Customer Reviews

Ghost (1990 Film)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I think that the reason that this cd has not been rated very highly by previous reviewers, is that most of them bought it for the song 'Unchained Melody' and were then disapointed that there were no other songs in that genre. What people fail to realise is that this is a cd of the motion picture soundtrack. It is not a Righteous Brothers album. If you are not a fan of movie scores, then don't buy this album. But if you do like movie scores then I am sure you will appreciate the depth and beauty of this music. As a bonus, the booklet features an insightful essay on Maurice Jarre as well as the making of 'Ghost'. Also, each track has in-depth info about the place it had in the movie, and what was going on while the music was playing, so you can actually relive the film in your mind. Let me quote a little from the notes on 'Carl'...."..An electronic drone becomes more agitated as Carl pounds at his computer, Jarre tapping a synthesizer key along with a computer screen that laughs at the villain's desperation. Later Carl sits alone in his office...Sam pushes a chair across the room. The electronics begin to drone menacingly...Jarre's music becomes a flurry of computer notes as 'Sam' scrolls endlessly across the screen..." This is just a small example of how the track-by-track notes describe the music. Also, seeing the movie after listening to this album, makes the film even more enjoyable and exciting. Also, the booklet contains many photos from the film. And as if all of that isn't enough, this cd is now remastered with 2 bonus tracks that were not on the original release...'Fire Escape' and 'Oda Mae & Carl'. Yet another plus, and well worth the price in itself, is the beautiful love theme of Sam and Molly. Featured throughout the soundtrack, it is finally let loose in all its symphonic glory in the 'End Credits' after the orchestral version of 'Unchained Melody'.

Good things do come in small packages! This soundtrack is a masterpiece, despite it's only a shade over 35 minutes in play time. I think the thing to really point out with this recording is its perfect support of the movie's storyline. I've seen plenty of movies and listened to plenty of soundtracks in my days, but rarely do a movie and soundtrack have the synergy these two have together.

I really like to turn off the lights, light a few candles, relax in my recliner and put in this soundtrack. Tears still well in my eyes because of the sheer beauty of the music. I hope you've had the chance to experience the same feeling. It is a wonderful thing!

Originally, with the exception of "Unchained Melody", I shrugged this CD off as as an electronic mishmash of action movie cues without any real substance. But hearing the two other Maurice Jarre CD's I own, "Fatal Attraction" and "Witness", convinced me to give "Ghost" a second chance. I listened to the music on its own and in the movie, and now I think that if "Fatal Attraction" contained the sounds of a stalker in pursuit, and "Witness" had beautiful electronic atmospheric effects, than "Ghost" is a surprisingly good combination of the two scores. Remarkably effective.

There are actually several types of movie soundtracks, which primarily depend on the movie. Many movies have a lot of songs and those songs are what appear on a soundtrack CD. However, "Ghost" had "Unchained Melody" and a lot of instrumentals.

"Unchained Melody" is what most people remember from this movie, and that song is on this CD. However, if you do not like the music that accompanied the remainder of the film, you would be better served by getting a collection of Righteous Brothers hits.

Moving past the beautiful song "Unchained Melody," there is an instrumental based on "Unchained Melody," which is only slightly less beautiful than the Righteous Brothers song. Instrumentals follow these two songs that are themes for each of the characters titled by the instrumentals. Since Jarre intended these instrumentals to heighten tension and create feelings of stress, some of the music is mildly discordant.

Is the music cacophonous, which is synonymous with discordant? I believe the music is periodically strident with percussion often leading the way. However, the musical effects relate to the character and the situation and are appropriate for the sound track.

I enjoy this sound track because I recall when the music was used in the movie. Each of these tracks takes me to that moment in the film. Before you buy this CD I recommend you watch the movie once more, and listen to the music other than "Unchained Melody," because that music makes up the bulk of this CD. If you think the instrumentals would displease you, then buy a Righteous Brothers greatest hits CD. If you like the music in the movie other than "Unchained Melody," then you may like this soundtrack.

Good luck!

I love the romantic music, I do not care so much for the rest, but of course that is the way it should be.

Unchained melody has to be one of the most romantic songs of all time. That song alone makes up for the rest of the CD. Like another rewiever said, "if you don't get goose bumps listening to that, something is VERY wrong with you." Makes me want to hold my wife and just dance, when I hear that song...

The score for this movie was used well. The music that they used for Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze is beautiful and will make you cry. And if Bobby Hatfield singing Unchained Melody doesn't give you goose bumps, there's something wrong with you.

For those who saw 'Ghost', and listened carefully to the score in the background, should have expected to hear just that in this soundtrack. The music is haunting, yet interesting, for the most part it is good listening music.

It's hard to believe that a little more than two decades have past since GHOST, the 1990 supernatural romantic drama/thriller that starred the late Patrick Swayze as the victim of a mugger in New York who must save his own sweetheart (Demi Moore) from a similar fate, was released, and became the sleeper hit during a summer movie season when most of the films that were hits that year were ultra-violent. And one of the things that made GHOST work as a film was the haunting music score provided by one of the greats in the field of movie music, Maurice Jarre, who passed away in March 2009.

Jarre's reputation as a film composer goes well back into the 1950s, and includes such credits as THE LONGEST DAY, THE PROFESSIONALS, DEAD POET'S SOCIETY, and Sir David Lean's two huge masterpieces, DOCTOR ZHIVAGO and LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. By the early 1980s, he had also begun to experiment with electronic and synthesized music. The combination of that and his purely orchestral expertise manifested itself on the soundtrack of GHOST. With the exception of the Alex North/Hy Zaret classic "Unchained Melody", the film's musical calling card if you will (done instrumentally by Jarre, and in its 1965 version by the Righteous Brothers), Jarre's score for GHOST is his own work. Some of it is unusually avant-garde, often carrying elements of the dissonant music of the Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki that was used in THE SHINING (a film that influenced GHOST in some ways), while the ethereal orchestral version of "Unchained Melody" is almost Schubert-influenced in character, as is the haunting original love theme that Jarre composed and interspersed throughout the movie.

In the end, this is one of those scores that can sometimes get lost amidst the talk about the unusual success of the film, the fact that it was a true sleeper hit, and the chemistry not only between Swayze and Moore, but also between Swayze and the psychic medium (Oscar winner Whoopi Goldberg) with whom Swayze tries to save Moore from a repeat of what happened to him. For those who like this kind of original movie music that doesn't consist of a whole lot of wanna-be hits, GHOST is a soundtrack score you cannot afford to pass up.

This is a awesome cd this cd is fun and enjoyable to listen to. The best songs on this disc are all of them