Sequenced impeccably, and featuring the usual snippets of movie dialogue, this 38-minute mix is the perfect accompaniment to barreling down a highway in the middle of the night. Tarantino s choice of instrumental tracks is as inspired as it is eclectic. Originally used in the 1965 Bert I.
Gordon cult classic Village of the Giants, Jack Nitzche s The Last Race features sweeping strings and surf guitar over a robust, ominous rhythm section. Ennio Moricone s creepy free jazz excursion Paranoia Paima , from Dario Argento s 1971 film Il Gatto a Nove Code, is a seductive sampling of the maestro s great avant-garde period during the early 1970s, Pino Donaggio s mournful Sally and Jack comes from the soundtrack for Brian DePalma s Blow Out (a well-known Tarantino fave), while Eddie Beram s exhilarating psychedelic rock obscurity Riot in Thunder Alley combines fuzzed-out guitar, tension-inducing tom tom fills, and an inexplicable, but oddly effective sitar. All the rock tracks carry themselves with a ragged, road movie swagger.
Smith s bluesy 1969 cover of the Burt Bacharach classic Baby, It s You oozes more sexuality than the Shirelles or the Beatles ever managed on their own renditions, thanks to the Janis Joplin-like singer Gayle McCormick. Pacific Gas Electric s interpretation of the American folk standard Staggolee is full-on electric blues, Willy DeVille s bad-ass It s So Easy is a raucous blend of punk and Southern rock, and forgotten British Invasion group Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick Tich (can you blame Tarantino for writing a conversation involving the name of this band?) make an appearance with their irresistible, distorted, low-rent Beatles knock-off Hold Tight .
The R B samplings, which appear mid-album, are especially inspired, starting with Joe Tex s gorgeous 1966 ballad The Love You Save (May Be Your Own) ; having used Tex s ferocious, James Brown-esque I Gotcha back on Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino gives us a glimpse of the late singer s more tender side. Good Love, Bad Love , an early B-side by Stax singer Eddie Floyd, follows, prolonging the melancholy mood. Meanwhile, the Coasters suggestive, pulsating 1956 single Down in Mexico cranks up the sweltering eroticism, capping off a trio of tracks that play such a major role in making the roadhouse scenes in Death Proof all the more memorable.
Of the 13 songs, the only selection that will be remotely familiar to most listeners will be the well-known T. Rex gem Jeepster , but Tarantino completely redeems himself by closing with the revelatory 1995 obscurity Chick Habit , by the pixie-voiced April March. An English note-for-note cover of the Serge Gainsbourg-penned Laisse Tomber Les Filles (originally recorded by France Gall in 1964), the song barrels along, thanks to a blatant Peter Gunn style arrangement, raucous horns punctuating each line.
Confrontational and coquettish at the same time, it s a menacing yet lighthearted way to end both the album and the movie, the line, You re gonna need a heap of glue when they all catch up with you and they cut you up in two, serving as a snarky reminder of the immensely satisfying demise of Stuntman Mike at the end of the flick. Every Tarantino movie has us scrambling afterward, online or to record stores, to find out just what the hell that song was, and the Death Proof soundtrack is his best collection of tunes since Pulp Fiction. Thanks to him, we ve got a killer CD; now all we need is a 1970 Dodge Challenger and miles of open two-lane blacktop.
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