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This complex soundtrack may have you liking types of music you didn’t before—but do yourself a favor: watch the movie first, unless you’re an incredibly eclectic person. Remember: it’s a musical, which means the music is woven in with a plot, and therefore best understood in the context of the film.

This eclectic soundtrack brings together performers such as David Bowie, Christina Aguilera, Bono, and actors Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor (both of whom did a pretty good job). It ranges from the pensive strains of “Nature Boy” (performed by Bowie) to the high-energy “Because We Can (Can Can)” to the enchanting “Elephant Love Medley,” which somehow melds snippets of every cheesy love song in recent history into a surprisingly enjoyable and effective piece.

The whole CD is really an incredible collection of snippets of cover songs (examples range from “Voulez Vous Couchez Avec Moi” to Madonna’s “Material Girl” to U2’s “Pride/In the Name of Love” and Elton John’s “Your Song”) ripped from their original contexts and delightfully meshed with new elements and lyrics. Genres such as ballad, rock, R&B, and rap flow amazingly well together in this soundtrack, along with a bunch of less-identifiable genres.

It’s all very well done, but like I said, you’ll probably be very confused if you aren’t able to understand it from the context of the movie. One caution for movie fans who want to hear “Like a Virgin”—that’s on Moulin Rouge: Vol. 2, which is now also out for sale. That CD includes more movie versions of a couple of the songs on Vol. 1 and more instrumental music from the film, along with “Like a Virgin” and some others.

(Note: Also check out Kristin's review of the film Moulin Rouge.)