cdm72's Full Review: Pulp Fiction by Original Soundtrack
With the exception of Cameron Crowe, I don’t believe there’s a writer/director currently working in Hollywood who uses music to better effect in his movies than Quentin Tarantino. That was made glaringly obvious in 1994 with the release of his blockbuster PULP FICTION. As if the movie itself, with its stylish hitmen and flashy banter, weren’t enough to engage audiences and make them take note, Tarantino’s use of 1960s surf music as his score, with its frantic pace and rapid-fire guitar licks, definitely woke them up.
Dick Dale’s version of the classic “Misirlou” was just a taste of what this soundtrack had in store for listeners. Along with fellow surf tracks “Bustin’ Surfboards” (The Tornadoes), “Bullwinkle Pt II” (The Centurions), “Comanche” (The Revels), and “Surf Rider” (The Lively Ones), PULP FICTION is compilation of some of the best of the genre and would go on to revitalize the world’s interest in the form to the point we were using Dick Dale and his cohorts to sell everything from beer to SUVs.
But this soundtrack isn’t just guitars and ocean waves. In fact, the surf music is what I, personally, like least. For me it’s the rest of the tracks.
Kool & the Gang’s “Jungle Boogie” comes out of nowhere, rocking the joint with these killer drums, hard enough to knock a hole in your chest, and those horns! This is 1970s funk at its best. Add in Al Green’s #1 from 1972, “Let’s Stay Together”, and you’ve got a 1-2 knockout of classic gold from my favorite decade.
PULP FICTION is one of those soundtracks that is so wild and varied, you never know what you’re going to find, but one thing is certain--and appreciated--the entire album has a unique and distinctive classic feel. Of course, this is helped by the fact every song on here is from the 1960s and 70s, with the exception of Maria McKee’s “If Love is a Red Dress (Hand Me in Rags)”, so it helps.
After the funk and soul of the early 70s, Tarantino takes us back a decade with the very beautiful and melancholy “Lonesome Town” by Ricky Nelson, then one of the stars of the soundtrack (and the reason I bought it), Dusty Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man”. Rarely in any movie has a song been better placed than this one. Sometimes Tarantino’s instinct can truly be said to border genius. “Son of a Preacher Man” has always been a favorite song of mine, but for some reason, its use in PULP FICTION just shot it even further up my chart of faves. Whether the digital version just sounds so much better, or because of the theater speakers, I don’t know, but that was a movie-going moment that’s always going to stick with me, hearing that voice start soft and gentle before reaching the crescendo and belting this sucker out. Brilliant!
The 60s hang around for a bit longer with Chuck Berry’s pop-rock “You Never Can Tell” before we reach the albums only single, Urge Overkill’s cover of Neil Diamond’s 1967 tune “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon”. Surprisingly the song only reached #50 on the Billboard Top 100. I’d figured it was higher because the single was friggin’ everywhere that year!
While the Dusty Springfield was my entire reason for owning PULP FICTION, it’s since been replaced as my favorite on the soundtrack. It didn’t take long. One listen to Maria McKee’s song and she had my heart and my ears for the entire time I’ve owned, or ever shall own, this album. Her song “If Love is a Red Dress (Hang Me in Rags)” is many things all at once.
Sparse is a word that comes to mind, as the song is constructed of only two simple things, a bare electric guitar with a bit of stereo distortion on it, and McKee’s voice. Haunting is another word as McKee’s vocal is lonely in the landscape of this song, sweet, broken, desperate at times. “If Love is a Red Dress” is easily one of the top 10 most beautiful songs ever recorded. It’s also the one that got the least attention in the movie, being placed far in the background on Maynard’s radio as Butch as Marcellus burst into his pawn shop. Thank God the full version showed up on the soundtrack.
One song that got upfront placement and provided a moment of humor in a pretty tense situation was “Flowers on the Wall” by The Statler Brothers. I remember this song very well from my childhood and hearing it again on this disc just makes me smile every time. Such a great lyric with an hilarious story, and one I’ve come to relate to very well myself.
One of the best things on the PULP FICTION soundtrack, as is usually the case with a Tarantino soundtrack, are the audio clips he’s included from the movie. At the time PULP FICTION came out, this was a fairly new practice. He didn’t do it first, but I think he usually does it best.
PULP FICTION’s movie clips include “Pumpkin and Honey Bunny” with Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer, “Royale with Cheese” with John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson, “Zed’s Dead, Baby” with Bruce Willis and Maria de Medeiros, “Jackrabbit Slim’s Twist Contest” with Jerome Patrick Hoban (as Ed Sullivan) and Uma Thurman, “Bring Out the Gimp” with Peter Greene and Duane Whitaker, “Personality Goes a Long Way” with Travolta and Jackson, and finally, the classic “Ezekiel 25:17” by Jackson. Of all Tarantino soundtracks, PULP FICTION contains the most audio clips and of all his soundtracks, it contains the best audio clips. The exchanges between Travolta and Jackson are some of the most classic movie moments of the 1990s, funny and smart, well-acted and thought-provoking all at the same time.
It has come to my attention over the last 15 years that not everyone loves PULP FICTION. Some people don’t get it. Some people get it but think it’s stupid. Well, those people are dead wrong, but whatever; to each his own. However, no matter your opinion of the movie, I just don’t see how anyone could possibly not love the soundtrack. Even if you skip past the dialogue clips, Kool & the Gang, Al Green, Dusty Springfield, Ricky Nelson, Maria McKee . . . I mean it’s a winning collection any way you slice it. With his excellent use of both well-known and obscure tunes, Quentin Tarantino outdid himself for any and all future soundtracks he might ever produce, and definitely set the bar incredibly high for all other filmmakers who came after. PULP FICTION, the soundtrack, is a work of pure genius at its finest. It’s Tarantino’s SIGN O THE TIMES and it set a new standard which, I don’t believe, has yet to be met.
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