VARIOUS – MUSIC FROM
THE MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK RESERVOIR DOGS (MCA)
Reservoir Dogs was a
huge movie. It changed so much. Quentin Tarantino
landed on Hollywood
I missed Reservoir
Dogs at the cinema. And due to the BBFC refusing it a video release, it was
there for a long time. Unfortunately I
was still in my final year at school and
technically would not be able to get in.
Eventually my dad managed to get a pirate VHS copy from a person at
work. And even that was not without
effort. However I finally had my hands
on the goods and with the movie still running regular adverts in the newspapers
I was able to place a bespoke sleeve on the case. On surface level this was a fine film for
fans of violence and swearing but for film geeks this was gold.
For the first few
years of my career in accountancy I would wear a black tie to work. I wanted to look like the gang, be one of the
misters. However one day while helping a
client do some photocopying he passed on his regards. He thought I was in mourning. Then later on my Gringo Records friends completely
burst my bubble when Tom
pointed out that I actually looked like a bus driver. I wonder why we were never close
friends. The problem was that the goods
in the opening sequence soundtracked by “Little Green Bag” by the George Baker Selection is one of the
coolest things ever filmed in motion picture history. In my mind in my black tie that was what I
looked like. The reality was I did not.
Music was key in the
movie. It gave a weird grounding with a
sharp seventies attitude while being solidly fixed in the now. There was a maturity to these songs and
sounds as if you big brother were driving things.
As per in the movie
dry comedian Steven Wright serves as
the DJ taking the listener on an adventure managing with his dialogue to turn
the mundane cool. At this time every
word and term uttered was like touching something and turning it to gold.
In addition to these
spoken accompaniments this disc features two clips from the movie itself which
were always great tracks to drop into compilations for an added gloss of
cool. Of these it is the Mr Brown
interpretation of “Like A Virgin” by Madonna (“Madonna Speech”) which members
of my generation would memorise and recite with glee. Knowing such things was credibility in a
can. I still remember one of my Gringo
Records colleagues declaring how cool I was for merely owned an Edward Bunker novel.
The songs here are
strange and weird, pleasantly obscure and taken in another context terminally
naff. A song such as “Hooked On A
Feeling” by Blue Swede is
very bubblegum, gloriously naïve and not necessarily the first thing you would
associate with curdling violence.
There’s a weird message of love being purveyed here. It is perverse.
Tarantino is a smart
man. He always was and is likely to
always be. On that note “I Gotcha” by Joe Tex is the perfect
accompaniment to capture and hostage of an enemy. “I’ll teach you to play with my affection”
indeed. The man is essentially a bush
league James Brown but used this way his work is so fucking effective.
A left field inclusion
is the two tracks from the band Bedlam who at time of release appeared to be
something of a going concern nobody had ever heard of. Their cover of “Magic Carpet Ride” by
Steppenwolf is relatively competent but then their song entitled “Harvest Moon”
that isn’t a Neil Young cover is downright confusing. With investigation it turns out that Bedlam
was a band from Nashville
The most famous song
from the soundtrack is “Stuck In The Middle With You” by Stealers Wheel. Most people of my generation knew the song
before it appeared in the movie but never in the dark context it now
owned. Suddenly it was a song you could
lose an ear to. And yet held on its own
it remains a wonderfully sweet song with the best intentions and loving
longing. The relationship in the track
is one to one much like the dance occurring onscreen when it appears in the
movie. To change the entire meaning of
song in one foul swoop is quite the feat by Tarantino.
The movie and the
album both close on “Coconut” by Harry
Nilsson which feels a very goofy way to end what was such a serious and
intense session. Perhaps its placement
was tactical to serve as some kind of outgoing therapy for the
viewer/listener. Evidence of a sense of
heart and a sense of play.
After this release
soundtracks were never the same.
Thesaurus moment:
novel.
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