Warner Bros.

"Grindhouse" bombed big to the surprise of all Hollywood, but if there's one thing any Quentin Tarantino film can assure you, it's a great sound track. And "Death Proof"' his half of "Grindhouse"' is no different.

Like other QT discs, it's a mix of old film themes, bona fide rock classics, unheralded R&B gems, dialogue from the movie and other miscellany. Yet somehow, it gels.

It opens with "The Last Race," a stock-car instrumental from Jack Nitzsche, followed immediately by Smith's soulful rendition of "Baby It's You," a standard made famous by The Shirelles. You'll like this version better.

Italian film composers Ennio Morricone and Pino Donaggio are represented with cuts originally from suspensers "Cat O' Nine Tails" and "Blow Out," and listeners also will find memorable songs from T Rex, Joe Rex and others.

The album may falter a bit in its second half with comparatively weak work from The Coasters and Willy DeVille, but more than makes up for it with a smashing end in April March's "Chick Habit," the album's lone recent cut.  

"”Rod Lott