Search - Various Artists :: Payback: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Mel Gibson's entry in to the '90s' morally ambiguous comic-crime-drama sweepstakes (successfully heralded by films like Pulp Fiction, Get Shorty, and Out of Sight) hardly breaks any fresh ground cinematically, but it's hard not to like its song collection and score. The tunes are a delightful, hipster-oriented romp through the tender, reflective side of testosterone (including Dean Martin's "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You," "It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World" by James Brown, and Lou Rawls's "If I Had My Life to Live Over") that set a suitably ironic tone kicked off by Dino's "Ain't That a Kick in the Head." Unusual for this kind of collection, Chris Boardman's fine instrumental underscore (a driving pastiche of early-'70s cop-show big-band funk and moody orchestral soundscapes) is represented by four tracks, including a tense, rollicking "Main Title" that recalls some of Lalo Schifrin's best early work. --Jerry McCulley