Various Artists - Music From The Miramax Motion Picture Jackie Brown (1997)

This compilation comes from my favorite Tarantino film (probably because the linear narrative came from an Elmore Leonard novel, Rum Punch. Recommended reading). Anyway, I feel about this CD much like I feel about Tarantino's soundtrack to Pulp Fiction, so I'll just plagiarize myself:

I'm not sure if he can still do it, but back in the '90s Quentin Tarantino knew how to put together a soundtrack. If you can get past the self-serving habit Tarantino had of including snippets of dialogue on soundtrack albums, the music here is first-rate. Not that the dialogue is bad (I don't think it's as good as Tarantino thinks it is, though), but that's not why I buy a CD. If I wanted to hear dialogue, I'd buy the DVD (and, yes, I have this movie on DVD). This isn't something thrown by popular artists to make money and it's not simply a souvenir from the film. It's a fantastic compilation album.

(I don't think you can plagiarize from yourself, but that's an argument for another time.) This CD is heavy on '70s soul music and that's fine with me.

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: #73
• Billboard R&B: #28

Tracks: Great stuff here, including:

• Across 110th Street - Bobby Womack
• Strawberry Letter 23 - Brothers Johnson
• Who Is He (And What Is He To You) - Bill Withers
• Natural High - Bloodstone
• Street Life - Randy Crawford
• Didn't I (Blow Your Mind this Time) - The Delfonics
• Inside My Love - Minnie Riperton

I skip the offering from Foxy Brown and the dialogue clips. The song from the movie that I wish was included in the soundtrack, but wasn't, is Grazin' In The Grass by Orchestra Harlow.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: This CD and movie introduced me to the beauty of The Delfonics.