Say what you will about his films or their leads, Aussie director and futurist Baz Luhrmann has got style and sensibility. From the elegance of Strictly Ballroom to the manic whirlwind vertigo that was Moulin Rouge!, you can’t deny his grace in putting modern-day twists on conventional folklore. His interpretation of William Shakespeare’s boy-meets-girl tragedy Romeo + Juliet is no exception. Having been interpreted for countless forums, Luhrmann’s version of the love story on Verona Beach was a breath of fresh air: edgy, colorful, explicably contemporary and loaded with sacrosanct metaphor.

The soundtrack followed suit, highlighting Garbage’s smoldering goth-pop “#1 Crush,” the divinely poppy “Lovefool” by the Cardigans and a slate of picturesque songcraft by the Everclear, the Butthole Surfers, Mundy and Gavin Friday. Oh yeah, and that little alt-Brit neo-prog phenomenon we all know as Radiohead. The great thing? This 10th Anniversary Edition musical re-issue of Romeo + Juliet still sounds edgy. You even get the feeling that Luhrmann could just as easily be in A&R for a label; he handpicked the tunes and certainly got the vibe he was looking for.

“Kissing You” by Des'ree is still an incredibly sappy R&B love song; Radiohead’s “Talk Show Host” eludes to those early Pablo Honey and Bends days; “Little Star” by Stina Nordenstam is still a trippy slice of enchantment and Quindon Tarver’s take on Prince’s “When Doves Cry” finally takes its rightful place on the main soundtrack. There’s also a 2007 remix of Tarver’s “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen),” which excerpts a commencement address for a pop-fad single in its full, time capsule glory.

Romeo + Juliet succeeds at atonement for the splitting of one great audio experience into two separate soundtracks when the film was first released (marketers be damned, thankfully that trend has started to slow). Don’t pick up the upgrade of Romeo + Juliet for the packaging – it’s hardly “deluxe” – grab it for the five bonus tracks, the diversity and the celebration of what a modern motion picture soundtrack can do for a film.

But don’t take my advice – “Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young,” as they say on the aforementioned “Everybody’s Free” – listen for yourself and be the judge.