( According to Kevin Abstract, the song has been completed for two years, but “Hollywood Swinging” makes you wonder if the group decided to disband midway through recording.) Removing the joy from songs about big city dreams is a recurring theme: St. Interspersing the song with rapped verses of their own original lyrics-“Came a real long way to make it here/Ain’t no thing you could do to change it here”-conveys a profound sense of exhaustion.

If Kool & the Gang’s “Hollywood Swinging” sold Los Angeles as a promised land full of “stars, movies, women, and cars,” Brockhampton’s rewrite of the 1974 classic makes the Sunset Strip seem like a boulevard of broken dreams. The two worst offenders are reason enough to avoid The Rise of Gru entirely. And then there’s the cover of “Instant Karma!” by Antonoff’s own band, Bleachers, which romanticizes his cosplay of John Lennon’s yelping vocals-as well as the saxophone as an instrument-at the expense of the track’s incisive commentary on ego. Both versions reject the original’s ominous stillness in favor of slinky horn flourishes and lackluster vocal performances that erase any sense of drama. For some reason, Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” is covered twice, once by Caroline Polachek and then again by the Hong Kong singer G.E.M. In spite of its stacked roster and hypothetically enjoyable concept, intriguing pairings are undermined by heavy-handed production choices. Gary Clark Jr.’s spin on the Ides of March’s “Vehicle” is another faithful rendition that never veers too far from the source material’s tenacious infatuation and souped-up horns. Thundercat’s rendition of the Steve Miller Band’s “Fly Like an Eagle” is the picture of space-funk heaven, while Brittany Howard conjures up soulful bliss on a version of Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Shining Star” that features original bassist Verdine White. Likewise, pairing Phoebe Bridgers with the Carpenters’ power ballad “Goodbye to Love” works well as her bittersweet delivery elevates the track’s inherent melancholy.

Weyes Blood’s take on Linda Ronstadt’s No. Like any decent soundtrack full of covers, The Rise of Gru has a few winners. Classic Minions stuff.) Antonoff’s soundtrack is a fever dream of a lineup featuring a handful of artists who were actually present in the ’70s, a wide survey of this generation’s rising artists who take influence from the era, and some truly out-of-left-field recruits whose presence only highlights the unmoored absurdity of the project. (A quick plot summary for those who have yet to suit up for a screening: In the 1970s, a pre-teen Gru gets revenge on a league of flamboyant villains by swiping their powerful stone, which one of the Minions-a scene-stealing newcomer named Otto-misplaces after mistaking it for a pet rock and falling in love. This is to say that there’s money in Minions-just ask Pharrell Williams, whose soundtrack for 2013’s Despicable Me 2 brought us the flashmob-irritant “ Happy.” Another Producer of the Year winner, Jack Antonoff, helms the soundtrack of the franchise’s latest installation, Minions: The Rise of Gru.

Minion songs but really