from genre to genre, he’s still at his most affecting when he sings it straight, as he does for the heart to heart intensity of “Lullaby.” And a mid-life crisis anthem such as the bluesy “Doin’ the Math” is pure vintage Wainwright as well.