As ever with soundtracks, I bought this because the music appealed to me. I know nothing about the TV series, though the pictures in the booklet illustrate women that seem extremely happy with life and appear to be anything but desperate. One thing to note, for those to whom it matters, is that the title includes the phrase telling you that only some of the music actually featured in the TV series - from and inspired by. Seven of the tracks here are actually brief spoken comments by Mary Alice, Edie, Lynette, Bree, Gabrielle, Susan and Mary Alice again. Fans of the series may be interested in these, but I'll focus on the songs.
Many but not of the songs are covers of famous songs. The singers are a mix of pop, rock and contemporary country, but the end result is very satisfying. The first song here is God bless the American housewife, a very appropriate song for a soundtrack about housewives, performed by SheDaisy. As the album progresses, it is very clear that most, if not all, of the songs fit the housewife / mother theme, even where it isn`t immediately obvious from the title. So you'll hear covers of Band of gold (about a deserted housewife), Mother's little helper (about a mother dependant on drugs), Mrs Robinson (the classic Simon and Garfunkel song, here performed by the Indigo Girls), Harper Valley PTA (about a mother defending herself against criticism), One's on the way (about a pregnant mother), Young hearts run free (about a housewife wishing she could be young and free) and Dreams of the everyday housewife.
Nobody who knows my preferences will be surprised to learn that my favorite tracks are those by Martina McBride (Harper valley PTA, originally recorded by Jeannie CD Riley) and Sara Evans (One`s on the way, originally recorded by Loretta Lynn). At around the time that Martina recorded Harper Valley PTA, she also recorded a whole covers album of old country songs, Timeless. It may even be that Harper Valley PTA was originally intended for that album as it was recorded in a similar style to the tracks that made it to that album, but you won't find it there, not even on the UK edition that includes four bonus tracks. (If you've heard that album, you'll know exactly what to expect here.) Of the others, I particularly enjoy Shania Twain's original song, Shoes, and the covers by Liz Phair (Mother's little helper, originally recorded by the Rolling Stones) and Gloria Estefan (Young hearts run free, originally recorded by Candi Staton). The album closes with the theme song for Desperate housewives, sung by Danny Elfman, the only male vocalist here.
I only came across this soundtrack by accident, but I'm glad I did. The music here is somewhat eclectic and your favorites are likely to depend on your own personal tastes, but there's a lot of great music here.