Australia (Music from the Movie)

Asked whether he’d been thinking about Gone With the Wind when he conceived of Australia, Baz Luhrmann said yes—and John Huston’s The African Queen, and War and Peace, and all the great love stories set against a backdrop of political unrest. Next to Moulin Rouge or Romeo + Juliet, Australia is pretty straitlaced: a rousing interpretation of “Waltzing Matilda” (the country’s unofficial anthem), a few fight songs (“The Rush,” “No Man Hires Me, No Man Fires Me”)—even Elton John does his best Rugged Cowboy routine (“The Drover’s Ballad”). Then you get stuff like David Hirschfelder’s take on “Begin the Beguine,” which hits like a spray of champagne in the face, and you remember: This is Luhrmann country.