Various Artists Songs From Mulan

Given their spectacularly successful track record, it would be easy to accuse Disney-Pixar of working from a musical formula for this animated, anthropomorphic nod to America's love affair with the automobile. In fact, expected road-themed pop chestnuts like "Route 66" (in covers by Chuck Berry and John Mayer) and The Chords' pioneering "Sh-boom" take a back seat to more contemporary pop-rockers like Sheryl Crow's muscular "Real Gone" and Rascal Flatt's twang-savvy take on Tom Cochrane's "Life is a Highway." Even Randy Newman's underscore is anything but formulaic, expanding the bright orchestral Americana of his Toy Story and Monsters Inc. work to include unlikely dollops of screaming metal guitar and savory blues, touches that evoke both the film's Dixie stock car circuit setting and the musician's own half-Southern roots. In another break with the past Newman hands off the gorgeous, reflective ballad "Our Town" to veteran James Taylor, whose expressive, melancholy voice ably lifts the song — and Randy's Oscar-nod odds with it.