How does it compare to the artist's other releases
Outstanding
Value for Money
Good
Advantages:
Great fun
Disadvantages:
Bizarre
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Director Baz Luhrmann is most famous for his 'red curtain trilogy' of films - Strictly Ballroom, William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (which from here on is abbreviated to Romeo and Juliet) and Moulin Rouge. However, as this eclectic collection proves, his career has included far more than this, including various theatrical productions. The seventeen tracks on the album cover the first two of the films, plus four varied stage shows from Hair to La Boheme. This leads to a somewhat surreal, perhaps even schizophrenic, listening experience, but the album is definitely fun. Great, bizarre fun.
The first two tracks usher us into the world of Bazmark (Lurhmann's trademark) with a fanfare and a version of 'Young Hearts Run Free' from Romeo and Juliet, which mixes in excerpts from other tunes associated with Luhrmann, most notably Strictly Ballroom's 'Love is in the Air' and another Romeo and Juliet track, 'Everybody's Free.' The first is a throwaway, but the second is great - upbeat, fast, exciting.
The tracks that follow range from sublime to bizarre.
Doris Day's 'Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps', used in Strictly Ballroom, is definitely in contention for the crown of most sublime track on the album. People familiar with the TV show Coupling will know the tune from that show's credits sequence, and this is one of the few tracks on the album which is completely 'straight', with no remixing of any kind. I suppose when you have a strong performer like Doris Day singing something so seductive, you don't need any bells and whistles. Another Strictly Ballroom track - a really touching mix of 'Love is in the Air' - also sounds absolutely beautiful, and includes some of Fran's dialogue from the film. The orchestra is pared down and the tempo is slowed to create an intense love song which is very different to the loud, dynamic version of the song used in the film.
Another beautiful track is 'I'm Losing You', which is taken from Lake Lost, described as a 'music theatre piece for the Australian Opera. It is very sad, from the first few bars of solo piano on through the vocals of Lani, who expresses a profound sense of loss, dully inhabiting the lyrics to give a captivating performance.
However, I suppose grand opera really ought to win over Doris Day and the like - what could be more sublime than a bit of Puccini. The album contains a beautiful rendition of 'Che Gelida Manina' from La Boheme. Luhrmann has directed this opera several times, including a stint on Broadway, so it makes sense for its most famous aria to be included here. David Hobson takes control of Puccini's well-known tune and makes it his own. A beautifully simple track, again lacking the bells and whistles which make most of the album so individual.
Neither bizarre nor sublime is a track from Haircut, a reimagined version of the cult 1960s musical Hair. This mixes the show's two most familiar numbers, 'Aquarius' and 'Let the Sunshine In'. They can't quite shake their 1960s hippy origins, but it is refreshing to hear the songs in a more contemporary setting, making them slightly less dated. 'Let the Sunshine In' sounds much as it usually does, but the excerpts from 'Aquarius' are completely novel, sounding more spaced out and contemplative than the original versions of the song.
Another relatively familiar track is 'Everybody's Free (To Wear Suncreen) Mix', which combines music from the Romeo and Juliet soundtrack with the idiosyncratic advice given to the 'class of '99' - the text of this crops up quite frequently in forwarded e-mails these days, including the suggestion to 'do one thing every day that scares you'. At seven minutes in length, the track does start to outstay its welcome, but it is pleasant enough to listen to, and to be honest, much of the advice, while not typical, is eminently sensible. One of the few tracks on the album that couldn't possibly be used on the dance floor (surely?).
On the bizarre front, the pack is led by a version of 'Lovefool' from Romeo and Juliet (the one that includes the lyrics 'love me, love me, say that you love me...). This is performed in a laid back, disinterested, almost spoken style by someone called Snooper, and is quite unlike any version of this song you could otherwise imagine.
Another Romeo and Juliet track is given the remix treatment to somewhat unsettling effect. 'When Doves Cry' starts off in a plaintive fashion, but moves into a section where the music behind the vocals makes me feel somewhat uncomfortable. I'm not sure if it's intended to sound sinister, but it definitely comes across that way. The lyrics are wonderful and I always find myself impressed by this track, even if I don't necessarily enjoy it.
Also unsettling, but in a different way is 'Happy Feet', another Strictly Ballroom remix. The vocals and playing of Jack Hylton and his orchestra are given enough of a 1990s makeover to sound like a dance band has never sounded before, complete with record scratching. Great fun, but very bizarre.
Back to the operatic songs, but this time on the bizarre front, Benjamin Britten's settings of Shakespeare's words from A Midsummer Night's Dream are given the remix treatment, one in an Asian fashion (called the 'Houseboats of Kashmir' mix) and the other in a more obviously Western pop fashion which includes some wonderful flourishes from a few brass instruments. The pure voices of Christine Anu, David Hobson et al float along on top of the remixed music to create an intriguing fusion of old and new. It shouldn't work, but the different styles work together beautifully.
I haven't talked in depth about all of the tracks, but quite frankly, you'd be bored out of your mind if I had! I can't find anything substantial to say about mixes of 'Angel' from Romeo and Juliet (beautiful), and 'Os Quindos de Ya Ya' from Strictly Ballroom (fun). That about sums them up, though I do enjoy them both. The only real disappointment is a remix of 'Time After Time' from Strictly Ballroom, which I feel strips all that was good from the track and replaces it with general blandness. Maybe it would be better to dance to than listen to, but it does let the album down somewhat.
The album ends with Jupiter from Gustav Holst's Planets Suite, which was apparently used to launch an election campaign for the Labor Party (from the spelling, I assume the Australian version, rather than the British, but who can tell?). It's a great piece of music, though the connection with the rest of the album is a little dubious. The strange thing is that it doesn't feel out of place. No bells, no whistles, no vocals, no reinterpretation. Just a great piece of music.
Containing a full hour of music, the album is good value if you can find it. The booklet that comes with it is also good, printed on thick, glossy paper and including several montages of images from Luhrmann productions. Full credits are given for all of the tracks, and a brief chronological run-down of the productions associated with the music is helpful in putting things in some sort of chronological order. Not much detail, but it looks and feels wonderful.
The album is undeniably strange, but it is well worth getting hold of. The tracks are eclectic, but almost all are appealing in some way or another, and the album is worth getting for the curiosity value (particularly with the Everybody's Free/Sunscreen track) alone. It really has got something for everybody, from classical music through Doris Day to the Romeo and Juliet remixes. Heartily recommended!
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The CD is on the Capitol records label, with catalogue number 7243 8 57636 2 5.
I've never seen this album in a shop (where on Earth would it be filed?) as I picked my copy up second hand. Amazon UK has it priced at £12.99, while the marketplace sellers have (at the time of writing) used copies from £5.95 and new copies from £7.27.
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How does it rate alongside the competition
Outstanding
Cover / Inlay Design and Content
Good
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