Pulp Fiction [MCA Collectors Edition]by Anonymous
Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings
August 31, 2003:
I almost choked on my bagel when i heard Pulp Fiction had a revamped soundtrack coming out, and now i finally have it!! The original had missing songs in it, and now they hav been rediscovered. Ilove it, and yoiu will to, when you hear rthis compilation of classic surf music combined with the juicily humorous ambience the film clips give.
Pulp Fiction [MCA Collectors Edition]by Anonymous
Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings
August 31, 2002:
"Pulp Fiction" wasn?t the first movie whose mood grew from the pop songs that became its soundtrack. E.g., "American Graffiti" found motivation in popular music much earlier, providing a huge boost to ?50s music nostalgia. "Pulp Fiction" helped fuel a popular resurgence of surf music, but more importantly, it was the film whose director spent a great deal of time discussing his music-inspired methodology. At the time of the film?s release, Quentin Tarantino consumed numerous interview inches discoursing on his technique for drawing a film from his record collection. For those who didn?t hear or read Tarantino?s explanation the first time around, MCA?s "Collector?s Edition" soundtrack (issued to accompany the film?s DVD reissue) adds a 16-minute "interview" (actually, a non-stop monolog), as well as four tracks left off the original CD. The extra songs are terrific, but expanding to two discs solely to accommodate the 1994 interview (disc one contains the music, disc two the interview) positions this more for Tarantino groupies than anyone else. Those interested enough to sit through Tarantino?s self-aggrandizing film-geek commentary (at least, more than once) will have already heard what he has to say. Those who just want to relive the film, and enjoy the music, are saddled with an extra disc at added cost. To be fair, the price increase also covers royalties for the four additional track, but the addition of an entire disc to convey an eight-year-old 16 minute Jolt-fueled ramble seems like a vanity project. The four additional tracks (The Robins? "Since I First Met You," Link Wray?s "Rumble," Brothers Johnson?s "Strawberry Letter #23," and The Marketts? "Out of Limits") have been added to the end of the standard-issue track list. This "Collectors Edition" features the same running order as the original, with the same dialog clips (with the same lack of banding on several, making it difficult to program them out, should you tire of them). Given Tarantino?s method, the soundtrack necessarily captures the mood of the film very well. From the rush of Dick Dale?s opening "Misirlou" through Urge Overkill?s cover of Neil Diamond?s "Girl, You?ll Be a Woman Now" and the Statler Brother?s "Flowers on the Wall," this is equal parts film soundtrack and Quentin Tarantino mix-tape. What?s odd is that the song order doesn?t seem to match the movie. Perhaps as a mix-tape the album?s producers felt the film?s song order didn?t hold up. This is a shame, since it reduces the listener?s experience of the album as a film soundtrack (though, of course, a programmable CD player quickly solves the problem). Original soundtrack (4 stars) - interview disc (1/2 star) bonus tracks (1/2 star) = 4 stars.