I was watching them on Amazon Prime, but found the episodes with the real music on the Internet thanks to some folks keeping some ancient "Collection" torrents alive...

I can't believe how much different the show is with the original music.. When about half the show is overlaid with such great tunes, The proper music fuels the nostalgia overload just as much as some of the subject matter. The alternative music tracks aren't all that bad, they're just not recognizable, so don't hit the same buttons as the originals.

Watching Prime/Netflix/DVD versions.. "Great story, nice background music..."
Watching Version w/ Original Music- "Great story, and foreground music that helps tell the story"

These "high school" characters were/are far more articulated/smarter than most of my college friends; IMHO, The fact that only a small portion of this love-story actually revolves around high school topics preserves the watch-ability of the show., even after 20 years. If it was really loaded with a bunch of high-school drama, it'd be a bit harder for this self-respecting 30something to watch.

The Joey-College kid w/ soulmate girlfriend arc was almost as ridiculous as the Eve storyline, but fortunately was over quickly and righted the course for the season.

Anyway, I just finished Season 3 and was sold on the Pacey-Joey idea pretty early on, there were a few gestures he made where the onions got me a little (renting the wall), but overall I enjoyed the season 3 finale. (It seems the Mitch-Gail wedding could have been its own episode instead of a half-assed cram-it-into-half-a-really-important episode though, especially since they spent half a season covering their divorce)

If I have any more feedback to share on the following seasons, I'll post to the appropriate topic instead of the music topic..

Cheers!