Actors Singing? Ewan better believe it (Moulin Rouge 2 - Soundtrack)

Member Name: snorlaxjen

Product:	Moulin Rouge 2 - Soundtrack
Date:	15/11/01 (1022 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great classic songs, Great singing

Disadvantages: Missing songs from the film?

Moulin Rouge, is a mind-blowing experience of a movie, and thankfully, the soundtrack captures it in its entirety.

This ecletic soundtrack has performances from Bono, Beck, Bowie, to... Jim Broadbent?
yes indeed, as you may know already, Moulin Rouge is a musical, and so expect to hear the cast singing their hearts out.

Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor both have sung to professional standards, and are really, really good!

So far two singles have been taken from the album. Baz Luhrman decided to take classic songs, and re-vamp them for the movie, and so the this OST is very original, in a familar way...

Unfortuantely, a lot of the cast songs have been cut from the album, such as Jim Broadbent singing Madonnas Like a Virgin, or the cast version of Queen "the show must go on" perhaps there will be a Moulin Rouge 2?
Tracks:
1: NATURE BOY by David Bowie
If you turn your volume up v.high,(I first, only heard it through headphones!) you will hear Ewan McGregor whispering, one of his first lines from the movie. David Bowie sings this song in his usual style, I personally don't care for Bowie, but it is a pretty decent song.

2: LADY MARMALADE by 'Moulin Rouge'
A number one hit over here - Moulin Rouge are Mya, Pink, Lil Kim and Christina Aguitlera. You know what it sounds like!! :)

3: BECAUSE WE CAN by Fatboy Slim
Fatboy Slim's version of the Can-Can. Think of 1899 Paris, Hookers and alcohol, and dance music and this is what you get - madness! :) in the film you also get Nirvana thrown in at the same time, but for this track, you only get the can-can version. Excellent track!

4:SPARKLING DIAMONDS by Nicole Kidman (featuring Jim Broadbent, Caroline O'Connor, Natalie Mendoza and Lara Mulcahy)

This is a mixture of Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend and Material Girl - Nicole can sing and does a great job with this song.
In the film, the 'intro
9; is slightly longer and dramatic - as with the original ending - this version is more 'showy'- if you love big chorus songs, you will love this!

5:RHYTHM OF THE NIGHT by Valeria
The original song has been replaced by this jazzier version, it has a latino feel. This is one of the 'background' tracks, which wasn't used in the film, or if it was, it wasn't noticed.

The talking from the movie are not originally in the song, but are added for effect on this track. The Spanish dialogue is a bit off-putting, but it is soon over

6:YOUR SONG by Ewan McGregor.
Featuring Alessandro Safina.

Lovely love song, and a huge improvement on the original (sorry Elton!). This is the song that the characters Christian and Satine fall in love, and is very nice.
McGregor gives his all on this song and is nicely accompanied by Safina (Opera singer), add some choir/child singing and it is one of the best tracks.
Put the volume up loud on this one! :)

7:CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION by Bono, Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer.
Again an OK song, the original cast version in the song was v.short, and I am not totally convinced on this track, but again it is a nice filler between the cast-sung tracks.

8:ONE DAY I'LL FLY AWAY by Nicole Kidman
A nicely sung, powerful performance by Kidman, a solo song, that starts off slow, but soon gathers pace. In the film, McGregor keys in a part of the song but it is missing here. A very show-tune, kinda song and Satines' signature song.

9:DIAMOND DOGS by Beck
This is an excellent song by Beck, who I usually can't stand, but this has, very new-agey and like a usual Beck song, but with a nice twist.

10:ELEPHANT LOVE MEDLEY
You may be thinking 'what???' about this title, but all makes sense in the movie = Satine's 'room' is shaped like an Elephant and her and Christain sing this on top of it... get it? :) <
br>So many songs crammed into this track, and it is really unusual ... see how many songs you can regonise!!!

11:COME WHAT MAY by Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor.
Released as a remix single, this song is the 'secret' love song in the movie, and is very very good, the remix is good too, but altogether too short, this track lasts for 4m48s and is very lovely. Both of their voices are excellent and does this song a great service.

12:EL TANGO DE ROXANNE by Ewan McGregor, Jose Feliciano and Jacek Koman.
This may sound like a right mess to those who haven't seen the film, but again it makes sense when you do. The classic song 'Roxanne' by The Police is mixed with the Tango and makes a dramatic piece of music, add Ewan McGregor and you get one unique, powerful piece of music

13:COMPLAINT DE LA BUTTE by Rufus Wainwright
This was used in the film, at the beginning when Christian arrived in Paris as a naive man oblivious to the Moulin Rouge and the Bohemian class... this is very French, very slow and quite good, and is different from the other tracks.

14:HINDI SAD DIAMONDS
A wonderfully eclectic mix of Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend and Bollywood... in 19th Century France, in a brothel...
John Leguizamo is the one saying "I only speak the truth" and the background beat was used as the ending titles... this again is a very good track, and again very unusual! :)

15: NATURE BOY by David Bowie and Massive Attack.
As the first track, but remixed. Not an improvement. :(

16: LADY MARMALADE by 'Moulin Rouge' - thunderpuss radio mix.
A rather rubbish remix of the first track... don't bother with, unless you are die hard fan of the song/remixes.

OVERALL:
Like most soundtracks from musicals, the best thing to do is watch the film, then buy the soundtrack... but if you love the Come What May song and the Lady Marmalade song, you may be amazed by the
other songs, you may be confused or disappointed! :)

Hopefully you will love the OST, but I recommend seeing the film, otherwise half of the tracks will seem weird!! :)

p.s. did you know:
Moulin Rouge = Red Windmill?

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