Search - Various Artists :: Cardcaptors: Songs from the Hit TV Series

Before you make what may be the highly unpopular decision to ban Cardcaptors from your house--given that it's aimed unabashedly and sometimes cloyingly at the under-12 crowd--consider the upshot. These are 13 occasionally treacly tracks that, for all their fluffiness, provide temporary parental respite from protective patrol duty. What we have here are songs of friendship, loyalty, and inspiration: "Tell Me" tasks a best friend with baring all in the name of bonding; the swishy, Madonna-inspired "Just Around the Corner" reassures that friends are at the ready; the boy-band style ballad "I Can Make It" sets preteens to swooning with the refrain "With a friend like you / I know I can make it"; and "I Got Your Back," which waters down poppy R&B till it's still soggier, sets the foundation for a sense of solidarity with its promise that "I'm always going to be your best friend / Fighting side by side / To the very end." Eleven-year-old Francophiles will feel further appreciation for their beret-wearing brethren when they learn that the pulse-raising, arena-arousing "No Nagging" by Froggy Mix is a major French hit. Though grownups may be unable to separate Sakura from Sabrina the Teenage Witch or make sense of what it means to be the Guardian of the Cards, most make a point about guarding impressionable minds from media muck. Keeping records like this one within arm's reach drains the trickiness from the task. --Tammy La Gorce