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•	2006 Arista

•	1990 Arista

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2019 Sony

•	2006 Arista

•	1990 Arista

As usual for Bernstein, the primary theme of the Ghostbusters score is piano-based, and it relies on the dexterity of its light, bouncing rhythm to set a fluffy mood; the theme is well adapted throughout the score for flightier scenes, including the impatient rendition in "Stairwell." Only once does Bernstein start to let the brass section and an electric guitar rip with this theme (in the rejected "We Got One!" cue, the first call to action scene), and seeing that it was rejected early in the process, it's no surprise that Bernstein had little direction in the "coolness" category for Ghostbusters. In the end, his main theme is quite memorable but in a strictly small-scale fashion of lovability. The same could be said of Bernstein's theme for the Sigourney Weaver character, playing to swaying romance from yesteryear and providing some elegance to separate her even further in character from Bill Murray. Bernstein does unleash the orchestra with his music for Zuul and Gozer, however. The build-up to the coming of the destructor has some outstanding cues, including "The Gatekeeper," in which Bernstein hails the arrival of Gozer with a full blown organ-backed fanfare of religious variety. Despite all these strengths, the aspect of the Ghostbusters that will bring a smile to your face most often involves the smaller impacts of the score that twinkle in the background. It's an intelligent work, with Bernstein making use of both the cello and piano to match their roles in the film. Weaver's character is a cellist, so the presentations of her theme in the first half of the film are often announced by a cello performance. Likewise, Murray says, upon investigating Weaver's apartment, that ghosts hate the alternating of adjacent keys on a piano's highest ranges (and "torments" the ghosts by doing it on screen), and Bernstein toys with quick spurts of high piano notes in moments of relative calm or suspense throughout the score thereafter. Also, the ondes martenot, the French keyboard variation of the theremin and very early synthesizer technology, is used in Ghostbusters with great effect. While performed less here than in its more glorious role courtesy Bernstein in The Black Cauldron at roughly the same time, there's no doubt that the eerie sounds of the ondes martenot are a perfect fit for the light-hearted world of ghosts.

Because of the dominance of the songs in Ghostbusters, Bernstein's score has been largely neglected on album, with a bootleg and two official releases each failing to provide a truly satisfactory presentation of his contribution to the film. After stuffing the film with its own artists' songs, Arista released an LP in 1984 that featured nearly all the songs in the film, as well as two Bernstein cues and an instrumental version of the title song. Bernstein had originally recorded four tracks specifically for the commercial album, through two of them really didn't have much in common with the score and were appropriately dropped. The remaining two feature performances that don't really capture the spirit of the score either, and it's no wonder these two pieces didn't inspire calls for a score-only release by the public. A CD version of the original LP (still 37 minutes in length with 6:30 of score) was first released by Arista in 1990. Film score fans, though, wouldn't let this situation hold forever. In 1998, they produced a badly titled bootleg of somewhat inferior sound, including only cues that made it into the film. In 2006, however, both the songs and score would get due treatment. Arista, along with with Sony, re-released the song album with remastered sound and two additional tracks: one song from the film that was missing from the previous edition and a somewhat gutless remix of the Parker title song. A full score release highlighted Varèse Sarabande's initial 2006 batch of Club CD releases, with a strong but not complete treatment of Bernstein's material for the film, whether it appeared in the finished cut or not. This limited album, a 3,000-copy pressing predictably selling out before too long, topped off Varèse Sarabande's strong offerings of Bernstein music from the era, and it includes the cues that were replaced by songs in the film, as well as the two rejected suites of music for the commercial album. (The track, "Magic," was later revealed to be from Bernstein's Broadway score for "Merlin.") The snazzier alternate for "We Got One!" is a fantastic bonus. Unfortunately, the Varèse product was missing a handful of cues that had been heard on the bootleg and in the film, this even though the album's running time (69 minutes) would have allowed for some of these omissions to be included. This presentation also offered an abbreviated ending to the "News" cue ("Dana's Room" on that product) and is missing the longer, film version of the "Stairwell" cue, among a few other oddities.

After more than a decade with minimal availability for Bernstein's music for Ghostbusters on CD, Sony released another score-only album in 2019 with the help of the composer's son, Peter Bernstein. This regular commercial product on both CD and vinyl may finally meet lingering demand for a lossless film score souvenir for concept fans, but Sony did true fans no favors with its terrible arrangement of the album. Peter Bernstein himself chose the ordering of this shorter, 61-minute product, and a handful of high-profile cues are senselessly moved to awkward places in the listening experience. Likewise, several cues available on the 2006 Varèse album and heard in the film went missing from the 2019 Sony product, including "Walk," "Taken," and "Protection Grid." It is also missing the opening "Title" and 5-minute "End Credits" cues that were partially replaced in the movie. Also gone is the bonus track "We Got One" with the film ending appended for true fans. On the other hand, the Sony album does include some music that the Varèse presentation was missing, including the brief "12th Floor" cue (as part of "Halls") and the fuller "Stairwell" alternate heard in the movie. Also debuting commercially on the 2019 album are the short "Mistake" and "Mr. Stay Puft" cues. To the angst of the movie's fans, none of these albums includes the hotel or restaurant source music, though the 2019 selection does offer the "Steel Drum Source" for the scene in which Rick Moranis talks to a horse while possessed. The sound quality of the 2019 album offers a different but not necessarily better mix. Even in its best presentation, Bernstein fans are well aware that his music from this era is often dull or muffled compared to its contemporaries, and Ghostbusters is rather flat in sound quality on either of its two official albums. Either of the official releases will negate the bootleg for most collectors, but be aware that you will need some combination of all three of these albums to piece together a proper presentation of the score. The shorter overall length and lack of chronological ordering of the 2019 product makes it an especially annoying missed opportunity. One unfortunate result of the fact that the songs worked so well in the film is the desire to have a couple of those songs from the Arista album (including the Parker title, of course) appended to the score. This inclusion isn't feasible with licensing, of course, but that shouldn't stop ultimate fans of the film, including loyal Gozer worshippers, from combining an hour of score with a few of the songs on their own playlists.   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

• Music as Heard in the Film:  ****
• 1990 Arista Song Compilation:  **
• 1998 Score Bootleg:  **
• 2006 Arista/Legacy Song Compilation:  ***
• 2006 Varèse Sarabande Score Album:  ****
• 2019 Sony Score Album:  ***
• Overall:  ****

Bias Check:

For Elmer Bernstein reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.25 (in 18 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.15 (in 10,317 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.