DISClosure: Moulin Rouge and Drops of Jupiter

DISClosure
CD Reviews Of A National Scale

Various Artists
Music from Baz Luhrman’s Film Moulin Rouge

by Jenny E. Decker

What’s better than a big summer movie with an all-star cast? If the past years have been any indication — Armageddon, Mission Impossible II, Coyote Ugly — its a big summer soundtrack with an equally illustrious musical line-up. Following in fine tradition, then, Baz Luhrmann’s latest film, a remake of the classic Moulin Rouge, and its accompanying soundtrack are no different. As he did with the hit film, 1996’s Romeo + Juliet, Luhrmann (also known for his 1999 spoken radio hit “Everybody’s Free to Wear Sunscreen”) compiled a soundtrack that gathers some of the biggest and most diverse names in modern music. Where Romeo + Juliet had Garbage, Radiohead, The Cardigans, Des’Ree, Gavin Friday of Virgin Prunes fame, and Everclear, Rouge has just a talented a strange bunch of its own, old school and new school alike: with U2’s Bono (who collaborates with pianist Maurice Seezer and the returning Gavin Friday on a remake of T-Rex’s “Children of the Revolution”), Beck (a remake of David Bowie’s “Diamond Dogs”), Fatboy Slim (“Because We Can”), Bowie and Massive Attack (“Nature Boy”), and the latest crop of teen favorite pop-hip hoppers Lil’Kim, Christina Aguilera, Mya, and Pink whose rousing rendition of Pattie LaBelle’s “Lady Marmalade” is now topping the charts.

Odd grouping? Sure, but as with his films, Luhrmann has found that coloring just a little outside the lines has great appeal and, with Music from Baz Luhrman’s Film Moulin Rouge, he was smart to stick with what has worked for him in the past. Somehow, with Luhrmann’s touch, it doesn’t seem odd to hear Bono followed by a surprisingly listenable Nicole Kidman. On this soundtrack, Kidman and co-stars Ewan McGregor and John Leguizamo make a few appearances, most notably Kidman’s Madonna/Marilyn Monroe turn with upbeat, breathy “Speakling Diamonds,” the Kidman/McGregor duet to the film’s theme “Come What May,” and McGregor and Jose Feliciano’s drastically different take on The Police’s “Roxanne” on “El Tango De Roxanne.”

While all 15 tracks are delightful, perhaps the most appealing — and the track least likely to get quality air time — is the sassy and quirky “Elephant Love Medley.” With vocals from Kidman, McGregor, and Jamie Allen, the tune melds a little bit of everything, with lyrics filtered from the Beatles’ “All You Need is Love,” Phil Collins’ “One More Night,” U2’s “Pride (In the Name of Love),” and the Joe Cocker/Jennifer Warren duet “Up Where We Belong,” to name a few.

Quirky indeed, just like the entire soundtrack and, no doubt, the film. Moulin Rouge is slated to hit theatres May 18. (Interscope)

Train
Drops of Jupiter

by Jenny E. Decker

It was literally music to my ears before I even knew what it was, “Drops of Jupiter” an infectious beg for an answer set to song: “Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star/One without a permanent scar/And did you miss me while you were looking at yourself out there.” And it took a few more listens to the radio to realize that the voice behind the track was none other than Patrick Monahan, the same crooner who filled the summer airwaves not too long ago with talk of meeting the anonymous “Virginia”: “She only drinks coffee at Midnight, when the moment is not right, her timing is quite – unusual/you see her confidence is tragic, but her intuition magic and the shape of her body – unusual/Meet Virginia – I can’t wait to/Meet Virginia.”

Frontman for the San Francisco-based Train, singer/songwriter Monahan — with guitarists Rob Hotchkiss and Jim Stafford, bassist Charlie Colin, and drummer Scott Underwood — fills the band’s latest work, Drops of Jupiter, with an eclectic blend of folk, roots, and rock that has, on occasion, earned the band a southern rock label and comparisons to Dave Matthews Band and the ilk. Fair or not, their sound and their words are what make them curiously unique, catchy little ditties that, while easily ingrained in the mind, contain lyrics that lie much deeper than the beat.

With their second full-length effort, the band has added some new instruments — the aforementioned title track includes a string arrangement by Paul Buckmaster of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” fame —though it is still a very guitar-driven disc, much in the manner of its forerunner, 1998’s self-titled debut. From the guitar heavy first track, “She’s On Fire” and the similar “Let It Roll” to the last track, the mournfully smoldering “Mississippi,” a tune that evokes an early Counting Crows, the reigning theme of Jupiter is its overall simplicity, they don’t overwrite, nor do they overplay. Throw in a few strings here and there, keep the guitar, add the presence of Monahan’s voice and you’ve got classic Train — a band who has amply managed to overcome the sophomore slump with a sampling of 11 radio-friendly songs that, like the album’s prima donna, “Jupiter,” will have listeners singing along in no time. (Columbia)