Movie soundtracks are, for the most part, a quickly thrown together batch of music which tends to follow one certain style which may or may not mesh together well. Look at the Matrix soundtrack and it's dependance on nu metal and techno. Or 8 Mile for it's obvious leanings toward rap.
Then, thankfully, there are soundtracks like Kill Bill. Somehow this cd manages to blend instrumental and vocal music that ranges from Japanese to Western in sound in a well blended cd that goes from one song to the next without a hitch. Well. Almost.
The cd starts off with the opening song, "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" by Nancy Sinatra. It's a light-sounding song and, with lyrcs like "Bang bang, he shot me down, bang bang I hit the ground, bang bang that awful sound" it proves for a very ironic trip.
From there we get catapulted into a cultural trip that doesn't let go until track 15, which is actually a spoken sounclip from the movie. Unfortunately, that signals the only downfall of this cd. Starting with track 16 and ending with track 22 we only have short clips of songs. The seven tracks together barely break two minutes, which is a blessing and a curse. A blessing because we haven't wasted too much time on the clips, and a curse because it has done nothing but wet our desire to hear the full thing.
Now, in the movie there were several songs performed by The 5.6.7.8's, however only one of those made it to the soundtrack. Sadly, it was also my least favorite one that they chose. But that's life.
Despite my complaints, the album is very solid from the first song through track fifteen. The flow is admirable and the styles chosen fit the mood of the movie well. Pick this up if you enjoyed how the music interacted with the movie. Or if you just want an interesting musical journey.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
i felt the same way about the Pulp Fiction soundtrack...nothing earthshattering, but still a blast because it brought you right back in to the middle of the movie
2 - Trent
Nice post.
If you want to hear a REAL interesting musical journey, check out Kill Bill, Vol. 1 (The Original Score) by the RZA. It's available as a Japanese import -- cost: $38-45. (Ouch!)
Some bits and pieces of the score are on the Kill Bill soundtrack.
3 - Particleman
Another great soundtrack that crosses genres is Snatch. You get everything from a Hava Nagila to Massive Attack.
4 - Nick
Question for Trent:
How can one get a hold of the original import score by the RZA?
5 - Eric Olsen
P-man great call on Snatch - wildly eclectic but it somehow hangs together well, and I love the truly weird "snatches" of dialogue, especially the Brad Pitt stuff. In fact I sampled it for a song, but don't tell anyone.