Thanks to Rob Reiner. He gives Marc a chance to change of genres, and compose something for not a comedy, genre where he has been somehow cliched. This drama based on a true history got two Oscar nominations: Make Up and Best Supporting Actor (a chilling James Woods). The score starts under sonorous premises closed to those that he also composed for one of his weakest scores: A Few Good Men. This is a fact that you can hear just from the first track on the CD. This time, the inspiration is wider and the music offers us more interesting highlights to spend our time listening the cd. Along the score, which incorporates several themes, that moves from the driest drama to notes of hope, appears a good choice of the female chorus, in a black voice replete of soul and splashed along the score. On the basis of this material he offers us variantions with a good result, with the protagonism of the omnipresent (and typical) piano in Shaiman´s work, as element that uses as piece good to build the tracks. One of the strong points of the score is the presence of tunes with a southern sonority, where this piano turns out to be helped by ethnic instruments. These tunes and the interpolation of several songs (with Tony Bennett, Muddy Waters, Nina Simone ...), drive to a victorious and grandiloquent end. The CD has been released under two differente covers and titles: Ghosts from the Past and Ghosts from Mississippi.

We can summarize this composition of the following form:

1. Main title constructed on the basis of three notes in three variations, too similar to one that you can listen in that episode of From Earth to the Moon composed by Marc Shaiman. Its a theme associated along the movie to the dramatic plot.
2. Another main theme based on a motive of two changing notes, and that can be qualified of "encouraging" theme, and it is possible to associate to the character interpreted by Woopy Goldberg and his faith without limits.
3. A menacing and dark main theme for wicked Delay (James Woods), and that appears in dark moments (crime, Delay's words and more).
4. A fourth theme, a beautiful one and that almost in all the occasions that appears contains a female voice, contributing a beam of light.
5. "Dynamical" tune ("On the Delta") perfect to underline investigations, displacements and the passage of time, accompanying the main roles in their investigations. Its a tune too close in style to "Facts and Figures" from A Few Good Men. The piano ism almost always, a protagonist, close to rope(string) of southern touch.
6. Other "secondary" themes along the movie, complementing five principal already mentioned themes. They are different, with the piano again as reigning instrument, though with clarinet or flute like support. The soloist female voice is an appellant. These themes change between dramatic passages and rested to others of real tension and threat (as the notice of bomb). We also find dynamical themes for piano and strings in the line of the main theme that appears in the visit to the Delta. Among the abundant incidental material that cannot be catalogued of "main themes" also they turn out to be polite with use of the southern sound, as well as slight variants of the main themes as link between this not retentive material. It is necessary to emphasize besides the victorious end, among other many moments that they contribute new notes with regard to the musical themes that head the work.
7. Source music. Five or six songs, already mentioned, for the radio station, main credits and more.

In conclusion, Ghosts of the Past is an interesting dramatic music, does not exempt of beauty and brilliant moments, which record edition can be qualified of very complete, since there stay unpublished slight incidental passages that dont give much to the whole score. It is clear that it would have been better to assemble all the songs (source music) at the end of album.

FOR VERY "SHAIMANIACS": in the final track "Myrlie Victoriuos" there is, among others, a brief motiv that just appears only in this occasion in the whole movie. Its very beautiful and brief, specially sentimental for this moment. The curiosity is that this will be later re-used under minimal variations as one of the brilliant main themes for Hearts and Souls.

6.75