The X-Files: The Album
Soundtrack album by various artists
Released	June 2, 1998
Length	67:30
Label	Elektra
The X-Files chronology
The X-Files: Original Motion Picture Score (1998) The X-Files: The Album (1998) The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008)
Singles from The X-Files: The Album
"The X-Files Theme" Released: June 8, 1998 (Japan) "Walking After You" Released: August 17, 1998 "One" Released: October 25, 1998 (Japan)

The X-Files: The Album is a 1998soundtrack album released to accompany the filmThe X-Files. Released on June 2, 1998, the album features songs by various artists, including several who had contributed to the earlier albumSongs in the Key of X: Music from and Inspired by the X-Files, and consists mostly ofcover versions or reworkings of earlier material.

The X-Files: The Album received mostly positive criticism upon its release, and charted in several countries worldwide, recording a peak position of number 5 inNew Zealand.

AlthoughThe X-Files: The Album is the soundtrack to the 1998 filmThe X-Files, only one of the album's songs—"Crystal Ship" byX—is actually heard during the film, briefly playing on a jukebox during a brief scene,^[1] while "Teotihuacan" byNoel Gallagher and "Walking After You" byFoo Fighters play over the ending credits. Gallagher, along withIan Brown, later reworked his track as "Keep What Ya Got", for Brown's albumSolarized.

The album's producer,David Was, intended to match the film's tone rather than using the songs as content, leading to several of the artists involved contributing material which would seem "uncharacteristically eerie" compared to their usual work.^[1]

Many of the songs onThe X-Files: The Album arecover versions or reworkings of earlier material—singerSting collaborated with the groupAswad to perform a reggae cover of "Invisible Sun", which he had earlier recorded withThe Police;Filter's "One" is a rearrangement of a song made famous byThree Dog Night; whileFoo Fighters contributed a new version of their song "Walking After You".^[2][3] All but one of the album's tracks are exclusive to the soundtrack, withBjörk's "Hunter" having been previously released on the 1997 albumHomogenic.^[4] Several of the artists on the album's roster—Foo Fighters, Filter andSoul Coughing—had previously contributed material toSongs in the Key of X: Music from and Inspired by the X-Files, the soundtrack album which accompanied the television series; however,Chris Carter, creator ofThe X-Files, stated before the album's release that although "there are some similarities" between the records, "there are different artists and a different flavor".^[5]

The inclusion of a track by the groupWeen was spurred by fact thatThe X-Files starDavid Duchovny had first met then-wifeTéa Leoni through their mutual appreciation for the group;^[5] whilethe Cardigans were approached about contributing material after Carter saw them performing on a tour of the United States.^[6] The Filter cover of "One" was deliberately constructed by Was once he realized that Duchovny had ad-libbed the song's opening line during one of the film's scenes.^[1] The album's final track—a cover byDust Brothers ofMark Snow'sopening theme for thetelevision series—features ahidden track which plays after a period of silence. The track features a spoken word segment by Carter which explains the series'overarching mythology up to the film's release.^[2]

The X-Files: The Album featured music byBjörk(left) andSting(right).

The X-Files: The Album was first released on June 2, 1998, with international releases occurring between July and October that same year.^[7] The soundtrack appeared in several charts upon its release, reaching a peak position of 26 in the United States'Billboard 200 albums chart,^[4] 21 in Austria'sÖ3 Austria Top 40, 27 in Australia'sARIA Charts, and 5—its highest chart position—in theOfficial New Zealand Music Chart.^[8]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Chicago Sun-Times	[9]
Entertainment Weekly	B−[3]

The X-Files: The Album has received generally positive reviews.AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine awarded the soundtrack four stars out of five, calling it "the best alt-rock soundtrack of the summer of 1998".^[4] Erlewine felt that the album was more polished and well-produced thanSongs in the Key of X; however, he noted that this came at the expense of the earlier record's "quirky" and "off-kilter" aesthetic. Erlewine singled out "Beacon Light" and "Hunter" as particular highlights of the album.^[4] Jim Rogatis of theChicago Sun-Times rated the album one-and-a-half stars out of four, finding the album to be predictable and "phone[d] in"; he highlighted the songs by Filter, Foo Fighters, Björk and Ween to be particular low points for him.^[9]

Writing forEntertainment Weekly, David Browne rated the album a B−, finding that it "isn’t eccentric enough" compared to the film or series. Browne found that the contributions by Noel Gallagher and Ween matched the tone ofThe X-Files, but felt that Tonic, Filter, Sting and Aswad had been included out of commercial rather than artistic interest.^[3] Keith Phipps ofThe A.V. Club considered the soundtrack to be less interesting thanthe accompanying film score, finding the album's roster to be formulaic and several of its tracks to not be particularly "revelatory" or "radical".^[2]

Notes

• The X-Files music
• 1998 soundtrack albums
• Elektra Records soundtracks
• Science fiction film soundtracks
• Action film soundtracks
• Thriller film soundtracks

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