 Reviews for Songs in the Key of X were generally positive . Upon the album 's release , Entertainment Weekly 's David Browne rated it a B , calling it " easily the most ambitious record ever assembled for a TV soundtrack " . Browne felt that the contributions to the album by Sheryl Crow and William S. Burroughs were amongst its highlights , though felt that the compilation was " dragged down by ponderous contributions " from Nick Cave and Elvis Costello . AllMusic 's Steven McDonald was mostly positive towards the album , rating it three stars out of five and stating that " while not perfect , the album makes a nice alternative compilation " , noting that it shares the television series ' " blue @-@ light glow of twisted mystery " . McDonald felt that the Foo Fighters cover of Gary Numan 's " Down in the Park " and Elvis Costello 's " My Dark Life " , along with Mark Snow 's theme for the series , were the highlights of the compilation . Sandy Masuo , writing for the Los Angeles Times , rated the album three @-@ and @-@ a @-@ half stars out of four , finding that the compilation 's " unsettling ambience " suited the " deliciously creepy " atmosphere of the series . Masuo felt that the collaborations between R.E.M. and William S. Burroughs , and Elvis Costello and Brian Eno , ultimately turned out to be " more interesting in theory than in practice " ; although adding that " Down in the Park " was the best track present on the compilation , with the contributions of Rob Zombie , Alice Cooper and P.M. Dawn also noted as highlights . 
