Review: Romeo + Juliet: 10th Anniversary Edition, Original Soundtrack

One of the best soundtracks of the last decade just got a little bit better.

Romeo + Juliet: 10th Anniversary Edition, Original SoundtrackOne of the best soundtracks of the last decade just got a little bit better: Capitol Records has issued a 10th Anniversary Edition of the soundtrack to Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet. The original tracklist, a who’s who of late-’90s alt-pop and modern rock, features such appropriately star-crossed love songs as Garbage’s creepy “#1 Crush” (also a #1 hit on rock radio), Des’ree’s “Kissing You,” the Radiohead b-side “Talk Show Host,” and The Cardigans’ tongue-in-cheek smash “Lovefool,” which criminally crowned the band as one-hit wonders in the U.S. The special edition of the album includes four tracks originally found on the film’s second soundtrack release, including Quindon Tarver’s version of “When Doves Cry,” which was produced by Nellee Hooper, Marius De Vries, and Craig Armstrong, who scored the film. The album also features a new remix of Luhrmann’s 1999 hit “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Suncreen),” a track inspired by Tarver’s cover of “Everybody’s Free (To Feel Good),” also included in the original tracklist and which was originally a dance hit for African singer Rozalla in 1993. Yeah, convoluted, but what else do you expect from Baz Luhrmann? “Suncreen” features narration by Lee Perry of a Chicago Tribune piece titled “Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young (Wear Sunscreen).” The track probably has no business even being here other than for Luhrmann to boast about his “worldwide hit album Something For Everybody,” but it makes a nice addition to an already great collection of songs that truly has something for everybody.

Score: 
 Label: Capitol  Release Date: February 6, 2007  Buy: Amazon

Sal Cinquemani

Sal Cinquemani is the co-founder and co-editor of Slant Magazine. His writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, Billboard, The Village Voice, and others. He is also an award-winning screenwriter/director and festival programmer.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.