Muriel's Wedding: Music From And Inspired By The Film

Vintage pop cheese served up in smelly splendor here by The Carpenters, Peter Allen (the deathless "I Go to Rio"), Dusty Springfield, The Rubettes, and, above all, ABBA. No new singles, but the orchestrated "bridal version" of "Dancing Queen" is a showstopper. Big fun. --Jeff Bateman Amazon.com

Be warned...

Muriel's Wedding is set in Australia, with Australian actors and Australian social mores. The movie has some upbeat moments and we are happy at the end that Muriel is converted from what her father dooms her to be, to what her wonderful self realizes after many not-too-helpful detours. What i would add as a note of caution for family viewers this movie has some very explicit sexual references and one scene at the beginning that would have been better left out. It could been a thoroughly edifying movie, despite some of the dysfunctions involved but unfortunately, because of the R-rated material, it fell short of its potential. May 14, 2008

Happy, bubbly, fun

A feast for the ears with a hint of 70's nostalgia and some ethereal & romantic work on the Dancing Queen theme. Sure to brighten anyone's day. January 9, 2007

ABBA, ABBA, ABBA!!! This is Fantastic!

This wonderful '70's soundtrack features lots of terrific songs. Of course the highlights are ABBA's Waterloo, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, and Dancing Queen. Too bad Mamma Mia isn't on there but it's still wonderful! I hear that Muriel's Wedding features a lot of ABBA songs. ABBA is my favorite group and I really want to see the movie. If anyone writes another review for this soundtrack, please tell me when all of the ABBA songs play. Thanks so much. Actually I did see the part where Muriel and Rhonda lip-synch to Waterloo in some of ABBA's famous costumes doing ABBA's famous choreography and it was laugh-out-loud hilarious!!!
Many of the other songs on here are great too. Some highlights are Peter Allen's I Go to Rio (this makes me tap my feet every time I hear it), Blondie's The Tide Is High (it sounds like a great song to listen to while cruising the Bahamas or some other islands), and The Carpenter's We've Only Just Begun (this is the ideal wedding song along with I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do).
Also Bridal Dancing Queen is far from being album filler. It is beautiful and sometimes (I know this sounds sappy) brings tears to my eyes because it is so soaring.
The only tracks I think I could do without are the short version of Bridal Dancing Queen (since there is already the superior longer version) and Lonely Hearts. That song is so short (1 minute) that it has no emotion and feels rushed and superfluous.
But overall it's better to have too much than too little and this great, fun, and well produced soundtrack is one of the best I've come across. And I have A LOT of soundtracks. July 15, 2005

Great soundtrack, decent soundtrack CD

A fine souvenir of a terrific film and an excellent sampler in its own right, even though it doesn't fully capture the film's moving soundtrack experience. Having seen the film a few times, I still don't recall the Carpenters and Dusty Springfield tunes being there (oh ... "music inspired by", I see), but they're good songs nonetheless. The Rubette track (a 1974 UK smash) is much appreciated and the orchestral version of "Dancing Queen" demonstrates how well Abba's music holds up in other contexts. The film was chock full of Abba songs, though only three found their way to this disc ("Fernando" and "Mamma Mia" are among the film-significant tunes missing), but I guess they didn't want to make this an Abba Greatest Hits CD. Still in all one of the better and more evocative soundtrack CDs of recent years. June 18, 2001

Good songs

I have never seen this movie, I bought this album solely for the music on it. A great mix of 70's pop including songs by Abba and The Carpenters. But of course there is also some original score music too, like the wonderful orchestral "Bridal Dancing Queen" and "Lonely hearts". This album has a great mix of upbeat songs and will put anyone in a happy mood. I think I should see the movie! May 24, 2001

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