Ghostbusters 2 - Original Motion Picture Score LP

Elmer Bernstein decided he wanted to take a break from scoring comedies in the late 80s, which left significantly large shoes to fill for the sound of such a highly anticipated sequel. Director Ivan Reitman had worked with composer Randy Edelman on his previous hit TWINS, and after GHOSTBUSTERS 2, began a long-term partnership on a few more films throughout the 90s.

Randy's work on GHOSTBUSTERS 2, like the film itself, is relatively underrated. However, as much as Bernstein saw his decision to pass on scoring this sequel as a step towards establishing his distance from comedy, the Edelman score's admitted lack of adherence to that of the original leads to an organic fore-fronting of the more genre-heavy aspects that define the franchise to this day.

Tracks like "In Liberty's Shadow" have the bombast of a lost cue from John Williams' SUPERMAN score, while tracks like "The Sensitive Side of Dana" and "Vigo's Last Stand" play the earnest character drama and horrors of the film reasonably straight respectively, all while still offering the playful nods to the original musicality of the first film with reflective bits of playful piano and synth. It's a juggling act in the film itself that has led to divisiveness amongst the fandom, but as a score, its success in marrying the genres while never feeling like a retread.