Frank Is Living In My Foot (Moulin Rouge 2 - Soundtrack)

Member Name: Shadowtwinchaos

Product:	Moulin Rouge 2 - Soundtrack
Date:	28/12/02 (815 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some of my favs from the movie, Interesting new renditions

Disadvantages: Missing some of my favorites, falls down on a few songs

Musicals are not for everyone. In fact, many people turn their backs on musicals. I am not one of those people. From oldies like My Fair Lady, The King and I and Calamity Jane to the newer ones, such as Evita, Little Shop of Horrors and most certainly Moulin Rouge.

I find myself enthralled as people act out real life on the screen while spontaneously bursting into song. Don’t you do that? Don’t you sing your way through the day? Well, okay, maybe I’m the only one living life as a musical.

However, soundtracks are often a different story. A soundtrack to a movie is one thing. You get a collection of songs, some you remember hearing in the movie, some are probably such back ground songs that you may only hear about thirty seconds of the song between scenes and it ends up on the soundtrack. Often times, I find a soundtrack to a movie to be very disjointed. Many of the songs have very little to do with each other.

Not so with the soundtrack from a musical. Many times, the songs are written directly for the movie. However, even if they are previously recorded songs, in musicals, the songs show a progression through the movie. Often times, it is the characters themselves that are doing the singing rather than the group who may have performed the original.

The movie Moulin Rouge is a combination of both. Songs that were written just for the movie along with songs that were written by others, but performed by the actors. The soundtrack reflects that, having songs performed by the actors and also songs used in the movie performed by others. While this is long, containing 15 songs, I have to say there were some missing from this first version that I would have liked to hear. However, I would be happy to have the entire movie on CD, but then I would just call it a DVD.

There were more than one soundtrack released for this movie, two if I recall correctly. I have only one. Here is a song list of the one I do own: r>
1. Nature Boy - David Bowie
2. Lady Marmalade - Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya and Pink
3. Because We Can - Fatboy Slim
4. Sparkling Diamonds - Nicole Kidman, Jim Broadbent, Caroline O'Connor, Natalie Mendoza and Lara Mulcahy
5. Rhythm of the Night - Valeria
6. Your Song - Ewan McGregor and Alessandro Safina
7. Children of the Revolution - Bono, Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer
8. One Day I'll Fly Away - Nicole Kidman
9. Diamond Dogs - Beck
10. Elephant Love Medley - Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor and Jamie Allen
11. Come What May - Nicole Kidman And Ewan McGregor
12. El Tango De Roxanne - Ewan McGregor, Jose Feliciano and Jacek Koman
13. Complainte De La Butte - Rufus Wainwright
14. Hindi Sad Diamonds - Nicole Kidman & Cast
15. Nature Boy - David Bowie & Massive Attack

As I stated above, not all of my favorite songs are on here, such as “The Show Must Go On”, “Spectacular/Spectacular” and “Like a Virgin”. A few of the songs on this soundtrack are sung by different artists than in the movie. The other soundtrack has the movie versions of the songs. I probably will end up going and getting this second version of this soundtrack, however, in this op, I am suppose to be rambling on about this one.

So, I will go on about it. Over all, I think that it is an excellent job. With stunning movie versions such as Ewan and Nicole singing “Come What May”, “One Day I’ll Fly Away” and the “Elephant Love Medley”, I am reminded of their great talent. However, I also have to add that the soundtrack has taken some of the songs and horribly mutilated them. Such as “Because We Can” which is not the movie version and overall just stinks. It is a loud, chaotic noise with only one or two lines repeated time and time again. It doesn’t inspire me to move, sing or enjoy. Simply to plug my ears in pain. So,
this track could simply be deleted. “Children of the Revolution” is also not the version from the movie. However, I feel they did a slightly better job of performing this. While not the same emotion and tone from the movie, it is an excellent rendition. “Diamond Dogs” is a song I have known for years by Bowie. I enjoyed his version as well as the bits they used of it in the movie. Beck’s version which appears on the soundtrack is not bad. It is a bit of a jump from both the movie version and Bowie’s original. However, it is not all that bad.

So, there you have it. Most of the songs are excellent. One I could seriously do without. A couple of them are a stretch. But most of all, listening to it, I am reminded how much I really do like the movie, which is what I feel is part of the job of a movie soundtrack. So, it does its job well. I will seriously have to go and get the second soundtrack. I am a bit disappointed that they didn’t offer a double soundtrack as some others did so that you could have both at once. But never mind that, I will simply have to go purchase the second.

The bottom line of this is simple. If you like musicals, watch the movie – it is excellent. If you love the movie as much as I do, go out and buy the soundtrack. Either or both and sit back and be reminded of the color, the magic and the talent from the movie, and be transported back to The Moulin Rouge.