Album of the week: 'Catching Fire' soundtrack

Artists on the soundtrack for Catching Fire (* * * out of four), the second installment in the Hunger Games film franchise, were tasked with crafting tunes that would pass muster with the project's sonic gatekeepers.

Hunger's music police managed to cull some Katniss catnip from the entries, while also letting a few clunkers slip in.

The bleak melodrama of Suzanne Collins' trilogy doesn't lend itself to rock stompers and rapturous EDM, so much of Fire's heat lies in smoldering embers and slow burners, from Christina Aguilera's huge ballad We Remain and The Weekend's lovely Devil May Care to Of Monster and Men's hopeful Silhouettes and Patti Smith's eloquent Capital Letter.

Ellie Goulding (Mirror) and Antony and the Johnsons (Angel on Fire) bring an icy vibe, melted by Sia's spirited Elastic Heart.

What doesn't catch fire? Imagine Dragons submits a cartoonish Who We Are, and Lorde stumbles on a strident cover of Tears for Fears' Everybody Wants to Rule the World.

Download: Gale Song (Lumineers), We Remain (Aguilera), Capital Letter (Smiths)