Until just two weeks ago, fans of Whit Stillman’s The Last Days Of Disco had to shell out some serious coin for a copy. His 1998 film starring Kate Beckinsale and Chloë Sevigny had been out of print since its original home-video release, an absence approaching nearly a decade. On the rare occasion that I did see a DVD for sale, I couldn’t bring myself to open my wallet so widely.

Now however, everyone can relive The Last Days Of Disco in the comfort of their homes, and do so without mortgaging them (again) to do so. Stillman’s film about young professionals navigating the New York City club scene — completing the writer/director’s “doomed bourgeois in love” trilogy, following Metropolitan and Barcelona — has been given the spiffed-up Criterion Collection treatment, rightly added to the company’s canon of Very Important Films.

I haven’t seen The Last Days Of Disco since buying a ticket to escape the heat of a blistering Chicago summer, so I’m a bit anxious to see whether my fond memories of the film measure up to the reality of a second viewing. I know I’m still going to love the music, as the soundtrack has remained a favorite. I don’t think the O’Jays’ “Love Train” has ever been more brilliantly integrated (well, except maybe here).

Packed with club hits like “Got To Be Real” (Cheryl Lynn), “Knock On Wood” (Amii Stewart), “Good Times” (Chic), and “He’s The Greatest Dancer” (Sister Sledge), the soundtrack to The Last Days Of Disco is a fantastic distillation of that period (even if Stillman admits to cheating the timeline). The disc begins with Alicia Bridges’ 1978 #5 smash, “I Love The Nightlife (Disco ‘Round),” and closes with a cover of the same tune, re-done by India & NuYorican Soul (aka Masters At Work, the production team of “Little” Louie Vega and Kenny “Dope” Gonzales).

Vocally, it’s not a radical departure from the original, but I do enjoy the smoothed out, house-music groove. Hear here:

The Last Days Of Disco soundtrack isn’t currently available for digital download, so I suggest getting physical via Amazon, where you can also purchase the newly released Criterion Collection edition of the film.