Kill Bill: Volume 1

Fashion be damned: Pop culture is just one big Hometown Buffet for writer-director Quentin Tarantino. Nowhere has that sensibility been more apparent than on his hand-picked soundtrack choices, and this oft tongue-in-cheek tale of a female assassin's revenge (his first film in six years) is no exception. With dizzy, almost palpable glee, Tarantino evokes the international hall-of-mirrors influences that energize martial arts films and much of Asian pop culture in general. Thus the hip-hop of Wu Tang's RZA (who, along with composer Charles Bernstein, concocts what passes for the score's traditional cues) somehow finds itself but one ingredient in a heady souffle that includes vintage TV and film cue rarities (Al Hirt's main title from The Green Hornet, Bernard Herrmann's haunting theme from Twisted Nerve, the spaghetti western melodrama of Luis Bacalov's "The Grand Duel," Isaac Hayes in full blaxploitation mode on "Run Fay Run"), Charlie Feathers' vintage rockabilly and a pan-kitsch sensibility that encompasses Zamfir, Nancy Sinatra's angst-in-the-pants take "Bang, Bang" and Santa Esmeralda's disco-era workout of "Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood." Tarantino's contemporary Japan-Pop selections are no less giddy, ranging from Meiko Kaji's sultry "Flower of Carnage" to The 5.6.7.8's loopy "Woo Hoo." It's everything we've come to expect from a Tarantino score (including dialog excerpts and a few sound fx stingers), with a madcap trip around the pop music world thrown in for good measure. -- Jerry McCulley Amazon.com

Love it!

This soundtrack is everything I hoped it to be. If you love Kill Bill, you have to own the soundtrack as well. November 16, 2008

Marketed chic

3 1/2

Even if this is perhaps the most diverse ranging soundtrack put together from a Tarantino film yet, there is simply too much effort going into track selections, feeling less inspired and more calculated then previous compilations despite length and worldliness working in favor of the theme. October 9, 2008

almost perfect

Tarantino always knows how to put a great soundtrack together for his movies and this one is no exception. He consistently introduces the listener to great music that they may have not heard otherwise. Although extremely ecclectic, just about every song seems to compliment each other instead of clashing. The only downside of this particular collection is the out-of-place contribution by The RZA with his silly "Ode to Oren Ishii." If it wasn't for this single track, then the CD would deserve 5 stars. August 28, 2008

Where's that song?

I enjoyed this soundtrack, except for the fact that it was missing the music played in the scene from the movie just before The Bride cuts off the arm of Sophie Fatal. Other than that, pretty cool. June 1, 2008

ends up in your disc player longer than you expect

ends up in your disc player longer than you expect. hard to go w/out singing along to it, or talking w/the dialogue. in particular it's a good buy if you like the movie. February 20, 2008

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