Monday, September 18, 2006

My crew, and by crew I mean my blog friends, are always putting notes up about albums they are looking to buy, or are excited about, or that are the best in the year, etc. I always feel a little left out, because I don't listen to a lot of current music, but I seem to hang around most with people who do.
Today, though, I'm excited about an album; it's not new, but it got me kind of geeked. It happened like this:
I'd never seen the entirety of Kill Bill, either vol 1 or 2. It was a lot like Pulp Fiction. It's not the type of movie I really go for much. I can appreciate why others would, but I myself would need to be in a special sort of reflective mood in order to watch. With Pulp Fiction, I made a sassy drink and got down to it. I haven't seen the whole thing since, just bits and pieces on TV, and I don't mind. The experience was encapsulated into that mildly tipsy sort of "aha. I see" mood.
This weekend, though, TNT was going to show the Kill Bill films, and I thought I'd give them a go. Friday was vol. 1 and Saturday was vol. 2; I finished my essay quota each night and sat down to it.
Well, vol. 1 starts with Nancy Sinatra singing "Bang Bang." Even if you know me pretty well, you probably do not know that I heart Nancy Sinatra. Also, I love that song. I resolved immediately (so immediately that I got up to write it down on my grocery list) to get that song in whatever manner possible. On Saturday, I traipsed my behind into Finders, looked the song up, and found the Kill Bill vol. 1 soundtrack on CD. I decided against vol. 2, since I had not yet seen the movie, but as soon as I got back in my car I put my new CD on and listened to "Bang Bang" at least six times. I didn't actually listen to the rest until quite a bit later that evening, and this is what I think of it: It rocks.
The only song I didn't care for much is the rap that follows O-Ren's speech. I might warm up to it, but the beginning, where the speaker is just sort of doing a "this is your life" sort of thing is dull, especially following the included scene after O-Ren slices Tanaka's head off. The difference is jarring in a bad way.
The remainder of the songs are exciting, and are very excellent traveling music. It's a good soundtrack because it evokes the mood of the movie very well. It has that special referential quality but also stands by itself. I love it, and it shall travel with me from car to workroom henceforth.
So take that, music flaunters.
Oh, and the films? Entertaining...more so than Pulp Fiction for me, actually. Not something I'd watch a lot, but worth a rental now and then.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Oh right on, Abs! Tarantino soundtracks rock on the whole, and now that you have Kill Bill v1, I'd very much love it if you let me get my grubby mitts on it. I'll offer Jackie Brown in exchange.

The Sinatra song is so clutch. Totally sets the tone for the movie, and a damn good song in its own right. It's pretty terrific that you heart Nancy.

The RZA is my third favorite member of the Wu-Tang clan; he's their primary producer, and dude knows his way around a beat. If you're at all interested in his movie scores, I highly recommend Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai, if you haven't seen it already. Jim Jarmusch, and good.