MRH : This may sound a bit naive, but how is it possible that composers wouldn't retain high-quality sub-masters of a recording for their archives, particularly if they funded the production themselves?


LK : Well, that's a little but of a loaded question. I don't know. I'm sure Elmer was disappointed and a little bit embarrassed when asked a similar question. Again, I'm just guessing, but I do know how it happens, because you work with a facility with an intent and purpose and you learn to trust them.

 
Right now there's a facility that I use here in Los Angeles, two of them in fact, and they've got my hard drives, they've got my backup tapes, they've got my archival elements; right now it's all digital, but I don't have any of them in my house -- I trust the studio to take care of them. Over a career or decade, you sort of trust that you're in good hands. So when someone screws you over, you get ambushed by what happens.

Don't forget too that by the time the Film Music Collection was ending Elmer was back in vogue with all the comedies -- Airplane and Ghostbusters and the like -- so I'm sure he was very happily distracted by his composing career.

 
MRH : I understand that one of the reasons this set was made possible is because Bernstein retained the mail order rights - a very unusual type of distribution right.

 
LK : This is probably going into a type of legal technicality, but without getting deeply into it, we did have to review the contract between Elmer and Warner Bros. Records to find out exactly who owned the [three FMC albums], and he protected himself by saying that, even if Warner Bros. bailed on distributing those albums -- which is what they did not long after they issued them -- he could still sell them by mail order and make his money back. It was just a clause that he wisely put in there, and it's fortunate that we found out about it

 
MRH : When I spoke with David Schecter at Monstrous Movie Music, he mentioned about ten years ago that someone actually recorded Bernstein's early score for the exploitation quickie, Cat Women on the Moon, but nothing ever came of the recording, and I wonder, if in your experience, or even when you were researching Bernstein's recordings, did you ever hear of peculiar examples of where someone actually went to the trouble of recording an entire score or suite, and for whatever reason, it never materialized?

 
LK : I've never heard that about Cat Women, but there was this Kings of the Sun album that Elmer recorded in 2003, and had never been released. It seems rare to me that someone would actually record a whole album and not release it, but these things do happen. It's very personal to say, and very sad to say, but when you're preoccupied with your health and your family and very important things like that, you're not going to be worried about a record. I'm assuming that's what happened with Elmer in the last year of his life.
 

MRH : If the FMC set does very well, do you think there's a chance that some of Bernstein's unreleased scores or rejected scores or even some of his more unique works for live theatre, for example, might have a chance of coming out on CD?

 
LK : I would hope so, and I think it is going to happen. It's harder with that other material, because with the Film Music Collection, Elmer owned them, so we didn't really need to get any other permission to do them; you have to pay the mechanical publishing royalties, but that's a matter of paperwork, once the material is already on a record you don't need anyone's permission again, it's a compulsory license.

 
All of these other things that you're talking about are typically owned by others, and in the case of the theatre material, I don't know who would own it, and it's just as hard as a regular soundtrack might be, because then you have to have to get the studio involved and work things out. But at this stage, things are great, and I'm so grateful to the Bernstein Estate for providing and for working so hard to make this project a reality, and for being very inclusive.

 
MRH : Given the FMC boxed set is your biggest project to date, do you feel comfortable tackling not necessarily similar-sized projects, but something with a similar archival value, or another deluxe boxed set?

 
LK : I definitely want to do more boxed sets. I'm still waiting to see exactly what the reception will be for the Elmer set. They're a little frustrating to collectors because they're so expensive, and you don't want to give the impression that you're gouging people, because people have only a certain amount of money to spend, and if they have to spend $75-200, that's a big investment.

 
I do like boxed sets because it's something new and exciting for me, now that we have about 130 regular albums. I think it does offer the advantage of offering more material, and lets you be creative with the packaging and presentation; and then business-wise, it does help you save money, because you can amortize your costs. There are advantages to it, and I hope to do it again.

 
MRH : The way the Bernstein set is presented recalls the template that a small jazz reissue label called Mosaic Records uses. They essentially put out the most complete boxed sets of specific recording sessions, but while much of the music later on appeared on the major labels, what made the original limited sets so special were the incredible liner notes that were included in the booklets. They were often 20+ page booklets that contained a huge amount of archival material, rare stills, interviews, historical essays, and discographies -- research material that's too substantive and costly to reproduce by the major labels -- so if FSM, for example, were to produce the occasional boxed set, in addition to the music, they would be offering a wealth of information that you wouldn't be able to find anywhere else.
 

LK : I quite agree.