V/A: Jackie Brown (soundtrack) [A BAND APART]

Why you'll love it

This 180g pressing collects the songs and dialogue from Tarantino's 1997 film. It's a 1970s soul mixtape at heart, from Bobby Womack and The Brothers Johnson to Randy Crawford's "Street Life" and The Delfonics' "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)."

This edition

• 180g vinyl
• Film dialogue excerpts

About the album

Quentin Tarantino says he picks the opening credits song first, and then the whole film falls into place around it. For Jackie Brown that song was Bobby Womack's "Across 110th Street," playing as Pam Grier glides through LAX, and the rest of the soundtrack follows its lead straight into 1970s soul.

He chose most of the music while he was still writing the script, digging through his own record collection for songs with the right rhythm. The Brothers Johnson's "Strawberry Letter 23" and Bloodstone's "Natural High" set a smooth mood, Bill Withers asks "Who Is He (And What Is He To You)?" and Minnie Riperton floats through "Inside My Love." The Delfonics' "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)" plays a key part in the plot, Grier herself sings "Long Time Woman," and Johnny Cash's "Tennessee Stud," The Grass Roots' "Midnight Confessions" and Foxy Brown's "(Holy Matrimony) Letter To The Firm" widen the net. Dialogue from Samuel L. Jackson, Robert De Niro and Bridget Fonda links the tracks together.

Like all of Tarantino's soundtracks, it plays as well on its own as it does on screen. It has a habit of sending people off to buy Delfonics records, which is exactly what happens to a certain bail bondsman in the film.

Also at Kops: more Jackie Brown on vinyl · browse Soundtracks

Listen

On A Band Apart / Rhino, a reissue of the 1997 soundtrack.